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For those not “in the know,” I was diagnosed with Thyroid Cancer (papillary carcinoma) about 10 years ago, and about every 5 years I need to get a scan done to make sure it didn’t come back.

Long story short, I went completely off of the pills that deliver my thyroid hormones about 2 weeks ago (this is to prep me for the scan) and still have about 2 weeks left to go. Every day I feel a little worse and little less like sitting at my PC. It’s a total bummer. Once everything is said and done not only will my posting go back to “normal,” but I’ll make a post explaining about how this affects someone going through it.

Here’s a great website for you if you’d like to learn some, or have a family member about to go through it:

Canadian ThyroidCancer Support Group (Thry’vors)

I know I’m not from Canada, but they have some real good information. For example, a whole section on “going Hypo” which is what I’m doing:

“Going Hypo”

Our bodies require thyroid hormone; a hormone taken in synthetic form once the thyroid has been removed. Without thyroid hormone, the body produces an increasing amount of thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH). An elevated TSH of at least 30 mIU/L is needed for the RAI treatment to be effective. To achieve this rise in TSH, patients must stop taking their thyroid hormone replacement pills, or have their TSH stimulated by taking Thyrogen®, a medication given by injection (see section below). Going hypothyroid by hormone withdrawal, involves stopping levothyroxine, also known as T4 (brand names are Synthroid and Eltroxin) for approximately 4-6 weeks prior to RAI treatment. During the time that levothyroxine is stopped, Cytomel (T3) may be prescribed. Cytomel is a fast-acting (and fast dissipating) form of thyroid hormone used to minimize the symptoms of hypothyroidism during hormone withdrawal. Cytomel is stopped approximately 2 weeks prior to RAI treatment. ‘Going hypo’ is a gradual process with the thyroid hormone changes occurring slowly over the six week period. The longer the patient is off of thyroid hormone, especially during the last two weeks prior to RAI treatment when no thyroid hormone is taken, the more likely the patient will experience symptoms of hypothyroidism.

Some Symptoms Associated with Hypothyroidism:

• Tiredness, loss of energy, weakness
• Trouble sleeping, nightmares or excess sleep
• Puffiness and bloating especially in the face
• Loss of ability to concentrate, memory loss, absentmindedness
• Weight gain
• Anxiety, panic attacks, irritability, mood swings
• Depression
• Dry eyes, skin and hair; hair loss
• Change in menstrual cycle
• Joint pains and stiffness, muscle cramps
• Intolerance to cold
• Constipation
• Tingle or numbness in arms or legs
• Ringing in ears
• Slight changes in eyesight

Helpful Hints for “Going Hypo” and Preparing for RAI

1. Identify people you can count on for support and help before and after your treatment.
2. Obtain information from your Nuclear Medicine department or doctor regarding precautions and preparation for your return home from the hospital. Make sure your family and friends understand the necessary precautions.
3. Consult with your doctor about your daily activities including driving, and learn when you should restrict your activities. (Note that hypothyroidism is a form of physical impairment, thereby restricting you from driving in the final days or weeks before treatment.)
4. Prepare low iodine diet (LID) menus and have your pantry stocked with low iodine foods (see LID section).
5. Take naps as needed.
6. Watch alcohol consumption while hypo as the impact will be much greater than what you normally experience.
7. Keep your sense of humour.
8. Don’t expect immediate recovery right after your scan is complete. While patients feel much better in 2-3 weeks, it takes approximately 8 weeks for the thyroid hormone levels to normalize once thyroid hormone pills are resumed.

How great is that? They have much more advice on the website as well.

Okay, my fingers are freezing from all this typing (dunno, seems to be a side effect I personally get while off my meds) so I need to go try and warm ‘em up. Thanks for dealing with this and being patient with me!!

This last weekend Jess and I decided to visit the 1st Annual Omaha Health, Wellness, & Fitness Expo and I’m thinking the name should be changed to the Omaha Scam, Snake Oil, & Nonsense Expo. Really. First, here’s what the website had to say about it:

Over 10,000 attended the 1st Annual Omaha Health Expo. The Largest Health Expo in the Region expanded through both the Exhibition Hall and the Mancuso Cenvention Center with over 250 exhititors and 50 Seminars, 4 continous Seminar Rooms and 1 Keynote Speaker Stage where we heard from Experts on ways to improve our lifestyles, live longer, better, and happier. This Show again is positioned to kick off the Healthy Season next year on April 25th & 26th, 2009. Mark your Calandars to attend again and Participate in the Walk on Saturday and the Bikeride on Sunday.

