Hi Eileen, I'm sorry about your niece's thyroid troubles. The reason they inject the RAI for an exray is because the thyroid absorbs iodine that gets in the system and helps them take a better picture. There is RAI oblation (thyroid cell destruction) but is a completely different proceedure because with that one, they inject enough of it into the thyroid to kill off some of the cells/tissue to settle down an overactive thyroid (hyperthyroidism). The exrays she had done are for them to look for nodules/tumors (growths) and goiter (thyroid swelling). Don't let this concern you if these are found, it is very common with thyroid disease, both hypo and hyper thyroid conditions. Sometimes they also want to make sure there is no cancer (very rare) and will also perform a FNA (fine needle aspiration) but may not in her case. This is where they use a needle to insert into the thyroid for cell samples. People I know who've had that one, said it was nearly painless.
As far as puberty affecting an already present homone imbalance, that makes sense because the hormones all work in sync with eachother. One inbalance can aggravate another and puberty sure does come with homonal fluctuations, as we all know!
I wish her and you all the very best and hope she feels better soon!
Hi thanks very much for getting back to me it all makes sense now.
Hi Eileen - Sorry to hear about your niece. I was diagnosed at 11 with Graves Disease/hyperactive (I am now 28). The thyroid condition will most definitely effect puberty. My Dr. at the time checked all my other hormone levels and found that my Testosterone level was slightly elevated. When your thyroid is out of wack it can effect a woman's menstral cycle as well. Its amazing how this medical condition can so profoundly wreck havic on your body. In my case it was further determined that because of the imbalances my breast were underdeveloped. Please keep in mind that not everybody has the same conditions/symptoms as the next. Everybody's body is different. Just because it happened to me doesn't mean it will happen to your niece.
I wish your niece the best...it not easy to live with. But just like other autoimmune diseases it can be managed.