"Before undergoing radioactive scanning, you may be asked to follow a low-iodine diet. Your doctor may have a specific diet or timeline for you to follow. If not, these tips may help you. Of course, as with other aspects of your therapy, its important to talk with your doctor about diet changes and other test preparation.

Some foods that contain iodine that you may want to avoid are listed below:

Iodized salt, sea salt, and salty foods. Because its hard to know which restaurants use iodized salt, you might want to avoid eating out during this time
All dairy products (milk, sour cream, cheese, cream, yogurt, butter, ice cream)
Margarine
Egg yolks
Seafood (fish, shellfish, seaweed, kelp)
Foods that contain carrageen, agar-agar, algin, or alginate all of these are made from seaweed
Many prepared and/or cured meats (ham, bacon, sausage, corned beef, etc)
Fresh chicken or turkey with broth or additives injected
Dried fruit
Canned vegetables
Commercial bakery products
Chocolate
Molasses
Soy products (soy sauce, soy milk, tofu)
Any vitamins or supplements that contain iodine
FD&C red dye #3 this appears in many foods or pills that are red or brown, including colas
NOTE: You should NEVER discontinue any medication before consulting your doctor!

If this seems overwhelming, it may help to know that iodine does not mean salt or sodium. Non-iodized salt, like Kosher salt, is fine to use on a low-iodine diet.

Selected foods that are okay to keep eating include:

Egg whites
Fresh noncured meat from the butcher
Matzoh
Homemade bread made with non-iodized salt and oil (not soy!) instead of butter or milk
Most fresh fruits and vegetables (but not too much spinach & broccoli), washed well
Frozen vegetables that dont have high-iodine ingredients (like regular salt) added
Canned peaches, pears and pineapples
Natural unsalted peanut butter
Clear sodas
Coffee or tea, as long as its made with distilled water. But remember, only non-dairy creamer!
Popcorn popped in vegetable oil or air popped, with non-iodized salt
Sorbet but remember to check the ingredient list for FD&C red dye #3!
You may want to shop and freeze or store your ingredients before starting your diet to avoid being tempted by iodine-containing foods at the store. Alternatively, try shopping at a health-food store where products will be labeled if they are salt and dairy free.

Especially if you will be going off your thyroid hormones for testing, you may want to prepare several meals and freeze them ahead of time, so you can cut down on the hassle later."
i hope that helps with the diet, i had to copy & paste from a website since idk how to post the link in here, anyways my experiences with rai weren't too bad, just a lil swelling in the neck area, a funny taste in the mouth, and fatigue. Good luck with things!

I would ask your doctor to give you recommendations. Length of time and how close you are are the big things after you have the RAI. And the amount of radioactive stuff gets smaller every day.
Yes, you are doing this to be strong for the long run. I am sorry about the timing. Love him up lots before hand and you will get through this.
My doctor was not worried about the low iodine diet. The docs are so different from office to office. I did stay away from dairy and seafood though just to be safe. And I limited restaurants.
Hugs to you!

when doing rai treatment in the hospital are you allowed to bring home the clothes , toiletries, books, dentures, etc., that you went in with?

My doctor made me stay away from home for 7 days. I was not permitted to come home during this time period. My daughter who is the youngest was 3 and 33 pounds. The concern was exposing her to the radiation. He was mostly concerned with her than my other two because she was the smallest. Because she is a BUSY girl, she could possibly sneak in the room(even if we were careful). So that is why he wanted me to stay away. Otherwise it would have been 3 days.

I had a dose of 102. They tailor make the pill based on the specifics from your doctor. In my case the radioactive material reduces quickly but stays in my system for a total of 80 days... although the exposure to anyone mimimizes each day.

The low-iodine diet is important because the thyroid cells soak up iodine. If they are full of iodine you have eaten in... then the pill could be less effective. That is the reason for the diet. A good place to look is http://www.thyca.org/Cookbook.pdf they have all the info there. It is important to note that almost all packaged food has salt in it and you do not know if it has iodine in the salt or not. For instance I could find NO mustard without salt so I simply did not use it at all.

My doctor made me stay on the diet for 3 days after the pill too. SO be sure to know this beforehand because you will not be able to eat a lot of hotel food if this is the case.

I ate a lot of fruits and veggies and fresh meat, salad(watch the dressing) and basamati rice which is the only kind you can have.

Because you have a baby, as long as you have someone helping care of for him, it is easier in one way because if you are home you can physically stay a distance from him without worrying he will run over to you. I think your doctor will let you have some limited interaction with him when you come home but be sure to ask. Also, you can not nurse(breastfeed) him at all after. I had to sign a waiver on that so I thought I would mention it.

Remember you are doing all this to be there for him in the future. So even though it is hard..... it is the best thing you can do for him so you know you are cured and treated for the cancer. Remember this is only a short season. You will get past it. My best to you and I will be thinking of you.

Feel free to message me if you have any questions.

I had RAI. Each day is not perfect yet....But I know it will get better.

Blessings to you.

Caroline