Aa
I am scared and need help.
I currently work in radiation. I have so for 4 years. I am really needing some advice or answers because it seems as though the specialists and PCP I have been seeing are chasing their tails trying to figure out what is wrong with me. There is no history of thyroid disorder in my family history. I work under fluoroscopy daily, sometimes all day. Prior to obtaining my job as an xray tech, I never had blood work that was abnormal. After 7 months of being exposed to radiation on a daily basis I started to get symptoms of extreme weakness, pain in all of my joints, discoloration of my skin to a shade of purple. My hands swell constantly. When I was sent for my first labs since working in radiology, my TSH level was at 15.03. When the nurse at the Endocrinologist saw my first labs she commented that was a dangerous level and could have shut down my organs. Without disclosing what I did for a living she then asked me if I worked in a hospital. She then stated that radiation can cause someone to go hypothyroid. She asked me how often I was in radiation at the hospital and I told her daily. I was exposed to radiation mainly during the first 6months of my employment but have continued for 4 years to be exposed. I have never felt so sick in my life. The specialist came in after the nurse and didn't want to discuss radiation with me. He tip toed around the subject. He told me that I had hashimoto. I am 32 years old. I never had abnormal bloodwork prior to working as an xray tech. Two other people have severe health issues with their thyroid as well. One person is on their death bed with terminal cancer. I am concerned. Does anyone know if being exposed to radiation while being an xray tech could have caused this problem? Anyones help would be appreciated. At this point I am scared of the possibility of a reality of cancer knowing that radiation is unpredictable. I have read that radiation can even attack you 10 to 20 years later. Could someone please help me and advise me what I should do at this point. Also, being hypothyroid, I am 106 pounds. The specialist is baffled as to why I am so skinny being hypo. Noone understands and it seems like noone wants to confront my physical symptoms as well. If someone could please respond that knows anything about this, I would appreciate it more then anyone could know. Thank you to all for reading this. I am frightened.
I woke up this morning dreading to go to work and I want to thank each and every person who responded to this post. Thank you KB1205 for the link to look up. Thank you to everyone else as well. They have not tested me for antibodies for hashimotto. Keep in mind I am still new at this and the diagnosis. The Dr. stated I had it upon the first appointment at the endocrinologist. Thank you to all.
The medical community are quite the protective clan so I can see why they skirt around the issue.I see the doctor told you that you have hashimotos, check to see if they did the tests for antibodies and make sure that you get testing for cancer regularly. The endocrine system is a very complex system, ask the Endo about your skin discolouration, my hands and feet go blue but nowhere else, there may be other tests they can run to determine the cause. Don't be shy with tests, I had 21 and it told me alot about my body that I did not know. You have the right to be scared, it is okay ... but rather be informed so that you can be in control of your health, don't let doctors push you around.
I got Hurthle Cell Ademona with follicular changes (meaning it was heading into Cancer cha-cha land!) Every single doctor insisted I MUST have been exposed to high levels of radiation, did I work in a hospital, was I a radiologist..the list went on...my answer to all of them is NO! I was never exposed to any radiation therapy as a child either! So, they scratch their heads as apparently it is caused primarily through radiation exposure. Maybe I was the lucky one who is just abnormal!
The thing is, as someone who works in radiation all day every day, I am sure you would have been made to wear one of the dosage meters. If not then you really ought to take it up with your employer! You may have grounds to sue!
I think you will find that the fact you work with radiation is just a coincidental to your thyroid issues. Often the thyroid starts to act up a long time before you will notice any symptoms. In fact it can take many years before you really start to feel anything noticeable. You may well have had this start alot of years before your employment.
Having Hashimoto's just verifies my last statement. This is an insidious disease often taking up to a decade to show any symptoms, sometimes even longer.
you have to also keep in perspective that just because two people you know are terminal does not mean you will be. Thyroid disease is far more common than even diabetes ( often these two disease go hand in hand, by the way) It is often just coincidental that we happen to know of issues which then we start to relate to our own disease.
As with the above post, I think you will find you have more than one auto-immune disease going on.
