Just Had My CT Scan

[milk]

For my teeth. Results are due in a week.

I stood beneath a machine. A cubic plastic thing rotated around my head while emitting some kind of beep. I was given a kind of protective dress for my torso. My neck was naked. I asked about it. The woman who was performing the test on me replied: "For the thyroid? That's not possible. It would cover your mouth (?) and we wouldn't be able to see anything." I was holding these handlebars throughout, with my hands within the scope of the rays I believe, since I'm feeling a little pain between the fingers of my left hand now. Yeah, doesn't sound too good, I'm trying not to worry about it.

I have been feeling a very slight... sort of like an itch, or a feeling of sharpness, cutting... throughout my body the past hours. Again, trying not to worry.

After the CT scan I took 1 g niacinamide, one cup of coffee with 500 mg aspirin, 50 mg pregnenolone, two drops of Tyromix topically. I ordered niacinamide, taurine and vit D from a local drugstore and will get them tomorrow. I still don't have a red light. If the sun is out tomorrow I'll make a point of getting some sunlight.

Would progesterone help too?

Thanks.

 

[milk]

Took 5 mg cyproheptadine yesterday. Usually just 1 mg makes me very hungry the next day, which hasn't happened today.

Otherwise I feel ok.

 

[haidut]

For my teeth. Results are due in a week.

I stood beneath a machine. A cubic plastic thing rotated around my head while emitting some kind of beep. I was given a kind of protective dress for my torso. My neck was naked. I asked about it. The woman who was performing the test on me replied: "For the thyroid? That's not possible. It would cover your mouth (?) and we wouldn't be able to see anything." I was holding these handlebars throughout, with my hands within the scope of the rays I believe, since I'm feeling a little pain between the fingers of my left hand now. Yeah, doesn't sound too good, I'm trying not to worry about it.

I have been feeling a very slight... sort of like an itch, or a feeling of sharpness, cutting... throughout my body the past hours. Again, trying not to worry.

After the CT scan I took 1 g niacinamide, one cup of coffee with 500 mg aspirin, 50 mg pregnenolone, two drops of Tyromix topically. I ordered niacinamide, taurine and vit D from a local drugstore and will get them tomorrow. I still don't have a red light. If the sun is out tomorrow I'll make a point of getting some sunlight.

Would progesterone help too?

Thanks.

I have had only two sets of dental X-rays in my life and both times I was wearing a lead vest which had a very high collar completely covering my neck. I specifically asked about it and they were very well aware why it was needed. Given that the woman in your CT procedure also knew about it, I suspect they simply F-ed up and did not want to go through the trouble of finding one or simply did not have one on the premises. Unless it is a very special kind of neck CT scan, the wearing of thyroid protective vest is pretty much common procedure these days and most doctors know about it. So, I suggest you call back and ask for an explanation. In some states it is even against the law to do such a CT scan without informing the patient about the dangers of the CT to the thyroid and giving the option of wearing a protective vest or opting out of the CT scan altogether.

 

[milk]

I have had only two sets of dental X-rays in my life and both times I was wearing a lead vest which had a very high collar completely covering my neck. I specifically asked about it and they were very well aware why it was needed. Given that the woman in your CT procedure also knew about it, I suspect they simply F-ed up and did not want to go through the trouble of finding one or simply did not have one on the premises. Unless it is a very special kind of neck CT scan, the wearing of thyroid protective vest is pretty much common procedure these days and most doctors know about it. So, I suggest you call back and ask for an explanation. In some states it is even against the law to do such a CT scan without informing the patient about the dangers of the CT to the thyroid and giving the option of wearing a protective vest or opting out of the CT scan altogether.

Thanks for the reply.

She gestured with her hands over her face saying it (the teeth) wouldn't show correctly if I wore the protector around my neck. I got the impression it was standard protocol there, to not have patients wear something around their neck. I insisted on it and asked if there was anything I could wear but she said no, there was nothing.

A quick Google search reveals that it seems to be the promoted idea in Brazilian mainstream medicine, not to wear something around the neck during CT scans -- when it comes to breast x-rays for women, that is, but it seems to be same idea in my case. That the teeth wouldn't show correctly in the exam if I wore the protector and that (say the doctors) the radiation that affects the thyroid in such cases (where the beams are not directed at the neck) is minimal. I don't buy it, of course.

