[TC]Re: questions relating to 6 month WBS

[Guest guest]

> Hi everyone

> I am a little confused about what to do when I see my endo to

> discuss my first 6 month WBS.

> My last scan was in Oct. and it was not clean.

I assume this was your post RAI scan? The scan within weeks of the

RAI would not have been a clean scan, since there is thyroid tissue

left from surgery.

> At my last appt. with my endo he mentioned that he would like to

> use Thyrogen this time. From reading many of your posts I am

> getting the idea that I am better off not using Thyrogen until I

> have a clean WBS. As far as I am concerned I would like to do

> whatever would give me the BEST results. I would appreciate your

> opinions.

My opinion - I'd wait for at least one clean scan before using

Thyrogen

Thyrogen is not considered as reliable as hypo for scanning, even

according to its manufacturer (from their prescribing info):

" Across the two clinical studies, the Thyrogen scan failed to detect

remnant and/or cancer localized to the thyroid bed in 16% (20/124) of

patients in whom it was detected by a scan after thyroid hormone

withdrawal. In addition, the Thyrogen scan failed to detect metastatic

disease in 24% (9/38) of patients in whom it was detected by a scan

after thyroid hormone withdrawal. "

http://www.thyrogen.com/global/pi.pdf

And, on the off chance that you do need another ablation, you'd have

to go off meds and go hypo anyway.

> When I was hypo I was quite tired and all of the

> other great stuff but I was still able to cope. I wonder if there

> are any medical advantages of taking Cytomel? Also are there any

> medical disadvantages of taking Cytomel?

The advantage of Cytomel is that most of us find it helps offset the

hypo symptoms. Some people don't feel it helps.

Here's a great post of 's about the use of Cytomel:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Thyca/message/13804

Cheers,

Alisa

Currently - TSH 0.09, 140mcg Levoxyl

2/15/2002: Nodule found 2/27/2002: FNA

3/4/2002: Hysterectomy/oopherectomy-possible ovarian cancer - BENIGN!!

4/9/2002: TT - Stage 2 pap 2.5 x 2 x 1.6 cm nodule, dx Hashimotos

5/28/2002: 100 mCi RAI

12/16/02: WBS (5 mCi): clean scan - no thyroid tissue in body!!!

Age: 49 -- Location: near Seattle WA --- Check out my posts:

Radioactive Girl - http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Thyca/message/19472

My LID - http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Thyca/message/15872

My RAI - http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Thyca/message/15873

LID stuff - http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Thyca/message/25430