Dear Bev,
There’s no reason to be really scared of the RAI — it is a very benign procedure: swallow a pill, or drink some liquid, and it’s all over. I had it done last November, and there were no side effects to speak of. By all means, talk with the doctors and get as much information about it as you can, but it really isn’t at all bad. The dosage they give you will depend on the size of your thyroid, and the results of the uptake scan (how quickly your own thyroid processes/picks up iodine), so your dose might be slightly different from that of others of us. Find out from you doctor whether they intend to try to get you hypothyroid quickly — some doctors go for less RAI, others more, depending upon their philosophy of what they want to accomplish, and how fast they would like to see it done. You will have to go off the PTU about a week before the procedure (since it interferes with the thyroid’s ability to take up iodine, it will also interfere with the RAI), so you will become more hyper for a bit of time. If you are not on beta blockers, you might want to ask your doctor about the possibility of taking them to make you more comfortable when you become more hyper for this procedure. My own hyperness started to abate about two weeks after RAI, but it peaked about one week after RAI.
If you have any more specific questions about my experiences with this, feel free to email me, but make certain that the subject line clearly indicates this topic. I tend to delete mail from unknown sources without reading it.
I hope this helps, and Good luck.
Bobbi
