# questions



## Tiredofgraves (Apr 12, 2013)

On another post I posted that my only choice, now is to take the radioactive iodine....my question is how do I prepare for this treatment what can and cannot eat prior to this treatment? Any advice or tips will, be appreciated thanks


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## Octavia (Aug 1, 2011)

Generally, your doctor should give you detailed instructions. Did doc say anything about a low-iodine diet?

Here are some good resources that you might find helpful:

http://www.hkcr.org/publ/Journal/vol8no3/full/127-135 Side.pdf

http://www.thyroid.org/patients/faqs/radioactive_iodine.html

http://www.thyca.org/ablation.htm

http://www.nucmed.com/nucmed/protocols/Thyroid_Cancer_Treatment_Guideline.rtf


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## Tiredofgraves (Apr 12, 2013)

Thanks for your response and tips.......Yea she told me I'm going to be on a, low iodine diet for 3 Weeks prior to treatment......also she said I'm going to get the shot to see how, much of the pill I need before the actual treatment


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## JPGreco (Mar 2, 2012)

I was told to be on the LID for about a week (give or take a couple of days).

NO SEAFOOD or SEA SALT!

Now, the problem with the LID isnt the diet, but rather food suppliers. Very few companies list what kind of salt they use, as salt as an ingredient does not have be labeled as iodized or if it is sea salt, only if the salt you are buying is the final product. Now, salt obviously isn't the problem, but sea salt and iodized salt are not permitted on the LID, so not knowing is a PITA. Personally, I cut at ALL salt from my diet, not sodium, but if the ingredients said salt, it was outta my diet for those days. Sodium in the nutrients label can come from other sources other than salt, which is fine. Sodium benzoate is an example, a preservative.

I went SUPER strict on my last go around since it was my 2nd dose of RAI. I completely cut out any potential sources of iodine, so no unknown salts and nothing that could contain iodine. Most professional research states to limit your intake, but I figured why not eliminate it completely.

Oddly enough I was expecting a bigger response to the RAI than my first time around since I was way more strict, but it almost seemed as though it didn't take, which freaked me out. But labs showed it took, hopefully for good this time.

I can provide a more detailed list of what I did if you would like. Mostly though it was eating very few foods and just dealing with being a bit hungry for about a week. 3 weeks, you may want to add some more variety than I did.


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## Tiredofgraves (Apr 12, 2013)

Thanks jp....yes I will like to know exactly what you did so I can know.....it will be greatly appreciated


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## Octavia (Aug 1, 2011)

For the LID (low iodine diet), you'll definitely want to visit this page, if you haven't already:

http://thyca.org/rai.htm


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## JPGreco (Mar 2, 2012)

Ok, well again, I was only on the diet for 1 week, so I can deal with eating the same thing over and over. Helps that I'm a bachelor too, so I'm still in the make one big pot of something and eat it all week lifestyle 
I also went VERY STRICT and it wasn't the low iodine or low salt diet. It was the NO iodine and NO UNKNOW salt diet.

My main diet was chicken.  Some sources said to limit chicken and red meat, but I went with a large package of plain chicken, nothing added to it. I marinaded that in a homemade marinade overnight so that it had some good flavor and cooked it all. I went with a lemon and herb marinade. Through the week I ate that with a mix of salad or pasta or any other permitted sides. I also often had some of it for lunch.

A lot of fresh fruit was included in my diet, as well as REAL oatmeal. Kind of bland, but you can spice it or add fruit or berries. Just can't make it with milk.

Popcorn with KOSHER salt was my snack of choice as kosher salt has no iodine added. I also used the kosher salt to season. Though this wasn't a problem because I like kosher salt over normal table salt. I ate a lot of popcorn. Again though, that was real popcorn that I had to pop myself. Not prepackaged in any form so there was nothing added to it other than what I added. Prepackaged microwave or bagged popcorn has salts added that you don't know if they are iodized or not. For making it, I poured some in a paper page and tossed it in my microwave with some salt and other seasonings. I avoided all butter and butter substitutes.

That was my diet in a nutshell for a week.

Resources I used to determine that diet:
http://www.penncancer.org/pdf/education/LowIodineDiet.pdf
http://www.thyroid.org/faq-low-iodine-diet/
http://thyroid.about.com/cs/cancer/a/lowiodinediet.htm
http://www.cc.nih.gov/ccc/patient_education/pepubs/lo_ioi_list.pdf
http://thyca.org/rai.htm

Some of the above info will contradict each other, so if one said yes, the other no, it was no for me. I also stumbled across a list from the US FDA that stated what manufacturers used what salt in their foods, but I didn't trust it as it was out of date by at least a year (which is very up to date for gov standards, but not my own).
Double check labels as well. Some of the above will state some substitutes (like silk or almond milks) are fine, but if you read the label, they contain unknown or even sea salts.
Remember, sodium is not the enemy on the nutrition label, but rather SALT in the ingredients list. You can get sodium from preservatives that aren't salt (salt is sodium chloride, and sodium benzoate, a preservative, can be listed as a source of sodium).
Somewhere around these boards or if you just google it, you can find the Low Iodine Cookbook. I didn't use it, but sounds like a good resource.

I had grand plans of really cooking awesome, but then I was way too lazy. You can pretty much make anything you would normally make (aside from seafood) by making it from scratch and tweaking ingredients. Like meatloaf, but don't use canned tomato sauce or ketchup, unless the tomato sauce is pure. Hamburgers are fine, chicken, steak, etc are all good. I ate baked potatoes, just not the skin. The hardest thing to replace really was dairy, and I LOVE dairy. I just eliminated it in all forms except bread, which I limited and label checked.

So thats really what I did and how I decided on that plan in a nutshell. Did I go overboard? Yes, but this was my 2nd round of RAI, so I wanted to be an empty vessel for it.

Good luck, personally, from my research, 3 weeks seems extreme, so I would say be aware of your diet for the first 2 weeks, cut out what you can, but a little milk in your coffee wont kill you. The last week go VERY strict.

Oh, and no beer was driving me mad.....:anim_32:

Good Luck


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## Tiredofgraves (Apr 12, 2013)

Thanks guys for, the info it really help me,a lot


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