I saw a video by Drauzio Varella, Brazil's most famous doctor, a guy who talks on TV all the time, clearly a hack, a mainstream shill, but people take him seriously, and in the video he basically flat out says, in true authoritarian hack fashion, "people who warn of thyroid cancer danger when it comes to x-rays are liars". I mean, things aren't better in Brazil when it comes to mainstream medicine.

Anyway. My teeth have been giving me too much trouble, goodness knows what I'll have to do to get them in their right place again. Orthotropics, craniosacral therapy, wear braces again, I don't know. I need the x-ray images. I want to see with absolute precision what's going on there. I was putting it off for too long. But now, of course, I'm feeling off and worrying about my thyroid.

I'm taking cypro, niacinamide, tyromix, aspirin and coffee. I hope my body manages to fights off the radiation.

 

[Sheik]

That thing is a CT scan?! They didn't tell me that! I've had 2 CT scans in the past 6 months, plus x-rays.

Ray said this thing, and I think he was saying that a dentist's best bet legally is to be very liberal with x-rays. If you get cancer they will not be held accountable, but if they make a mistake that could have been prevented by having x-rays they are held accountable. I guess.

[question about how to navigate a situation where a dentist feels x-rays are pretty much "necessary"]

The legal situation “forces” dentists not to rely on their judgment. Mexican dentists, in a different economy, are able to rely on their judgment, and I have known a couple dentists there who demonstrated their ability to skeptics, doing the work first, then making x-rays to show that their eyes and brains had done the job perfectly.

Ray Peat Email Advice Depository

 

[milk]

That thing is a CT scan?! They didn't tell me that! I've had 2 CT scans in the past 6 months, plus x-rays.

Oh man. I'm sorry. But are you sure it was a CT scan?

Ray said this thing, and I think he was saying that a dentist's best bet legally is to be very liberal with x-rays. If you get cancer they will not be held accountable, but if they make a mistake that could have been prevented by having x-rays they are held accountable. I guess.

I wouldn't be surprised if something like this was the case with the dentist I went to. Thanks for the quote.

 

[milk]

Now I'm worried about my thyroid, of course.

I don't entirely regret the CT scan because the results will probably be very useful in addressing my other issues. Knowing myself, I would probably put if off for months again if I refused to do it when she told me there was no collar for protecting the thyroid.

I googled it a bit and it seems to be standard procedure in many American clinics not to use the collar. Presumably in my country too.

But yeah I'm worried about thyroid cancer now.

These last days, after exam, the skin on my nose turned shiny. Around my nose the skin became red like it does when I get sunlight after eating PUFA. I'm a little overweight, a good deal of that fat is probably PUFA, I wonder if that puts me at greater risk.

I've been experiencing a kind of "serotonin state" too, the feeling I got on my first day on venlafaxine and that I would often get as a child, or when hungover. A kind of cold, distant, sort of sad emotional feeling.

I've been eating kind of a lot, I went through 500 g gluten free pasta in two days, I guess the appetite is still there but I don't feel the hunger very much, if that makes sense.

I feel, generally, slightly off physically and mentally. But it's not too bad and I'm trying to stay optimistic.

 

[Westside PUFAs]

It's called a panoramic radiograph. The nurse was an idiot because covering the thyroid would not block the image. You should have threatened to go somewhere else. Why did you say the results are going to take a week? It should be available instantly. The panoramic image does not show decay. It only shows the structure of the teeth and jawbones. If your wisdom teeth grew in fine, or you've had them removed before, then there is no point in getting a panoramic. There are some animal experiments where they gave them radiation and they got cancer, and gave another group radiation and the second group did not get cancer because they fasted.

 

[Such_Saturation]

If you're standing up... it's a panoramic...

 

[milk]

Thanks for the correction.

I thought "panorâmica" translated to "CT scan".

I have been meaning to post a link to an article by some craniosacral therapy guy about a girl who used to get good grades in school but her grades and reading ability began to drop after she started using a palate expander. To the point where she wouldn't even read road signs.

