Don’t you just LOVE medical terminology?? “Exacerbated thyrotoxicosis” is a real medical mouthful. OK, let’s translate that into “lay speak”. “To exacerbate” means to “increase the severity of “. “Thyrotoxicosis” means the poisoning of the body with thyroid hormone. What does it mean with respect to RAI? First off, understand that the thyroid gland not only makes thyroid hormone it STORES it up for future use. When the radioactive iodine that gets lodged in the thyroid cells actually kills off the cells, destroys them, the stored hormone gets released into the body. Approximately one week after taking the RAI, this extra release of hormone peaks. It is always a period of more intense hyperthyroid symptoms than normal as a result. I do not know how long it typically lasts, but in my case it was only two or three days of more intense symptoms. This is expected, and your doctor, if he/she thinks it is necessary based on your medical condition, will take precautions to provide for your comfort and safety during this time. It is possible — but rare — that it will be excessive, and unexpectedly severe — approaching levels of thyroid storm. I believe that is what is meant by “exacerbated thyrotoxicosis”. Because of the litigous nature of our society, doctors have started listing ALL the possible snafus they can think of when advising us about medical procedures. When I went through the list of possible adverse results from the surgery to have my gall bladder removed a few years ago, I almost cancelled the surgery. If I had thought about the list for longer than it took to sign the form I WOULD have cancelled surgery. So, file “exacerbated…” under that list of cautions that might happen, has happened to someone at some time, but most likely will not happen. Also, you could ask your doctor for the symptoms, so that if it DOES happen, you will know what to do.
Hope this helps,
Bobbi — NGDF Asst. Online Facilitator
