I am now in the United States, and I had iodine 131 in the United States for hyperthyroidism, and I found out that people’s understanding of iodine 131 is completely different from that of Western medicine in the United States, and I met with the best doctors at Peking Union Medical College and Hospital 307 (and my parents’ friends made private appointments for me), so I would like to share my experience here and give some hope to those who are going to have iodine 131 treatment. I would like to share my experience with you and give you some information that I hope will be useful to you. I was found out to have hyperthyroidism 1 month ago, and I have been taking Tretinoin for 2 weeks. I did not take any hyperthyroidism medication (Tabazol) before, and I took Iodine 131 capsules 1 week ago. It’s all right, huh? First of all, Iodine 131 is 100% hypothyroid, the most authoritative endocrinologist in China told me so, but Chinese doctors are conservative in dosage, so some people become hypothyroid soon, some people start hypothyroid after 10 years, some may start after 20 years and so on. The American doctors told me directly that I should take thyroxine tablets for the rest of my life, because the American doctors are relatively large in their dosage, so basically, I had hypothyroidism within 1 or 2 years. Some patients in China who got hypothyroidism later doubted the doctor’s medical ethics or something, which is quite unwarranted. In fact, I personally think that the size of the measurement is indifferent, the Americans think that since sooner or later they will be hypothyroid, it is better to let the body adapt to this state early, and then more check-ups, timely adjustment of the amount of thyroxine. Chinese doctors feel that it is good to be conservative, but if the dosage is too conservative, many people will not be completely cured by taking Iodine 131 once, but they will have to take Iodine 131 two or three times, which will eventually lead to hypothyroidism. But hypothyroidism is not terrible, in the United States hypothyroidism is cured, because the risk is much lower than hyperthyroidism. By the way, I would like to tell you about the treatment of hyperthyroidism in the United States. Doctors in the United States will tell their patients that the possibility of relapse is very high, only 20% to 30% of people will be cured in one treatment (about 2.5 years). Especially for women who have not had children, it is almost inevitable that they will relapse during pregnancy, and then they will have to take medication to control it. Therefore, most Americans choose to do Iodine 131 because frequent checkups are also a psychological and physical torture. It is also important to note that if you are planning to get pregnant, doctors in the U.S. generally recommend Iodine 131, and American medicine generally believes that there is some risk of taking the drug during pregnancy, even with PTU, and that even if the child is born healthy, the IQ is more than 10 points lower than a normal child. Therefore, if you are planning to get pregnant, almost all Americans are treated with Iodine 131 first. Second, the American doctors talked to me for almost 3 hours before my treatment about all my worries and concerns, and they told me that this technology has been very mature for decades. The two main concerns are: 1. Will it affect conception and pregnancy? The answer is that the risk is the same as a normal pregnancy. 2. Will I be more likely to get cancer? They told me the risk is also the same as a healthy person. I also asked if it would affect my life expectancy, and they told me that it would not affect my life expectancy at all (to avoid suspicion, I have health insurance, it’s cheap, which means they won’t make me do 131 to make money, and it’s more expensive than 131 to take the medicine). They also told me that it was like buying food to eat when your family can’t produce it, and that there was no need to worry about taking thyroxine tablets in time. Perhaps you are concerned about the advice given to me by Chinese doctors, I saw a total of 4 doctors (I won’t mention their names, they are basically the most authoritative), 2 from Concord and 2 from 307 nuclear medicine doctors. 3 suggested that I should use Iodine 131, and one doctor felt that I was not heavy enough to take medication first, but did not object to Iodine 131. 3rd, most people feel nothing after taking Iodine 131, 20% will have a transient aggravation. In fact, I see that many people do not know or ignore this and think they are very poor, in fact, it is completely normal, usually 2 weeks later will be good, or slow to 4 weeks to feel comfortable, but up to 8 weeks should feel very good. I feel weak and nauseous now, but today I don’t feel much anymore, just a little tired after moving around. Well, that’s about it, I hope it’s useful. I hope that my words will be useful to you, and that you will have more confidence in the treatment, and I sincerely hope that everyone will get better. In the United States, we are constantly checking to see when we start to lose, and when we lose, we immediately eat thyroxine tablets and then our thyroid levels will all be normal. So hypothyroidism is temporary (very short-lived U.S. is currently checking me once a month, so it is hypothyroidism will be found in a month at most) — because you will always be observed by the doctor immediately after the reduction on the replacement of thyroxine, after eating and normal people exactly the same ah! The only drawback is that the amount you need in your body changes with age and life changes, and we have no way to calculate very precisely how much we need, so we have to go to the hospital half a year to see if the amount we are currently taking is appropriate. Permanent hypothyroidism means not taking any replacement thyroxine tablets at all, but after 131, people basically become hypothyroid, and in the United States, they start taking thyroxine tablets after 131, unless you don’t eat them (but no one does, right?!). However, American medicine believes that thyroxine tablets are the same as those secreted by the human body, without any side effects, just like the food we eat, compared to the damage done to the body by years of medication can not be compared. I’ve looked up almost everything in English about this disease and treatment, even if it helps a little. Most areas of the country do not have a comprehensive enough understanding of iodine 131. It’s not a scary disease at all. People here in the US are treated with iodine 131 and then take thyroxine tablets, and don’t take it as a disease at all. So I hope we can all be optimistic. If you are planning to get pregnant in the United States (for example, I am 24 years old and I plan to get pregnant within 2 years), you will be treated with 131 before you get pregnant. The first choice is 131 if you are ready to get pregnant, because the medication is easy to relapse, especially when the body hormone level changes during pregnancy is more likely to relapse, the United States almost rarely take medication while pregnant, because doctors believe that taking drugs during pregnancy will not make the child deformed, but the fetal intelligence is more or less affected – although not retarded although a healthy baby but not very smart. Generally, Iodine 131 can be taken after half a year when you get pregnant, and some doctors recommend that you get pregnant after 1 year if you are conservative (of course, thyroxine tablets should be taken all the time, thyroxine tablets are not drugs, they are just tablets to supplement the thyroxine produced by our body, and they are taken for life, just like eating for life, without side effects, and they are very cheap). The technology in China has become more mature, especially in big cities, and thousands of cases are done every year, so it should be very good if you do it in China. I found that this is the difference between Chinese and Western cultures and concepts. Chinese people are more conservative, because it is better to take medication to adjust, while if you do Iodine 131, you will be hypothyroid for the rest of your life, and you will have to take thyroxine replacement for the rest of your life, and you will feel like taking medication for the rest of your life. In fact, eating this is like eating every day, the body can not produce so much thyroxine, so add some externally. In fact, this is a cultural difference. The Chinese would rather be pregnant with drugs than do iodine 131. this depends on personal perception, huh?