Poll: How many X-Rays have you had?

[Willhm]

Hello,

I was just thinking today about that when I was younger (I'm 18) I had quite a few x-rays, for my knees, elbow a few times and wrist. And I was just wondering if other people with ME had had many x-rays, it might be nothing but I just thought I would ask. I have had ME for over 4 years (some of that time was glandular fever though I suppose) and my last x-ray was probably about a year before getting glandular fever.

Like I said it might be nothing but just interesting to see if there is any correlation. Also I mean x-ray 'sessions' as one 'session' for say a suspected broken bone might contain quite a few x-rays.

 

[Hip]

You'd really need to quantify the X-ray radiation dose people have received, rather than just count the number of X-rays they received. This is because the X-ray radiation dose varies enormously, depending on the type of X-ray.

X-ray radiation dose received from an X-ray can be measured in millirem (abbreviated to mrem).

A single dental X-ray can have a radiation dose as low as 0.5 mrem, whereas a barium enema gastrointestinal X-ray series exposes you to a radiation dose as high as 875 mrem.

The following table shows how the radiation dose varies considerably with different types of X-ray:

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Some X-ray Radiation Dose Examples
—————————————————————————————————————————————————
HIGH DOSE GROUP ............................ mrem
Barium enema: lower GI series .............. 875
Pelvimetry ................................. 595
Barium meal: upper GI ...................... 535
Mammography: breast examination (per breast) 500
Lumbrosacral spine ......................... 450
Small bowel series ......................... 422
IV pyelogram (kidneys, ureter, and bladder . 420
Lumbar spine ............................... 347
Thoracic Spine ............................. 247

MEDIUM DOSE GROUP
Gallbladder ................................ 168
Abdomen .................................... 147
Ribs ....................................... 143
Pelvis ..................................... 133
Skull ...................................... 78
Hip ........................................ 72

LOW DOSE GROUP
Cervical spine (neck) ...................... 52
Femur (upper leg) .......................... 21
Dental (full mouth series) ................. 9
Dental (one x-ray) ......................... 0.5
—————————————————————————————————————————————————
Source: here
—————————————————————————————————————————————————


Also the part of the body exposed might make a difference. Certain body tissues are very sensitive to X-rays. Lymphoid organs, bone marrow, blood, testes, ovaries and intestines are much more sensitive to X-ray radiation. Reference: here.

The sensitivity of tissues to ionizing radiation like X-rays is termed radiosensitivity.


Note that the radiation dose that every person receives annually from natural background sources (like cosmic rays from space, natural radiation from rocks, and from radon gas in the air) is about 600 mrem per year.

 

[wdb]

Excellent radiation dose chart if you are interested in that sort of thing
http://xkcd.com/radiation/

 

[WillowJ]

fwiw, I never had any x-rays or CT scans until I was already ill. (except dental x-rays)

 

[ukxmrv]

Maybe change the question to ask number before the onset of illness?

I had two before (one dental and one on my elbow) but many more in the decades after due to a road traffic accident

 

[Snow Leopard]

I only had low dose dental xrays before my illness started.

 

[Snow Leopard]

I only had low dose dental x-rays before my illness started.

 

[Willhm]

I didn't quite realise the vast difference between difference between different types of x-rays so I can see now the question is a bit lacking in detail and won't really give a clear answer as one x-ray might be more powerful than five smaller scale ones.

 

[Thinktank]

In the past 6 months:
- 2 MRI's with contrast fluid
- 1 CT scan with contrast fluid
- 1 PET/CT scan whole body with contrast fluid
- 2 X-rays

Talk about radiation overdose...

 

[Thinktank]

Arg.. still can't edit my posts. Is there a way to "measure" the radioactivity in your body?

 

[Hip]

One interesting thing is that cancer patients who have undergone radiation therapy (or chemotherapy) quite often develop chronic fatigue syndrome soon after.ᐞ See: cancer related fatigue.

Radiation therapy gives a dose of around 5,000,000 mrem,ᐞ and this is much higher than the radiation doses you get from the average X-ray (around 1 to 1,000 mrem). Though in radiation therapy, most of the radiation is directed at the tumor.

 

[Valentijn]

One interesting thing is that cancer patients who have undergone radiation therapy (or chemotherapy) quite often develop chronic fatigue syndrome soon after.ᐞ See: cancer related fatigue.

Radiation therapy gives a dose of around 5,000,000 mrem,ᐞ and this is much higher than the radiation doses you get from the average X-ray (around 1 to 1,000 mrem). Though in radiation therapy, most of the radiation is directed at the tumor.

I was reading about this yesterday, in the context of a glutathione gene which I'm missing. Apparently both the missing gene and chemotherapy are implicated in some cases of aplastic anemica, which sounds like it could cause some fatiguing symptoms - though should be easily diagnosable with a blood count, etc?

 

[Hip]

Valentijn
In the cancer related fatigue Wikipedia article, it says that anemia (presumably including aplastic anemia?) is a cause of fatigue in cancer patients, but this is a cause in which the mechanism is known (and can generally be treated).

But cancer patients often develop a ME/CFS-like fatigue after radiation therapy or chemotherapy for which the cause remains unknown, just as in ME/CFS.


Cort Johnson's site has some interesting articles on this subject:

'Rest and Digest' System Broken in Both Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and Post-Cancer Fatigue? Study Suggests Similarities in the Two Disorders

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"get cancer and get treated for it (successfully) and you have a pretty good chance (maybe one in three) of coming down with something like ME/CFS"​

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"Norepinephrine levels were increased and heart rate variability levels decreased in the more fatigued cancer survivors"​

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"cancer fatigue is associated with what the authors called an ‘maladptive autonomic profile’ They stated that this profile, which consists of ‘hypoactive parasympathetic nervous systems’ and ‘hyperactive sympathetic nervous systems’, puts ‘excessive demands’ on the body. (This is the same general profile found in chronic fatigue syndrome.)"​

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"The fact that both norepinephrine and heart rate variability activate the inflammatory response suggests the chronic heart rate variability activation could be producing a state of ‘sickness behavior’ in both cancer fatigue and ME/CFS patients."​

Not Fatigue After All? New Model Suggests Other Symptoms Better Explain Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME/CFS)

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"Studies suggest that up to 50% of cancer survivors exhibit signs of ‘Cancer-Related Fatigue’ and 12% have severe CRF two years after their cancer treatment. Cognitive issues are so prevalent that the term ‘chemo-fog’ (similar to ‘brain-fog’ in ME/CFS and ‘fibro-fog’ in Fibromyalgia) has entered the cancer lexicon. "​

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"One astounding fact is that as many as 41% of women receiving chemotherapy for breast cancer develop symptoms of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (which you recall is associated with a gating deficit) with 3-18% going on to develop full PTSD – with one of the key symptoms being ‘hyperarousal’ (which some evidence suggests is found in ME/CFS as well.) "​

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[Snow Leopard]

I take a step back when I consider cancer-related fatigue. You could say that the fatigue could be as a result of changes due to having cancer, or you could take a further step back and say that the fatigue could be as a result of physiological changes that also led to a high likelihood of developing cancer. In any event, they need to do way more research.

 

[overtrain]

Have had countless Xrays in 51 years. Wrists, knees, jaw, teeth, ribs, chest.

Do want to add that when Xrayed, we don't necessarily know what areas get included in any Xray. Had my wrist Xrayed recently, & doctor called me to ask if I knew I had a broken rib, bc the pic showed not just my wrist placed on table in font of me, but also my rib cage...

Interesting about the norepinephrine... ADHD meds act on that, so I wonder if that is exacerbating my CFE/ME.