Watery eyes, upset stomach, bad taste in mouth, count me in B.....p

[Guest guest]

The last digest included several posts about running eyes, bad taste in

mouth etc. I had 150 mCi on Friday and have been experiencing all of the

above. posted some excellent info yesterday about the eye problem and

I know it is also really common to have the bad taste sensation after RAI.

I believe that chewing on sours and sugarless gum helps to clear out the

salivaries and hope that eventually this will get better and my stomach will

feel better soon. On its way ouit of the body the RAI tends to collect in

the stomach and the bladder (see your FBS/WBS for a visual representation of

this) and my guess, I'm not a physician, is that this is related to the

upset stomach. I don't feel like eating or drinking because of the bad

taste and upset stomach but my doc says I need to.

Rob in NE

Here are the eye posts referred to yesterday. My doc prescribed some

gentamicin and my eyes are feeling better already!

>>Message: 16

>>Date: Sun, 23 Jun 2002 14:28:45 -0400

>> From: katiekabob@...

>>Subject: Re: drainage from eyes post-RAI :..(

>>While salivary gland problems seem to get more attention, tearing eyes

after RAI ablation is not uncommon, and for the same reason - RAI is in

bodily fluids, including tears as well as saliva.

See quotes below.

I hope it will clear up for you soon.

-

NYC

----------------------------------------------------------------

...... from an online radiology text ...

" Acute Complications of I-131 Thyroid Ablation Therapy:

" 14- Chronic or recurrent conjunctivitis, keratoconjunctivitis, decreased

lacrimal function.

" About one-quarter of patients treated will have subjective complaints

of xerophthalmia [1,26], and about 18% will have objective evidence of

decreased lacrimal function after one year [26].

Objective evidence for persistent keratoconjuctivitis sicca can be found

in up to 7.6% of patients three years following treatment [26].

Therefore, although decreased lacrimal function is common after

therapy, it is generally a transient side effect [26]. "

http://www.auntminnie.com/MD2/nucmed/Endocrine/Thyroid/I-131%20

for%20cancer/I-131%20for%20thyroid%20cancer.html#rhTSH

-----------------------------------------------------------

J Nucl Med 2001 May;42(5):738-43

" ..... CONCLUSION: Salivary and lacrimal gland dysfunction

(sicca syndrome) is relatively frequent after radioiodine therapy.

In most cases this is a transient side effect, but in some patients

it may persist for a long period or appear late. "

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov:80/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve & db=PubMed & list

_uids=11337569 & dopt=Abstract

R Blinn wrote:

> I received 150 mCi of RAI on Friday at 1pm CDT. Since that time my eyes

> have been increasingly goopy and look glassy when I look at them in the

> mirror. They are full of dry gunk after a night of sleep. I searched

> through the complete archive using " eye " and " drainage " as search terms.

I

> found nothing. Does anyone have a similar experience post-RAI?

>

> BTW, thanks for the support from everyone. Public and private messages

> have been very helpful. I have found this postRAI period more difficult

> than " hypo-hell, " I know that I still am quite hypo and will be only

> gradually ascending out of hh But now that I can eat no-LID, I am not

very

> hungry!

>

> Rob in Neb

[Guest guest]

Hi, Rob -

I'm so glad to hear that the gentamicin is making a difference!

We'll have to add that to the indexed archive lists :-)

One comment, though, about the upset stomach ...

I think you're right about the RAI wreaking some havoc on its way out of the

body, but I'm also pretty certain that a big contribution is made by being

extremely hypothyroid. Especially when the

RAI treatment is the first one post TT, one is generally more hypo after the

ablation than they were before, which, I believe, explains why we often feel

more symptoms afterwards.

In any case, it's certainly not pleasant, and there ARE some things that may

alleviate the situation.

I will post separately some recommendations from list members.

good luck to all -

NYC

R Blinn wrote:

> The last digest included several posts about running eyes, bad taste in

> mouth etc. I had 150 mCi on Friday and have been experiencing all of the

> above. posted some excellent info yesterday about the eye problem and

> I know it is also really common to have the bad taste sensation after RAI.

> I believe that chewing on sours and sugarless gum helps to clear out the

> salivaries and hope that eventually this will get better and my stomach will

> feel better soon. On its way ouit of the body the RAI tends to collect in

> the stomach and the bladder (see your FBS/WBS for a visual representation of

> this) and my guess, I'm not a physician, is that this is related to the

> upset stomach. I don't feel like eating or drinking because of the bad

> taste and upset stomach but my doc says I need to.

>

> Rob in NE

>

> Here are the eye posts referred to yesterday. My doc prescribed some

> gentamicin and my eyes are feeling better already!