Viewing 8 posts - 1 through 8 (of 8 total)
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  • Nick
    Participant
    Post count: 19

    I had my RAI therapy yesterday so I know how you feel.

    Hang on there.

    SeeSallie
    Participant
    Post count: 35

    For 7 days before my radiation treatment (no eye problems. received 8 mcui of RAI in pill form) I was feeling great for the first time ever since March due to the Dr switching me to Lorazepam. Nothing worked on my anxiety beforehand (7 months of h_ll). I was feeeling great almost instantly with the first loraepam pill but still had Grave’s. Then had the RAI. For a week after I was still feeling great. Couldn’t pinpoint if it was the radiation making me feel good and normal or the new med? Ski summed it up for me about how long it takes for the RAI to kick in…so now I’m pretty sure it was the med.

    Then last night I started feeling jittery again. Heart is a pumping. Today, the same!! I’m so scared of going back….I’ll do anything to not go back to THAT feeling again…I’m getting anxious about becoming anxious again. I just want to be happy and normal.
    :cry:

    So if my med stops working…how long to I have to suffer this anxiety again given I am only 1 week post RAI?????? I just can’t go there. I don’t want the palpitations, feeling irritable, tremors, thoughts of death overwhelming me again. Oh my God it is creeping up on me again. I need this med to go back to making me feel normal again. I doubt Dr will go up on dosage. Am I just going to have to suffer through and if so, for how long. My cognitive skills are still dropping (meaning it takes me a minute to compute the info). My own children suffer too because I am getting irritable again and that depresses me more. It just is too much.

    bprotel
    Participant
    Post count: 5

    Hang in there. Can you reduce your daily routine to provide for more rest and time to just be you? I was lucky to have an 8 week period to recover before going back to work. I had RAI in June and I work in schools so had till Sept. to feel better. I think the low stress of having the summer off helped the anxiety and fatigue. Also just hearing my doctor tell me that it may take a few months for hormone levels to drop off. Beware because when they drop mine dropped off like a rock. I had some blood work done and then went on vacation, my doctor had to chase me on my cell phone number because she wanted me to start a synthoid script right away. Good luck!!

    Bobbi
    Participant
    Post count: 1324

    Don’t panic. About one week after RAI (give or take) dying thyroid cells dump their stored supplies of hormone into the body. They are not making new hormone; this is a temporary increase in hyperness. I know it is unpleasant, but it only lasts a few days, typically, and it means that the treatment is working to eliminate thyroid hormone-producing cells.

    I do hope you see improvement soon.

    Bobbi

    SeeSallie
    Participant
    Post count: 35

    Thank you so much Bobbi. I needed to hear that. I thought that was much further away from happening so suspected that the RAI didn’t take. Ok, I can breathe and keep pushing through. Hopefully we will find this is part of it as you say and that the RAI worked.

    bprotel – I have time off for rest. Sorta. I worked it out so that I am teaching online from home and nothing else for the rest of this year. It is depressing and lonely, but I do get to rest a lot which I didn’t appreciate at first.

    SeeSallie
    Participant
    Post count: 35

    Nick, I just realized my post to you from a day ago never appeared. I am still on atenolol. No fever and never thought to check my pulse. What do I do with that info if my pulse is too high? I’d go to the ER if it got out of hand, but other than that, is there something you look for with the pulse?
    Gosh I feel like I know nothing from my visits to my endo. <img decoding=” title=”Sad” />

    Nick
    Participant
    Post count: 19

    Hi Sallie,

    I hope you feel better today. I feel very tired myself (Day 4 after RAI), though I am now hyper (Resting HR @ 90bpm).

    Hyper symptoms combined with a very high resting heart rate (it depends on the individual but usually over 125bpm) and fever over 101F may indicate thyroid storm. It is a rare condition; however it can happen after RAI administration during the dumping period if there was already too much hormone stored in the thyroid before the RAI treatment.

    However, it is possible to have a nasty cold, or the flu, or a virus and still have high heart rate and a fever, so it can be tricky to figure out what is going on.

    You can call a nurse line and ask questions, though in my experience they will almost always tell you to call your doctor or go to the ER if there are any cardiovascular symptoms since they do not want any liability.

    SeeSallie
    Participant
    Post count: 35

    Nick, Good luck with yours. I am now 11 days post rai…much better today than I was at exactly 7 days. My BP was up and I felt nervous – anxious. Today was much better. I hope this goes away soon, I don’t think my Dr is going to renew my ativan. <img decoding=” title=”Sad” />

    I have an after hours clinic but they aren’t 24 hours. I hope if anything happens that it happens when I can get to my endo in the day or my general Dr in the evening. I am avoiding the ER if possible. I feel susceptible to anything someone else is there carrying…but I gotta, I gotta.

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