Your TSH is taken on its own would indicate hypo but you need to get the Free T4 and Free T3 done to ascertain a full diagnosis. Did they do anti-bodies testing to discover the Hashimoto's? I have Hashimoto's too so I know what it feels liek!
The being skinny part could be coz your Free T4 is high. This has nothing to do with your TSH in one sense. Have you been prescribed any medication? It takes around 4 to 6 weeks to see any change. You may have to wait till you get the other tests done to work out a dosage.
Try not to worry, like I said I had the opposite problem of no radiation, and also a million symptoms but no one to listen to me for over 15 years of misery!
Cheers!
The thing is, as someone who works in radiation all day every day, I am sure you would have been made to wear one of the dosage meters. If not then you really ought to take it up with your employer! You may have grounds to sue!
I think you will find that the fact you work with radiation is just a coincidental to your thyroid issues. Often the thyroid starts to act up a long time before you will notice any symptoms. In fact it can take many years before you really start to feel anything noticeable. You may well have had this start alot of years before your employment.
Having Hashimoto's just verifies my last statement. This is an insidious disease often taking up to a decade to show any symptoms, sometimes even longer.
you have to also keep in perspective that just because two people you know are terminal does not mean you will be. Thyroid disease is far more common than even diabetes ( often these two disease go hand in hand, by the way) It is often just coincidental that we happen to know of issues which then we start to relate to our own disease.
As with the above post, I think you will find you have more than one auto-immune disease going on.
Your TSH is taken on its own would indicate hypo but you need to get the Free T4 and Free T3 done to ascertain a full diagnosis. Did they do anti-bodies testing to discover the Hashimoto's? I have Hashimoto's too so I know what it feels liek!
The being skinny part could be coz your Free T4 is high. This has nothing to do with your TSH in one sense. Have you been prescribed any medication? It takes around 4 to 6 weeks to see any change. You may have to wait till you get the other tests done to work out a dosage.
Try not to worry, like I said I had the opposite problem of no radiation, and also a million symptoms but no one to listen to me for over 15 years of misery!
Cheers!
I can't speak to the radiation part, as I really have no idea. But have you had a chance to read up on hypothyroidism and Hashimoto's? Hypothyroidism can cause pain in your joints and muscles, as well as coldness in the hands and feet. If your hands are turning purple and you have Hashimoto's you may have Raynaud's Syndrome, which is caused when the blood flow to your hands feet gets interrupted, making your hands turn white and then blue. I think however that Raynaud's is pretty rare, so your hands could simply just be turning a purplish color because they are cold.
With Hashi's, your body goes through a period of hyper, then a period of euthyroid (normal) and then goes to hypo. A TSH of 15.03 is high, but I've seen a lot of other posts on here with TSHs in excess of 30. Maybe someone else can speak to the potential of organ failure from a TSH of 15.03. I've never heard of this, and would suspect that the nurse was speaking out of turn.
While weight gain is one of the symptoms of hypo, it doesn't mean that you're necessarily going to gain weight. Everyone is different.
What treatment are you currently receiving? Are you taking any medicine to lower you TSH?
I know that it's scary, and as I said before, I don't know anything about the effects of radiation exposure, but it sounds like many of your symptoms may really just be a result of hypothyroidism and Hashimoto's. Please read some of the posts on this website. There are a lot of really helpful people who have been dealing with this illness for years and have a lot of information to offer!
Keep your head up and try not to worry.
With Hashi's, your body goes through a period of hyper, then a period of euthyroid (normal) and then goes to hypo. A TSH of 15.03 is high, but I've seen a lot of other posts on here with TSHs in excess of 30. Maybe someone else can speak to the potential of organ failure from a TSH of 15.03. I've never heard of this, and would suspect that the nurse was speaking out of turn.
While weight gain is one of the symptoms of hypo, it doesn't mean that you're necessarily going to gain weight. Everyone is different.
What treatment are you currently receiving? Are you taking any medicine to lower you TSH?
I know that it's scary, and as I said before, I don't know anything about the effects of radiation exposure, but it sounds like many of your symptoms may really just be a result of hypothyroidism and Hashimoto's. Please read some of the posts on this website. There are a lot of really helpful people who have been dealing with this illness for years and have a lot of information to offer!
Keep your head up and try not to worry.
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