Radioacitve Iodine - RAI
Radioactive
Iodine
(RAI) is a radioactive isotope of iodine. There are two common forms
used in
medicine; I-131 and I-123.
I-123is
used for scanning
purposes. It is used because it has a half life of 36 hours and does
not
produce "stunning" of the thyroid cells which is important when used to
determine ablation doses for thyroid cancer.
I-131is
used for the ablation
treatment of graves disease (overactive hyperthyroidism) and thyroid
cancer. It
has a half life of 8 days.
RAI
can come in a
liquid or capsule form. It is stored in a lead container until it is
administered to the patient. Each of the three times I received RAI the
technician had to take a rolling chair down the hall to retrieve the
cylinder
and then roll it back to the room where I was because it was so heavy.
They
could not remove the prescription bottle prior to being in the room
with me
because the radiation would expose everyone on the "trip" to
me. Each time the
technician did not handle the prescription bottle. They pulled it from
the
container with a "tongs" and had me grab the bottle and open it because
even
that would be too much exposure for them. I then had to take the pills
and
drink all the water provided. Then I had to show them that I had indeed
ingested it - like you would a kid who had to take medicine. Afterward,
I
quickly exited the hospital. More than likely exposing every person I
passed
along the way to harmful radiation. I returned home to remain in
isolation for
10 days.
Oddly
enough, I-131
can result from radioactive fallout from nuclear power plants such as
Chernobyl
and causes thyroid cancer. The recommendation for protection is to take
iodine
in these cases to protect the thyroid. Iodine (non-radioactive form) is
what
finally got my thyroid cancer under control after 3 failed attempts
with RAI.
Wouldn't one wonder about administering RAI to a thyroid cancer patient
when we
know it causes cancer already?
The
purpose of I-131
in the treatment of thyroid cancer is to kill remaining thyroid tissue
after
surgical removal and any cancer cells that could not be removed
surgically.
The
function of I-131
in treatment of thyroid cancer is to kill thyroid tissue along with
cancer
however, I-131 is not that discriminating. Many doctors tell their
patients
prior to an ablation treatment that it is the greatest form of
treatment
because it ONLY goes to the thyroid gland and there is no other cancer
treatment like this.THIS
IS NOT TRUE. Iodine goes to every gland
and mucosal lining
in your body. They all use iodine
and when it comes in - radioactive or not it will pull it in through
its NIS
(sodium iodine symporters) into the cells and damage the DNA of that
cell. Most
will die but many will be mutated through this process. If you spend
time on
the thyroid cancer boards you will see many women who later get breast
cancer
and in men it is prostate cancer.
A list of body parts that use iodine (not complete) is below:
Thyroid Salivary Glands
Breast Lungs
Adrenals Eyes
Prostate Gastrointestinal Tract
Kidney Ovaries
Thymus Uterus
Additional information can be found at Iodine 4 Health.
When
I had my
last round of RAI (250 mCi's), I lost almost all saliva, had a burning
tongue,
developed sores on the inside of my nose and vomited for 3 days. I am
now
sensitive to gluten and am in early menopause. My immune system was low
for 1
year after treatment. My breast developed 3 fibrous masses as well. I
also went
into severe adrenal fatigue. So many things could be tied to RAI yet my
Endocrinologist told me
there was no correlation and that he had never heard of anyone having
issues
like I did. Yet it is common - there are many more of us.
If
one were to
think about all this rationally and lay aside what conventional doctors
say, it
is impossible to believe that there is no damage to the body. The RAI
does not
go to just the thyroid bed and attack the remaining tissue and manage
to find
other "stray" thyroid cancer cells without touching anything. If it is
in the
blood it is everywhere. As it exits the body it is in the stomach, intestines and colon along with the bladder.
Most
thyroid
cancer patients are told to go on a low iodine diet for 2 weeks prior
to the
ablation. This starves the body of iodine causing it to pull in every
bit of
iodine it can when it sees it pass through the bloodstream.
Unfortunately this
is toxic iodine and is delivered all over the body. Patients are also
instructed to go off all thyroid medication until their TSH levels
reach 50 or
above. These high TSH levels will stimulate more NIS (iodine
pumps) to pull in
iodine (if you remember, in normal thyroid function, increased TSH is
due to
low hormone levels which would stimulate NIS to capture iodine so that
it could
create more hormones - T4 & T3).
I-131
is Iodine
that has Uranium on it to make it radioactive. When we tested my hair
for
levels of toxic metals my doctors and I were surprised to find high
levels of
uranium. After doing some research I discovered that I-131 was made
with
uranium. Uranium is a toxic heavy metal that can do damage to the
kidneys
and bones. Acute toxicity causes nausea, vomiting, diarrhea and kidney
damage.[A]
Even
though I
had 3 rounds of RAI, I do not recommend it to others. I was not
informed that
there were natural options available for treating thyroid cancer. It
was not
until I was facing external beam radiation after 3 failed RAI's that I
sought
the help of a holistic MD. I am now meeting individuals who have healed
from
thyroid cancer without thyroidectomies or RAI by using thyroid
supporting
nutrients.
I recommend working with a qualified holistic doctor when undertaking this task. Cancer is still dangerous when not treated correctly.
[A] Depleted Uranium and the Brain, National Institute of Environmental
Health Sciencies