And well... I was top of the class in elementary school, but I remember starting to feel uncomfortable while reading books when I was around 18. Even reading product packages in line at the supermarket makes me nervous, to the point that I avoid doing it because I can get kind of twitchy while reading anything. Yeah, it's not sexy.

I've become a noob, basically.

 

[milk]

I mean... I wish I could soak up information like the big boys on the forum instead of getting very simple information very wrong... I don't mean this to read as self-pity.

 

[Such_Saturation]

Thanks for the correction.

I thought "panorâmica" translated to "CT scan".

I have been meaning to post a link to an article by some craniosacral therapy guy about a girl who used to get good grades in school but her grades and reading ability began to drop after she started using a palate expander. To the point where she wouldn't even read road signs.

And well... I was top of the class in elementary school, but I remember starting to feel uncomfortable while reading books when I was around 18. Even reading product packages in line at the supermarket makes me nervous, to the point that I avoid doing it because I can get kind of twitchy while reading anything. Yeah, it's not sexy.

I've become a noob, basically.

Same here, good thing I always twitched though.

 

[Amazoniac]

Asking the professional who prescribed the exam to note that you wanted that protection is probably the only way that they would've taken it seriously.
Or perhaps saying that a family member is a doctor or used to do the same job that the nurse does, never allowing that type of exam to be run without protection.

 

[Amazoniac]

Oh, and contrary to haidut, I don't think that you would gain anything inquiring them after the exam. You would probably be annoyed, angry, remorsed, and so on. Just let go and learn the lesson.

 

[milk]

Asking the professional who prescribed the exam to note that you wanted that protection is probably the only way that they would've taken it seriously.
Or perhaps saying that a family member is a doctor or used to do the same job that the nurse does, never allowing that type of exam to be run without protection.

Thanks for the tips.

 

[milk]

Oh, and contrary to haidut, I don't think that you would gain anything inquiring them after the exam. You would probably be annoyed, angry, remorsed, and so on. Just let go and learn the lesson.

Don't worry, I'm taking it pretty stoically.

 

[Sheik]

I had a panoramic x-ray, which they said was necessary for the dentist to fill a cavity. So apparently the bastards lied to me again. I've got a new rule for myself: ALWAYS refuse x-rays.

Anyway the panoramic x-ray isn't nearly as bad as a CT scan. (I've had one CT scan.)

Four bitewing X-rays, which is what many people get in a routine exam, give about .005 millisieverts of radiation, according to the American College of Radiology. [...] A panoramic dental X-ray, which goes around your head, has about twice that amount of radiation.

Are dental X-rays dangerous? - CNN.com

Dose reconstructions using techniques commonly used during the last decades of the last century show that the exposure to the brain from 4 bitewings is approximately 0.07 mGy, and from a panoramic examination about 0.02 mGy. A full-mouth examination (typically consisting of 12 periapical and 4 bitewing exposures) results in a brain dose of approximately 0.24 mGy.

Medscape: Medscape Access

But a single CT scan subjects the human body to between 150 and 1,100 times the radiation of a conventional x-ray

How Much Do CT Scans Increase the Risk of Cancer?

 

[Sheik]

Thanks for the correction.

I thought "panorâmica" translated to "CT scan".

I have been meaning to post a link to an article by some craniosacral therapy guy about a girl who used to get good grades in school but her grades and reading ability began to drop after she started using a palate expander. To the point where she wouldn't even read road signs.

And well... I was top of the class in elementary school, but I remember starting to feel uncomfortable while reading books when I was around 18. Even reading product packages in line at the supermarket makes me nervous, to the point that I avoid doing it because I can get kind of twitchy while reading anything. Yeah, it's not sexy.

I've become a noob, basically.

Everyone makes mistakes. I wouldn't jump to conclusions just yet. Maybe your metabolism became low around that time and your body couldn't meet the demand of reading. Thinking requires a lot of energy and I don't know if that includes reading but for me reading becomes painful when I am stressed/undereating.

 

[Rinse & rePeat]

There are some animal experiments where they gave them radiation and they got cancer, and gave another group radiation and the second group did not get cancer because they fasted.

This is interesting. Do you know where you read this study?