Sounds pleasant, informative, and full of healthy stuff! So, what all did we see? Well… we had Crystal Healers:

Quantum Biofeedback:

Psychics (only $30 for a reading!):

Fortune Tellers (complete with crystal balls and tarot cards):

Aura Painting:

Hypno-Yoga (Yoga while Hypnotized, of course!):

Fairies (for some reason):

Homeopathic Remedies (of course that’d be here):

Cell phone “invisible radiation” protection through special “chips”:

And much more! Here’s just a small part of the expo floor… I took the liberty of highlighting the “non-scam” parts:

Can you make ‘em out? They are Avon, and American Family Insurance. Now, there were actual medial professionals there, but it was about 10 - 15 “non-traditional” healing booths for every one medical one. The worst part? Every booth that was sponsored by a hospital was empty, while the others promising everything from stress removal from conception (that’s what the Quantum Biofeedback people promised) to berries that cured all disease (I didn’t get a shot of that one) were packed.

I’ll have to go into some of these in more detail later (like I did with the whole Ion Cleanse thing), but I’m feeling wiped out at the moment. Let’s just say there was almost no health, wellness, or fitness here… it was very sad to see people in wheelchairs looking at some of these presentations with hope in their eyes. The people running the booths brought in quite a bit of money, and you just know they’re just feeding on the hope of the elderly and the sick. It was very sad to see, but what can you do about it? No matter what you tell them, hope will usually win out over facts and science. Oh well…

These are my daily “Good to Know” links for 04/22/08 … please enjoy:

World’s Greatest Cunning Stunt | Google Sightseeing

We?ve all been there - the camera is on us, and we suddenly feel a burning desire to impress it. Sadly, not everything turns out how we plan. Check out this awesome stunt, captured by the GoogleMobile!

A chart showing public acceptance of evolution in 34 countries. | LiveScience

A chart showing public acceptance of evolution in 34 countries. The United States is ranked near the bottom, only above Turkey and just below Cyprus, Latvia, Lithuania, and Bulgaria.

The Most Annoying Song Ever, Scientifically Speaking | Gizmodo

Russian-American artists Vitaly Komar and Alex Melamid conducted a poll a few years back of the music people hated the most, and they’ve compiled all of it into a single 23-minute long song odyssey of suck.

Laser Pointers Classed as Weapons in Australia | Slashdot

An article in the Sydney Morning Herald which says that New South Wales will prohibit the possession of certain types of laser pointers, defining them as weapons. Wow.

VitalJacket: Heart Monitor And T-Shirt in One | Gizmodo

Some of the same kind of health telemetry that the French army may be using could be yours in the new VitalJacket product: it’s a smart T-shirt with a built-in electrocardiogram monitor!

Come back for more links tomorrow!!

These are my daily “Good to Know” links for 04/03/08 … please enjoy:

Net Scam Actually an Army Security Test | Military.com

An offer for free tickets to theme parks for servicemembers turned out to be an e-mail scam, which turned out to be a security exercise run by the Army.

Daily caffeine 'protects brain' | BBC NEWS

Coffee may cut the risk of dementia by blocking the damage cholesterol can inflict on the body, research suggests. The drink has already been linked to a lower risk of Alzheimer's Disease, and a study by a US team for the Journal of Neuroinflammation may

DJ Food: Raiding the 20th Century - UbuWeb Sound

In January 18th 2004, Strictly Kev premiered the original 'Raiding The 20th Century' on XFM's 'The Remix' show in London. It was a 40 minute attempt to catalogue the history of cut up music - be it avant garde tape manipulation, turntable megamixes or bas

Crawling fish may be part of new family | Yahoo! News

A University of Washington professor says a recently discovered fish that crawls instead of swimming and has forward-looking eyes like humans could be part of an entirely unknown family of fishes.

Study Finds Botox May Move From Face to Brain | FOXNews.com

A new study raises the concern that the popular anti-wrinkle treatment Botox may travel from its injection site into the brain. The toxin also moved from one hippocampus, which controls long-term memory and spatial navigation, to the hippocampus on the

Come back for more links tomorrow!!