Thyroid uptake/scan?

UMichGirl

Has anyone had these procedures done?  Can you tell me a little bit about your experience, and the reason your doctor had for doing it?  What did you do to prepare for it, were you given an injection/have to drink something/etc...Just curious.  Were you glad you did it afterwards (did you get results that could be used to help your thyroid situation)?

Thanks!

Sunshine05

I had the radioactive iodine thyroid uptake scan done a few years ago.  I had to take a pill orally with the radioactive iodine and then waited a certain amount of time and then they did a scan with a machine to trace the dye.  It looks for any nodules, which I knew I had just based on it being so large that I was able to feel it myself!  It doesn't hurt, nothing to drink, just swallowing the pill... although it was a huge horse pill!  They have to specially make it on-site. 

I was glad that I had it done because I knew I had a nodule and needed to see if I could possibly have thyroid cancer since it runs in my family.  Thankfully, the scan only revealed the one nodule.  I had my thyroid completely "killed" due to the nodule that was making my thyroid overproduce and making me hyperthyroid.  After the radiation treatment, I became hypothyroid and will be on a replacement hormone Synthroid (pill) daily for the rest of my life.  Being on a well-controlled dose of thyroid hormone greatly reduces a lot of my symptoms. It was well worth doing the scan for sure!

The only negative is that since it is radiation, you can get tired and you do "leak" low levels of radiation for a week or two after.  You have to be really careful when using the bathroom, they urge you to use the same toilet and be very careful about cleaning your hands and being sanitary.  You also are supposed to limit your contact with other people since it can make them sick.  My grandma was with me at the hospital when I had the procedure done and just being around me for a few hours made her very sick, albeit she is a sickly person to begin with.  I had to keep my distance until it completely left my body. 

Funny note on this was that 2-3 weeks after the radiation I was going to a work conference in Key West.  Due to it being after 9/11 and so close to Cuba, the Key West airport had a random scan for radiation on carry-ons... mine lit up like the 4th of July just from my hands sweating and touching it.  I thought they were about to pounce on me!  Thankfully my doctor had given me a card that said I had received treatment and was okay!  lol  That could have turned into quite the situation!

Here's a webmd link for you as well: https://www.webmd.com/a-to-z-guides/thyroid-scan

Sorry that's such a novel!  If there's anything else you want to know, feel free to ask!  I'll answer if I can remember!

 

nej2000

Sunshine05:

I had the radioactive iodine thyroid uptake scan done a few years ago.  I had to take a pill orally with the radioactive iodine and then waited a certain amount of time and then they did a scan with a machine to trace the dye.  It looks for any nodules, which I knew I had just based on it being so large that I was able to feel it myself!  It doesn't hurt, nothing to drink, just swallowing the pill... although it was a huge horse pill!  They have to specially make it on-site. 

 

Same experience...completely painless. Except, I had no modules so everything came out fine for me. Good Luck!

UMichGirl

Thank you for your responses!  I am off to read the website now.  My doctor called with my latest b/w from last week and while my free T3 and T4 levels have "significantly improved" (they are now smack-dab in the middle of normal range) my TSH is still suppressed at 0.03.  He thinks if we wait another 4-6 weeks and get more b/w done, my TSH may rise on its own after the encouraging improvement he's seen with the T3/T4.  However if we are in a "rush" in terms of treatment with the RE and want to do the thyroid tests, I can go as early as next week.  (RE doesn't want to start IUI or anything until thyroid stuff gets figured out.)  I just don't want to do a test that I don't *have* to do if my body is going to fix something on its own anyway.  Five months ago I was slightly hypothyroid, so I was put on synthroid which made my TSH levels absolutely plummet (they were at a 0.0005) so of course I wonder if the SLIGHT hypothyroid level I had would have fixed itself too and being on the synthroid just made matters worse.  I don't know.

Now I'm rambling on...and the whole point was to thank you for your posts!  lol...Have a good weekend ladies.