[Anonymous May 4, 2004 at 8:16 pm Post count: 93172]

#1023523

Thank you so much for your reply, LittleJoni. You have explained it better than any doctor I have been too yet!

[Anonymous May 11, 2004 at 5:47 pm Post count: 93172]

#1086015

I am so confused about what to do. I was diagnosed with Graves about two years ago. After taking PTU for about 6 months I had gotten much better and was taken off of meds all together. I then moved to another state and checked in with a new Endo just to find out everything had gone to crap again. My Free T4 number is still normal but the Free T3 is 407. I first started taking tapizole and increased it every month for about 4 months. I started ITCHING something terribly which was my main symptom when I was first diagnosed with Graves. Anyway, I thought I was getting much worse since the itching was so bad. It kept me up at night and kept me from working at my job many times. NOTHING would help the itching. I asked my endo if I could switch to PTU since that is what seemed to help me before and after me begging for a month he finally agreed. The itching stopped! I was so happy and felt so much better that I just knew my numbers would be good on my next test. Well they were not! He tells me today that I am at 407 and he wants me to do RAI. I really have mixed feelings about that, I was planning to have another child soon (we wanted to try in June) and I understand that is not possible. I have small children at home and everything states not to be in close contact with anyone for a week or two after getting the RAI…. If it is that bad for others around you then what is it doing to the rest of my body? If it can harm my kids just by sitting on my lap every night then what harm is it doing to my other organs? I am so confused and unfortunately my endo does not speak english very well and I can’t talk to him easily. There doesn’t seem to be another endo on my insurance plan in this area, I just don’t know what to do………..

[Anonymous May 11, 2004 at 6:31 pm Post count: 93172]

#1086016

About 4 years ago, my skin turned into a itch fest as well. It came out of the blue. My skin turned red and rashy. No one knew was what wrong. I eventually went to an allergist (who ran tests and so forth) and put on Zyrtec. When I take that, my skin doesn’t itch anymore? They didn’t link it to Graves but it sounds like what I got. I just itched EVERYWHERE. For no reason. I don’t know if that helps or not?

Hopefully someone will be able to answer the question about the effects of RAI directly after and beyond because I don’t have an answer for that.

Kristin

[Anonymous May 11, 2004 at 11:09 pm Post count: 93172]

#1086017

You usually only have to limit contact with small children after RAI for about 48 hours, not a week or two. I was advised to keep my children at arms length as much as possible and not to kiss them. I could hug them, but was told to just not keep them near my neck for very long. I also made sure they did not use the same bathroom I was using, I had to shower twice a day for those two days, and I made certain they did not come in contact with my dishes, utensils, or drinking glasses. This was not as hard as it sounds. The reason the RAI does not damage your internal organs is because the iodine goes straight to your thryoid and does the damage there, and that damage takes time (kind of like a slow burn, in a way). I never had any pain anywhere after RAI besides a bit of a sore throat, which is normal, the RAI didn’t even upset my stomach. If you do have RAI you should know that it usually isn’t safe to get pregnant for at least six months, but I also just wanted to caution you that even if you don’t do RAI you should make absolutely certain your thyroid levels are normal before becoming pregnant.
~Joni

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