Going off meds 10 days before RAI in three days

[VLOU]

Has anyone heard of a shot you can get to
lesson hyper symptoms while off meds?  Will I need help cooking, driving, etc.

Thanks

[Kristina538]

.. Also, you'll probably be having your 'uptake scan' on the 4th Sept?  I think the RAI is done soon after so that the dosage can be tailored to what the uptake is showing your thyroid to be doing (i.e. the radiation is sucked up with the iodine - so an uptake scan is a bit like a dummy run, without the radiation attached so that they can see how much/what part of your thyroid will absorb the radiation.   Best wishes for it;  I'm sure you're as nervous as I was, but as I went through it all, I was pleasantly surprised that the worst side affect was my own fear!

[Kristina538]

I think it was either 10 or 7 days before RAI that I came off the carbimazole; it has a long half-life;  I didn't notice any major difference (although was nervous about it).    I was allowed to restart them a couple of weeks after RAI (I'm sori -  I would have to check old posts to remember) - check with your doctor.  Symptoms of stopping medication don't happen overnight (much like when we started and had to wait at least a couple of weeks to feel normal again - bless anti-thyroid meds - they were a Godsend!!)

In saying that, I had RAI in early November and by end of January had started to go Hypothyroid, not because of the RAI, but because of the carbimazole combined with the RAI.... once I stopped the carbimazole, I settled into a normal pattern of euthyroid for another 9 months - while the RAI very very slowly killed the nodule that was overproducing hormone (I didn't have Graves so the aim, for me,  was to get the Radiation uptake to the nodule only because it was the only part of my thyroid producing hormone, but because it's not a precise science, my whole thyroid was expected to be ablated to some degree).  With Graves, the RAI is taken up by the whole gland.

So,  you're likely to go hypo faster, and they may not want you to go on medication after the RAI.   Your doctor could check and see whether, at any stage, you may need to go on a beta-blocker, if your hyper state starts again until the RAI does it's job.   My Dr wanted me on a beta-blocker, but I was having symptoms that I thought it caused (turned out not to be the B/blocker and begged for the carbimazole in a low dose).  Hopefully someone with Graves will chime in with their story (or try the search engine RAI/Graves).    If not, feel free to PM me re the RAI - I had 15mci;  I think most doses are between 10 and 29 mci for toxic nodules and Graves.

I took two weeks off work;  it could have been a week but a lady I work with was pregnant, so I took another week's leave.

[VLOU]

Hi, I have Graves.  Yes, on tapozole, need to go off for 10 dsys bef RAI. No post RAI instructions yet, not until scan on Sept. 4.

Yes, help with domestic chores etc. due to hyper symptoms with no meds. I will be off wk, but probably more fatigued than now

[Kristina538]

Many hyper patients are put on a beta-blocker to keep the heart rate low, but if you're taking caribmazole or similar it will not disappear out of your system overnight, so until you start displaying any hyper symptoms I doubt that they would give you medication; it's something you may want to discuss with your doctor.

(I'm assuming you're taking an anti-thyroid medication to control hyper?...and what condition do you have to be having RAI?)

Also, are you asking if you'll need help cooking/driving because of or after the RAI? (have you been given post RAI instructions yet, and do you know what dose may be given?)