I had a thyroid storm in February and spent a week in the hospital. I just had RAI last week. My endo discussed all the options with me and the plus and minuses of each. I went with his recommendation. He's very thorough in his explanation, he even illustrates everything on a dry erase board. He'll be checking me every month unless of course I have problems. I know what a thyroid storm is now and I will sure know it if I get anywhere near one. I had no side effects from the RAI except for a slight sore throat. What I didn't like was not being able to be closer than 3 feet of anyone, including my pets for 7 days. My cats were not at all happy, especially my boy, who is used to practically being attached to me 24/7. He alternated between giving me dirty looks and hurt looks. I also had to sleep in a separate room and wash my clothes and dishes separately. Those were no big deal, and neither was the flushing twice.

I did take Tapazole (methimazole) from the middle of Feb. until two weeks ago. I couldn't take PTU. They tried it in the hospital and it messed up all my counts within 24 hours. I hated Tapazole. First, everything tasted so horrible I couldn't eat anything but fruits and vegetables. Then after 2 1/2 months that went away but my hair started falling out in clumps. It still is and there's not much left. But my counts were good and my levels went down. My thyroid was running 8 time higher than normal when I had the storm. The problem with just staying on Tapazole is that since I had one storm, I have a greater chance of having a second and my endo said the answer was to kill off my thyroid altogether.

As for Toprol XL, I've taken it for 4 years. As the doses increased, I did get a few side effects like flu-like symptoms, but they only lasted a few weeks. Other than that, I've had no problems with it. My cardiologist said that the 200 mg. a day I was taking when I had the storm saved my life.

These are just my experiences, and it's not the same for everyone. You are smart to research everything before you decide on a treatment.

Thank you all for responding.

I have decided to take the tapazole for now. My doc did say that since I have severe hyper, that she would only give it 3 months to work. I will pick up my prescription tonight and start. She said I could take all 3 pills at one time. Do any of you have any suggestions about that? Seems weird that I could take them all at once.