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  • Anonymous
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    Post count: 93172

    Hi, All

    I was visiting another Graves’ web page, this one a Harvard Medical Education page, and it gave this info re: RAI dosage.

    “The I-131 dose (in uCi) to deliver is caluclated with the following formula: Weight of the Gland (gm) X Dose (uCi/gm) / Uptake (%) “

    So it looks like there’s some division going on here given only two of the three pieces of info are available. Hope this helps!

    Happy health, All!

    taskit

    Anonymous
    Participant
    Post count: 93172

    While doing some research I tried to get this information re “accepted” or typical RAI dosages, as found that it was pretty difficult to get — sort of a trade secret. I had a written source, probably William’s Textbook of Endocrinology, and got an endocrinologist to tell me that the typical dosage is 8 – 14 millicuries of radioactive iodine. These dosages matched. Larger doses are given when the gland is very large, especially in second or third RAIs. He also told me that in his opinion, the gland weight formula is invalid in deciding on a dosage.

    Anonymous
    Participant
    Post count: 93172

    Hi Everyone,
    I was told that the higher the uptake the lower the RAI dose. My uptake was 27% and I received 10 millicuries. This was the second lowest dose they give at my facility. They give 8 10 12 and 15. This makes sense if you think about it. If your thyroid is greedy it will take up more of the RAI so you need less to do the job.
    Brenda

    Anonymous
    Participant
    Post count: 93172

    I was also told that the higher the uptake percentage was, than the lower dosage of RAI you got. My uptake was 40% and my dosage was 9.22 millicuries. Wonder if that was enough of a dosage, am on Synthroid now with a normal TSH but still having all the hyper symptoms. Saw my gynocologist last week and he seemed to feel the thyroid gland was enlarged, waiting for the battery of blood test he ran.
    He mentioned either another RAI or possibly surgery. Thought I had this under control, but I guess not……

    Regards,

    Caren

    Anonymous
    Participant
    Post count: 93172

    I read a couple postings yesterday indicating the higher the uptake percentage , then the lower dosage of RAI. Brenda’s uptake was 27%-10 mCi and Caren’s uptake was 40%-9.22 mCi. I just read my lab report and mine was 58%-21.15 mCi. The dosage was given with ablation treatment in mind. I think there is something else to this formula. Maybe, its whether the endo chooses the ablation treatment of the thyroid or not depending on the high dosage. Here’s something that really bothers me and I wonder if anyone else out there had the same problem? While I was reading the doctor’s personal report to his dept. it stated, “After discussion with the patient of treatment options, the patient elected to receive radioactive I-131 treatment for her Graves’ disease. The risks, benefits, and complications of the procedure were discussed with the patient.” WHAT A CROOK OF BULL! I had no idea that this was going to be a ablation treatment where no thyroid was left at all. No choices were discussed of any methods. Oh yea they did mention the 3 day thing about not going near anyone, etc. No one discussed the risks of high levels of radioactive I-131 in the months after the treatment. There is significant amount of calcium loss, vitamin deficiency and a whole mess of other things. Everything there is a complaint to the endo, its DENY DENY DENY that it has anything to do with GD. I didn’t find this BB until six months after the RAI and have learned more these last 6 months, then in the last 2-3 years. It’s like putting the pieces to a jigsaw puzzle together and you get no help from the endo. Well, thanks for listening everyone. Just had to get that one off my chest. (As an added feature to this story, I had the devil of a time getting my complete medical records. I actually had to sneak into the hospital late at night and get a night time records clerk to help me.

    Anonymous
    Participant
    Post count: 93172

    Uptake does figure into the dosage. When I made my earlier post re RAI dosage, I said that the typical dose was 8 – 14 millicuries and that more was given if the thyroid gland was judged to be large. As soon as I posted it, I realized that I failed to mention that rate of uptake is also considered — but others mentioned this in posts, so I felt that it was covered.

    Without becoming alarmist about the possible side effects of RAI, I have got to agree that the old line, “It’s been used for 50 yrs. and has no side effects” is probably overused by the medical profession. I don’t think they really know. After all, who is keeping track of the side effects on individuals in any systematic way? I have called the Nuclear Regulatory Agency to ask about sources of information, and they declined to discuss it. There is an old National Geographic article called, “Living With Radiation”, which is about the effects of radiation on people exposed accidentally. How come swallowing radioactive material is so benign?

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