Feeling Lousy After A Bone Scan

[masterjen]

I had a nuclear medicine bone scan yesterday afternoon, to hopefully explain (or rule out) causes of ongoing rib discomfort. I was injected with a radioactive dye, had to wait 3 hours then had the scan done; the scan itself took 30 min. About 4 hours later (so just after the scan was completed) I started feeling a little dizzy/woozy, but I blamed it on perhaps being a bit anxious (I didn't think I was anxious in a huge way, but who knows). Once I got home this progressed to mild/moderate headache, mild nausea, and fatigue, and I went to bed early. Slept fine through the night, but got up feeling weak (didn't resolve with eating - I was thinking low blood sugar), mildly dizzy, and with a moderate headache, and this has persisted now for 4 hours. I've been drinking lots to get rid of the stuff they injected. I can can pretty much put up with the symptoms, but they sound so much like a gluten reaction to me. Nothing I've read in my online research tells me exactly what is in the stuff they injected besides radioactive isotopes (there must be some sort of fluid base the isotopes are put into in order to make them injectable). Has anyone else had this test done? Does anyone know if there is any gluten in what they inject?

[jenngolightly]

I had a nuclear medicine bone scan yesterday afternoon, to hopefully explain (or rule out) causes of ongoing rib discomfort. I was injected with a radioactive dye, had to wait 3 hours then had the scan done; the scan itself took 30 min. About 4 hours later (so just after the scan was completed) I started feeling a little dizzy/woozy, but I blamed it on perhaps being a bit anxious (I didn't think I was anxious in a huge way, but who knows). Once I got home this progressed to mild/moderate headache, mild nausea, and fatigue, and I went to bed early. Slept fine through the night, but got up feeling weak (didn't resolve with eating - I was thinking low blood sugar), mildly dizzy, and with a moderate headache, and this has persisted now for 4 hours. I've been drinking lots to get rid of the stuff they injected. I can can pretty much put up with the symptoms, but they sound so much like a gluten reaction to me. Nothing I've read in my online research tells me exactly what is in the stuff they injected besides radioactive isotopes (there must be some sort of fluid base the isotopes are put into in order to make them injectable). Has anyone else had this test done? Does anyone know if there is any gluten in what they inject?

I've had it done with no ill side-effects. I'm sorry you feel so bad. To be clear, you cannot get glutened by injection. You can only get glutened by ingesting gluten. If you didn't eat it, you didn't get glutened from it. However, if you feel that you got sick from the procedure, you should call your doctor to make sure that you aren't having a different side effect. Better to be safe than sorry. Good luck.

[dilettantesteph]

Someone in my local celiac support group had to have a CT scan for which she had to drink something. She called the hospital and had them check the gluten status first. One of the flavors did contain gluten, so she didn't have that one and everything went fine. You could try to phone the hospital and have them check for you. A little too late now, though.

[tom]

. .. . To be clear, you cannot get glutened by injection. You can only get glutened by ingesting gluten. If you didn't eat it, you didn't get glutened from it.

....

Hoping this doesn't come off as too harsh but that is simply not true.

I do understand how a celiac w/ primarily or only GI symptoms would think this.

But celiac can affect EVERY system in the body due to gluten/gliadin fragments entering the bloodstream via the leaky gut, which I believe has become acknowledged to exist in every symptomatic celiac. (See Aug '09 Scientific American)

In fact, the most promising "celiac pill" is actually a leaky gut pill, blocking the path to the bloodstream for these gluten/gliadin fragments.

P.S. After all that I have to say I can't imagine why gluten would be in any solution/substance meant for injection.

[dilettantesteph]

Sorry, I didn't see the injection part. I thought it was something ingested anyway.

[weluvgators]

P.S. After all that I have to say I can't imagine why gluten would be in any solution/substance meant for injection.

Have you looked much at biopharmaceutical processes and manufacturing of biopharmaceutical therapies? Many of these therapies target autoimmune diseases. These therapies (usually injectable) are manufactured using nutrient solutions (also called "media") that may be derived from wheat.

Open Original Shared Link

Open Original Shared Link

With the drive to remove serum and products of animal origin from cell-culture media during manufacture of protein-based biologics, plant hydrolysates have become popular as feeds in fed-batch cell culture to boost productivity.

To determine the effect that plant hydrolysates or a chemically defined medium had on protein production, on days 3, 6, and 9, a 10% v/v solution of one of the plant hydrolysates derived from pea, wheat, soy, or rice (Kerry Bio-Science, Rochester, MN) was added at a stock concentration of 100 g/L to the cultures or the media were supplemented with a 10% v/v chemically defined feed, CHO celiac disease EfficientFeed A (Invitrogen, Grand Island, NY).

I don't know how plant hydrolysates are manufactured. There is a Purification process for harvesting the resultant protein therapies of these biopharmaceutical processes, but how would one determine if they evaluate gluten content?

Here is another bit about these media solutions.

Open Original Shared Link

Millipore (NYSE: MIL) will have exclusive rights to market and sell all seven of Solabia's plant-derived hydrolysates -- also called plant-derived peptones -- for use in the media that grows cell cultures throughout the Americas, the European Economic Community and the Asia-Pacific region, company officials said.

Millipore, which is based in Billerica, provides technologies tools and services for bioscience research and biopharmaceutical manufacturing. The plant-based hydrolysates most commonly come from soy, wheat, peas, or potatoes, officials said.

[jenngolightly]

Hoping this doesn't come off as too harsh but that is simply not true.

I do understand how a celiac w/ primarily or only GI symptoms would think this.

But celiac can affect EVERY system in the body due to gluten/gliadin fragments entering the bloodstream via the leaky gut, which I believe has become acknowledged to exist in every symptomatic celiac. (See Aug '09 Scientific American)

In fact, the most promising "celiac pill" is actually a leaky gut pill, blocking the path to the bloodstream for these gluten/gliadin fragments.

P.S. After all that I have to say I can't imagine why gluten would be in any solution/substance meant for injection.

Not harsh at all! If I post misinformation, I expect that someone should tell me.