A Meditation on Radiation
 

The latest in my posts on various non-combat aspects of the game: Crawl Out through the Fallout (Radiation in Twilight: 2000.

Medicines GDW Missed.
 

The one thing that GDW did not discuss in the initial publication is the methods of treating Radiation or even Heavy Metal exposure in order to reduce the RADS absorbed by the exposure. In their defense, this was not available to the public at large in the '80s when they were writing the game.

Potassium Iodide Tablets: These can be taken shortly after exposure (up to 1 hour) in order to "bind" some of the radioactive particles and pass them from the body through the kidneys. This will remove 1D6 rads from the exposure total.

Prussian Blue Treatment: I have only seen this in injectable form but it may be available in an oral form. Like PI tablets, this will bind to various radioactive elements and allow you to pass those rads by urination. It will reduce exposure by 2D6 rads.

DTPA (Diethylene Triamine Pentaacentic Acid): I don't know if this is oral or injectable but it will bind to radioactive metals in the system and can reduce the RADS absorbed by 1D6. It can also be used to treat heavy metal poisoning. It provides a bonus of 1 to the CON checks (see my Food Contamination Table in the Storing Food thread).

Lithium Dioxide: An injection that can help one fight off heavy metal poisoning just like DTPA above.

I have no idea what the Availability or Costs of these meds should be. Input is obviously welcome.

I do not remember for sure, but around 2000 I got my family Potassium Iodide Tablets partly as prep for Y2K, and partly as a joke (I did not think anything was really going to happen), so they were available, and I do not remember having to look that hard. As for the rest no idea.

Potassium iodide protects against radioactive iodine accumulating in the thyroid. It's most effective within 24 hours of exposure and does not protect against any other radioactive element.

There are two types of DTPA - calcium (Ca-DTPA) and zinc (Zn-DTPA). Ca-DTPA is more effective within 24 hours of exposure, but they're equally effective after that. It's only effective with plutonium, americium, and curium. For most exposure, it's an IV, but for inhaled nuclear material it can be a mist. Both of them will also bind to zinc, manganese, and magnesium (Ca-DTPA more aggressively than Zn-DTPA), so dietary supplements may be needed to prevent malnutrition. Because they're equally effective after 24 hours and Ca-DTPA is more toxic, the recommended strategy is to dose with Ca-DTPA for the first day and Zn-DTPA afterward. Chelation therapy can last for years, and while real-world effectiveness varies widely, for game purposes it can be considered to allow the user to excrete in urine about 25 times as much radioactive material as normal (this is roughly its real-world americium effect).

Prussian blue is now primarily taken orally as 500mg capsules and binds cesium and thallium. The material is excreted in bowel movements. It reduces the biological half-life of cesium from 110 days to 30 days and thallium from 8 days to 3 days.

In 2015, a new drug was approved, Neupogen, which stimulates white blood cell production. It's expected that it will help accelerate the recovery of the immune system when radiation damages bone marrow and slows the production of blood cells. It's an injection given daily for up to two weeks, and is recommended for those who receive a dose of 2 Gray or more in a short period of time at a dose of 10 micrograms per kilogram of body mass. It doesn't chelate any heavy metals, so it would be best used in conjunction with other treatments. It can cause damage to the spleen and blood vessels, so it's a bit more aggressive of a treatment than the others.

This is pretty useful - I'll add it in to the post/article and reference this thread / credit you. This is your work not in any canon supplement?

Neupogen is a trade name for G-CSF which has been around since 1983 actually... although it's use in radiation poisoning may be more recently approved/funded, it's used for supporting people with cancer having chemotherapy. It's a supportive care treatment and is actually very safe and unlikely to cause any side effects although like any medication can have side effects.

This is my own work and you are free to use ANY material I post here in the forum. I particularly enjoy when the other guys post too. The Vespers War and I seem to "feed" each other's posts quite often. We don't always reach the same conclusion, but variety is the spice of life.

I always credit (by placing in quotes) AND post the THREAD of reference of anyone's work I use... Credit given where Credit is due.

James has a sourcebook on the forum here about Chemical Weapons that discusses Radiation too. I just cannot remember WHAT THREAD it was in. His work is FIRST CLASS! You should check it out.