Does anyone know about the restrictions on physical contact with people after taking radioactive iodine pill?
Disconights asked:
My girlfriend had to go the doctor today and take a radioactive iodine pill that will allow the doctors to scan her body for remnants of cancer she had removed last year.They told her she has to stay 3 feet away from people for a day.How does the “radiation” I guess transfer from person to person and what negative effects could it have on the person coming in contact with it.
That doesn’t make sense to me. If it were that dangerous to people three feet away it would be much worse for her.
Theoretically if someone swallowed something extremely radioactive, and if it emitted intense gamma rays (which are like powerful X-rays) they could travel through her body into someone else. Alpha- and beta-radiation are particles instead of photons, so they are not going to be able to get through a person’s body – unless the beta radiation level is so high its instantly deadly.
So, radiation doesn’t travel like bacteria, but the effects of the radioactive substances can – theoretically – affect people around the person.
But, again, this makes no sense to me, since it would make the iodine significantly dangerous to the person who took it.
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Added. Well, who listens to me anyway? It turns out that this IS a standard recommendation. Iodine will concentrate in the thyroid – which is presumably where the cancer was. And so others should stay a bit away from the neck.
Although, I still don’t see how it can be THAT bad, but, I would take the doctors word over some guy on Yahoo Answers with a blimp for an icon.
I did a little research and most of the sites I found recommended limited contact for three days, not just one. Not only did it mention limited contact, but other things like eating and hygeine. Check these out:
Look for the “precautions” section.