| Re: RAI for hyperthyroidism/Graves': How long until I'm put on Synthroid?
I haven't had RAI myself, but I can offer general advice, if you're interested.
It's true that you do not have to avoid all those healthful foods while taking thyroid replacement. The articles and studies that say to avoid them are talking about UNtreated people who already have too little circulating hormone. I can tell you from a dreadful experience I had with flaxseed before I was diagnosed hypoT that this class of goitrogenic foods can indeed make an untreated person significantly more hypoT.
Your PCP is correct; the dose can easily be tailored to your diet. The big IF in this equation, though, is having a doctor willing to prescribe you as much hormone as you need. There is absolutely NO guarantee that your MD will do that, however. Most MDs are stingier with thyroid hormone prescriptions than they are with potent, addictive narcotic drugs. They have a certain mindset that limits the dose they will prescribe, and they too frequently use the black/white numbers on a lab sheet to prescribe what they think will fix everything instead of prescribing what will eliminate your hypoT symptoms. I don't mean to sound so dire about this, but it's the truth.
The same holds for deciding when to start Synthroid. Everything depends on the wisdom of your prescribing doctor. He may be the sort who doesn't decide you need it until HE decides you do.
Lisa and I have given you our best advice on the RAI decision. Postponing it, even at this late date, would give you time to thoroughly educate yourself about the full consequences of that decision.
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"We can complain because rose bushes have thorns, or rejoice because thorn bushes have roses." Abraham Lincoln
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