Body Scan--B-6

kaye4

I'm scheduled for a body scan due to thyroid cancer. Once I discontinue the synthroid, is it alright to take B-6 while going hypo? I thought it would help in metabolism and since it was water-soluble, it would not affect the body scan. Any thoughts?? Thanks.

Rustifox

Are you doing the Low Iodine Diet? This can be very, very important to ensure your dietary iodine does not 'block' the uptake of either our scan doses of I-131, or treatment doses. The difference can be a 'false negative' - it is worth your time and effort.

You should be - for 14 days prior to swallowing your scan dose (7 days minimum of absolutely no mistakes - the 2 weeks usually ensures that). Here is a link to the diet, and also a newly published book which helps with it:
http://www.thyca.org/ThyCaCookbook.pdf
http://www.yourhealthpress.com/book_lidcookbook.html

With the above said, you should not, for the last 2 weeks before taking your scan dose, and until 48 hours after your treatment dose (if it is required - stay on the diet until the doc says 'yes or no' for a treatment dose), avoid all multivitamins and supplements.

Many of these contain iodine - sometimes in large amounts, and regulations do not require that they include iodine as a listed item. It is better/safer to just stop taking them for this short period of time.

The exception to this is if you have parathyroid problems - you must continue to take your calcium, of course, but make sure it is calcium citrate instead of calcium from seashell sources (tums are ok - many others are not).

Hope this helps. Unless a doctor has prescribed supplements as a medical necessity, it is much safer to just stop them for the 2-3 weeks or so until your scan and/or treatment doses are finished.

If prescribed, of course, always check with your doctor first before changing or stopping any medication.