me and Radiation

[sweetbay]

Okay finally the ball is on the roll! Had TT on may 1st for Thyca. Just got word from hospital that RAI is set for Monday, June 25th!  They are only having me off of Cytomel for ten days? Is that normal? For some reason I was thinking two weeks?? And then the nuclear medicine never mentioned anything about the LID, so I brought it up and he said "it wouldn't be a bad idea to go on it"    What?????? I thought they would tell you to go on it?? I know it varies from place to place, but after reading all your post, it seems like they should tell everyone to go on it before RAI
                          Thanks for listening

[redhed87]

I had my TT on May 30th and my doctor hasn't put me on anything.  I am going Monday to have TSH checked to see if I am at 30 or higher/.  Then I can schedule.  I asked my endo if I should go on LID and he sarcastically said "Don't eat table salt and Burger King"  My surgeon said it would be a good idea to go on LID because I want the most accurate results.  I would start it- it's tough to find things to eat, download the cookbook on the Thyca.org site- it's free.  It has a list of what to eat and what not to eat. I hope I will be going around the same time as you.  Good luck.

[DLA]

Had RAI yrs ago and never even heard of LID until I got on this forum.  My thyroid was completely killed off with one treatment.  Oh, and I didn't have any surgery before hand.  Not saying you shouldn't do it just saying sometimes it works without it apparently.  

[jennifer86]

My RAI is on July 16 and my Endo is having me go off Cytomel for only 10 days as well. I was wondering if it was normal too? Because like you I thought you go off of it for two weeks. And then with the low iodine diet my Endo said to start it just a week before, but I've been reading websites and message board posts and so I thought that you do it for two weeks before. I plan to start it two weeks before just for peace of mind, I am only 21 so I want to do what I can to make my RAI as effective as it can be :) Like Redhed87 I got the low iodine cookbook from ThyCa and it has a lot of recipes and a good list of the foods you should avoid. Good luck!

Jen

[sweetbay]

Redhead- I hate all this different policy stuff, makes me think my hospital should update their information. Because my TSH only has to be 20 before RAI

DLA- Sounds like you are a very lucky girl! Glad to hear that you didn't have to have surgery!

Jennifer- I have been thinking and I think Cytomel might just be a transitioning pill, that eases you into hypo. So maybe our TSH levels our up already, but not in complete hypo because of the Cytomel. And maybe going off of it will just push us over to hypo???Just my thoughts..too much time to think. What levels do your TSH have to be at?
  Also, if I would have know about my radiation dated earlier, I would have done the same thing and went on the LID diet for two weeks. But since I just found out yesterday and my RAI is in 1o days, well that just leaves me with that.