RAI PILL

[deaniegirl]

Just posted about my thyroid cancer surgery.Now i need to know about having the radioactive pill.Has anyone taken this?

[cloulou75]

I didn't have the pill but drank the liquid, I too was pretty sick for a couple of days, had pretty high dose though so it depends, I have talked to others whose dose was smaller and they had the oral or injection and said other than heartburn it was fine. A lot depends on the dose but plan on heartburn and it can be pretty intense. 2nd and 3rd days were my worst, keep hard mint candy in your mouth and gingerale to help with the vomiting. The salty taste floods your mouth and the mint can help that to a degree. Again depending on the dose, you may not be sick at all. It is tough being away from the loved ones though and the precautions with the bathroom and laundry and the smell, it's very strange and is coming from your pores. I kept my laundry in a basket inside of a large garbage bag until it was safe to wash it and I still could smell that smell after the time period had passed, my dose was 344 because I had 3 cancerous nodules so if you are lower it may not be too bad at all. Are you off the meds and on the Diet yet? If you have not started the Diet the cookbook is available for download at www.thyca.org. Being off the meds makes you feel pretty crummy and the diet can be a challenge but it's not too bad, I was amazed at how much dairy and eggs played a role in my daily diet. If you have a bread machine you can make your own bread from a scratch recipe and use kosher salt which is fine for the diet. I made my own tortillas one Saturday and it took a good part of the day but they were pretty good. No cheese for the tacos but with homemade pico de gallo and guacamole I really didn't miss it. Americans eat far too much dairy anyway but I will tell you the minute I was off the Diet I made a pot of my favorite homemade sauce with probably double the recipe's alotted parmesan cheese and I got loaf of store bought italian bread to dip in it and then waddled away from the stove!!haha  If you have to have cancer, this is the one to get because the treatment is brilliant. You starve your body for iodine, the radioactive material uses the iodine as a vehicle to suck it right into the neck and wipe out any leftovers, it is quite amazing and the prognosis is excellent especially if you are young. I wish you all the best, make sure that you get the right test after you are done with the treatment, thyoidglobulin test is very important, tsh is too but the globulin levels will indicate if you are still at risk and what steps need to be taken to lessen the risk, increase in meds usually. It may take some trial and error to get your meds right as well, I am still working on that after 1 year but keep after it until it's right. Check that website if you haven't already, excellent resource for information. This site is too and lots of good support here as well, All the Best.

[Mark Lupo, M.D.]

This should be posted in the patient-to-patient thyroid forum.

[shannon828]

I did.  It really wasn't a big deal.  I was really sick the first day, but after that I gradually started to feel better.  The worst part was being on the Low Iodine Diet for two weeks before and being isolated from my daughter for a week after RAI.  Other that that, really, not a big deal.