# will i gain lots of weight after radioactive Iodine treatment?



## bluebutterfly26

ok. please answer. i am so scared and nervous and worried. i need advice from people who have been through this. my doctor tells me that i now have graves disease, my thyroid is very over active. and he wants me to take the radioactive iodine to kill my thyroid off. this makes me nervous, never again having a working thyroid. he says then i will have to take thyroid hormone every day for the rest of my life. my concerns are. after getting my thyroid killed off, am i going to gain tons and tons of weight. i weigh about 120 pounds right now, and i diet and exercise. i am very weight conscious and i don't want to gain lots of weight. once i'm on the medication to regulate my thyroid hormones, will i be able to lose weight just the same as any other person who had a normal thyroid. i read stuff about people saying, they have thyroid problems and even when on medication, they still can't lose the weight. my doctor told me a lot of people just blame the thyroid for not being able to lose weight. but i dunno. i'm scared. i want to be able to lose weight, or at least maintain my current weight. what do you think. what's your experience. how much weight did you gain after having radioactive iodine done, and once on the thyroid hormones were you able to lose weight. thank you. i'm looking for some reassurance that i don't need to be so worried


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## midgetmaid

I was gaunt by the time I had RAI, so I needed to gain a some weight. After RAI, my TSH went to 42 and I was still having to eat more than I wanted so I wouldn't get smaller.

Now I gain easily if I'm not careful. If I gain a few pounds I go back to my spartan eating habits and lose it fairly quickly.

Renee


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## Jackajacka42

I've been very careful about what I eat since my rai on 07/22. I am just trying to maintain at this point, and have settled on the fact that right now I'm not going to lose anything no matter how little I eat. But, I as well am nervous/weight conscious. I wish they would have talked me through it more so I was prepared. My dr said he usually only sees an average of 5-6 pound weight gain before they get you leveled out and then things should go back to normal. I've also seen a friend of mine gain 6 sizes, and another friend who gained about 20 lbs but has since lost all of it. I think it depends on how motivated you are, and if you are ready for about 6 months of not losing weight, and eating around 1300 calories ( I eat 1380) and exercising 6 days a week. That's what I do, and so far I haven't gained anything but a pound or so of water weight which I'm ok with. I went and talked with a dietician too which helped put me at ease a little. It's frustrating to work so hard, and realize this is merely to stay where you are at! Normally I would have dropped a bunch of weight and looked toned and awesome right now, so there is a lot of mental prep that you should prepare yourself for. The world won't end, but it will be hard until you can get your body to where it needs to be. It's very difficult to go from hyper to hypo so quickly because you are used to eating pretty much whatever and being fine, or at least that was me. I had to do a complete lifestyle change from where I was at, which is better for my body anyway in the long run. You'll learn new, healthy habits that you'll probably need to utilize for the rest of your life. Just take a big deep breath, and make sure you get all your questions answered before you do it.


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## minli

from what I gather, and I am about to start the RAI journey as well, it is all a matter of how quickly the docs can get your levels of Synthroid (or meds like it) right for your body after ablation.

Like everything else thyroid related it is all a numbers game.


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