RAI POST THYROID CANCER

[ADouble]

Has anyone had radioactive iodine treatment after thyroid cancer and then experienced a dry annoying cough quite quickly after?

[pennyannie]

Hello ADouble and welcome to the forum :

I had RAI thyroid ablation for Graves Disease and deeply regret this treatment - but knew no different back in 2005 - and became extremely unwell some years later with what I believe the consequences of drinking this toxic substance though had no help nor understanding from the medical profession.

Living without a thyroid is no walk in the park either -

I now manage lingering Graves - thyroid eye disease and hypothyroidism and self medicate -having been refused both T3 and Natural Desiccated Thyroid when very unwell and T4 monotherapy not working for me when, I presume, my thyroid was fully rendered disabled.

Details on my Profile page - just press my Profile icon alongside my name:

[SlowDragon Administrator]

welcome to the forum

Do you have any recent thyroid and vitamin test results that you can add

how much levothyroxine are you taking

Which brand

Do you always get same brand levothyroxine at each prescription

What vitamin supplements are you taking

Persistent cough can be

Dairy intolerance, very common on levothyroxine

Acid reflux, common especially if not on high enough dose levothyroxine or poor conversion of Ft4 (levothyroxine) to Ft3 (active hormone)

Acid reflux when hypothyroid usually due to LOW stomach acid

Bloods should be retested 6-8 weeks after each dose change or brand change in levothyroxine

For full Thyroid evaluation you need TSH, FT4 and FT3 tested

Also both TPO and TG thyroid antibodies tested at least once

Very important to test vitamin D, folate, ferritin and B12 at least once year minimum

Recommended that all thyroid blood tests early morning, ideally just before 9am, only drink water between waking and test and last dose levothyroxine 24 hours before test

This gives highest TSH, lowest FT4 and most consistent results. (Patient to patient tip)

NHS rarely tests more than TSH and Ft4

Testing options and includes money off codes for private testing

thyroiduk.org/testing/

Medichecks Thyroid plus antibodies and vitamins

medichecks.com/products/adv...

Blue Horizon Thyroid Premium Gold includes antibodies, cortisol and vitamins

bluehorizonbloodtests.co.uk...

Monitor My Health also now offer thyroid and vitamin testing, plus cholesterol and HBA1C for £65

(Doesn’t include thyroid antibodies)

monitormyhealth.org.uk/full...

10% off code here

thyroiduk.org/testing/priva...

Only do private testing early Monday or Tuesday morning.

Link about thyroid blood tests

thyroiduk.org/testing/thyro...

Link about Hashimoto’s

thyroiduk.org/hypothyroid-b...

Symptoms of hypothyroidism

thyroiduk.org/signs-and-sym...

Tips on how to do DIY finger prick test

support.medichecks.com/hc/e...

Medichecks and BH also offer private blood draw at clinic near you, or private nurse to your own home…..for an extra fee

[ADouble in reply to SlowDragon]

so much information - thank you, I will research your information & definitely take it to my consultant appointment,

Thank you

[Contra21]

I regret too

[Contra21]

No one tells you life will be hell for the rest of your years. 3 years I was on carbimizooe and yet said it's gotta go you'll have a thyroid storm. Boy I wish I had one just getting sicker

[Contra21]

Me too. I was so unwell and just wanted to be better. Now in a lifetime of pills, anxiety, vertigo , dizziness, got problems, candida, heart palps, re gallbladder removal I feel it Stemmed from that

[Contra21]

Scared of my future. I'm only 39.

[Contra21]

What have been your health problems after rai

[Contra21]

V is hell, cripples me with fear

[Contra21]

I'm sitting here with anxiety . Wake me every night with dizziness. I've tried it all but I feel anesthesia did this too me

[pennyannie]

There are now some research papers coming out regarding Graves Disease but as I understand things RAI is still the first line treatment for many as it's the cheapest :

ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/306...

I guess if you have cancer it is a whole other head set to Graves - which is ironic as we are looking at an auto immune disease for which there is no cure -

and the research is now recommending staying on the Anti Thyroid drug long term - though the NHS still talk of just a 15-18 month window with the AT drug and then it's definitive treatment. pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/338...

I received no acknowledgement from the NHS of my symptoms which I believe were caused by the ingestion of RAI - though found them all listed within Elaine Moore's first book - Graves Disease - A Practical Guide - and also now found on her website elaine-moore.com

[Nicola1964]

Yes and I very much regret it..

[Batty1]

I had thyroidectomy for cancer no RAI and I still regret having my thyroid removed my health has just crumbled and I can’t stop it.

[Portugal-2]

my RAI 150 caused many side effects such as loss of taste for almost one year. Have about 90% back. I also lost all my saliva production. Basically I can produce a little foam. It also sealed my tear ducts. The salvia never came back so me to have water near me or liquid or candy etc to sallow and prevent teeth decay. I had surgery to reopen my tear ducts thankfully it worked otherwise I was waking around with a box of tissues constantly. Plus the one thing it didn’t do was kill the cancer. I had Tall Cell Aggressive Papillary Thyroid Cancer which is non avid to RAI treatment they now know. My guess I am not a doctor is that you may have a dry throat from having less saliva production. I did everything the said during me treatment to suck on the sour candy 24/7 to keep ducts up but to no avail. Personally because I have such aggressive Tall Cell I will never do the RAI again That is just me.