Lately, what has struck me again and again is how many young, young women are coming to me and telling me about how they had to have a significant portion of their thyroids removed.
In addition, many other women of varying ages have either written or called me to tell me about their thyroid conditions. So many women are suffering from thyroid disorders that it got me to thinking—what on Earth is going on here? Why are we suddenly becoming a nation filled with people who are missing half or more of the important gland inside our necks?
After mulling this over for awhile, my intuitive side kicked in. Maybe it was the fact that I was just in for some dental work and got X-rays taken, or maybe it was some inner voice talking to me. But suddenly it hit me how often we zap our neck area with radiation.
Think about it—when you go in for your dental check up and the technician preps you for your X-rays, he or she always drapes one of those funky heavy lead aprons over your chest, right? But your neck is still exposed.
And suppose you break your toe or what-have-you and end up in Urgent Care getting another X-ray. Again, the apron might come out to shield your chest, but your precious thyroid is never covered. And then there’s the annual mammogram that I hope you are getting if you’re over 40, and maybe the CT scan of your sinuses that keep acting up, and wham—before you know it, your thyroid has been exposed to radiation maybe half a dozen times in just one year.
So one day, just for hoots, I asked the technician who was prepping me for a dental X-ray if she had anything that could be used to protect my thyroid from radiation.
I about fell off my chair when she instantly replied “oh yeah, we have something for that,” and proceeded to pull out a second smaller cover that would go around my neck.
When I asked her in a very nice way why she didn’t always use the second cover on her patients, she replied “we really don’t use it unless people ask for it.”
Again, as nicely as possible, I asked “how can patients ask for it if they don’t know you have it?”
At this point, she was starting to look at me like I had 3 heads, but she was very sweet about it and apologized as she fitted the additional shield around my neck, explaining that it didn’t fit very well.
“That’s okay,” I assured her, “it doesn’t have to fit well, it just has to cover my thyroid.”
Interestingly, even after all of this, she never asked me “do you have a thyroid problem?”
So the next time you go in for an X-ray or scan or anything involving radiation, please ask about the second cover for your thyroid. This is just another case where we need to advocate for ourselves. It just sends me to the moon when I think about how many times I’ve been X-rayed while that second cover sat in a drawer.
Have you ever had your neck covered while getting X-rays? Has anyone ever asked you if you have a thyroid disorder when you are having any type of radiation? I’ve shared my thyroid experiences—please share yours with me!
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I am very suspicious that my thyroid problems may have been precipitated when I had a dental implant several years ago. I was at the oral surgeons and they seemed to have several problems getting a satisfactory x-ray after the implant was put in. I was subjected to at least 6 FULL panel x-rays, x-raying the ENTIRE jaw that day. (The implant was only on the upper left side - was this necessary??) The technician seemed to be new at the procedure and couldn't get it right. Anyway - fast forward 8 years and my TSH was 52! I think I've been gradually destroying my thyroid over that time and have developed Hashi's, elevated blood pressure related to the thyroid and much more. Hopefully that tech has learned to take good x-rays as a result of all her practice. I WILL ask for a "guard" for any future dental x-rays! I had been worried about brain tumors developing after that experience but never thought about the thyroid exposure. What's next??
August 8, 2009 - 3:13pmThis Comment
My daughter had dental x-rays and the tech forgot to put on the thyroid protector. She was zapped twice. I feel sick about it and have spent many nights worrying about what may happen to my child as a result. The whole thing happened because she was new, filling in for someone who was off on pregnancy and was not trained properly. I believe that it comes down to them not wishing to stop and train someone when they could be making money.
August 5, 2009 - 1:55pmThis Comment
Anon,
Please don't worry yourself sick. Just two dental x-rays is a very slight exposure. Michelle is talking about how we can build up radiation over our lifetime, and your daughter is still young. Remember that the x-ray is only active for the second that the technician flips the switch, and it is guided right at the teeth. Also, not all dentists use thyroid protectors -- I am 51 and it is only very recently that I've started hearing about this. I'm used to the protectors that cover your chest and abdomen, but I'm not sure anyone's ever used a thyroid protector with me. (I will start asking for one now, however.)
We all do build up exposure to radiation in our lifetimes, true. But two dental x-rays will not amount to very much over her lifetime. And we live with natural "background radiation" every day from our surroundings.
It may help you to know this, from RadiologyInfo.org:
"To explain it in simple terms, we can compare the radiation exposure from one chest x-ray as equivalent to the amount of radiation exposure one experiences from our natural surroundings in 10 days."
Here's that web page:
http://www.radiologyinfo.org/en/safety/index.cfm?pg=sfty_xray
One thing that may make you feel better is to keep a record of her X-ray exposure so that later in her life, she'll be able to pass this information on to doctors if needed.
August 6, 2009 - 8:29amThis Comment