Worried about Amount of CTs I've Had ...

[twilitemoon]

When I was 23, I had two chest catscans. At 24 I had one more. I had them done because of severely enlarged lymphnodes under my arms (which were biopsied) and then scarring and spots in my lungs. When I had the CTs, I was asked to hold my breath three times. I'm freaking out that that means I had three scans per visit? I just can't calm down that I'm ok since I was a young female when this happened and they did not shield my breasts. I am now 31. I just need to calm down! I have been so upset since reading an article about the effects of CTs on young women on CNN. Anyone have any input? Am I certainly doomed to cancer? Thanks from a very worried person.

[sbgrace]

I certainly don't think you're doomed. I do know how it feels to live with that sort of fear though (my son had an, as it turned out unncecessary due to incompetent pediatrician) CT scan as an infant. I really hate it. There are articles out there on that too...I don't read them though I catch the headlines and so sort of know. I don't read them because there is nothing I can do now about it, you know?

How about focusing on what you can control now? Eating a healthy diet with lots of fruits and vegetables, exercise, supplements perhaps.

http://www.naturalnews.com/029936_vitamins_breast_cancer.html See this study specifically talks about DNA repair in breast cancer risk with calcium. I would not take a calcium supplement (that has bad effects on heart) but I would make sure I got good calcium through food. Make sure your vitamin D levels are healthy. Healthy is 50 or above (50 to 80) on a 25 (OH) D test. Some b vitamins might be protective http://lpi.oregonstate.edu/infocenter/vitamins/vitaminB12/index.html#breast_cancer, You might read up on N-acetylcystine I don't know how it affects cancer but I think I read something about protecting DNA at least. My son takes it for anxiety so it might help you in that regard too. He takes a lot--600 mg twice a day for two weeks and then 1200 mg twice a day (4 pills). He's 8.

You might look into telomeres--what you can do to protect or even lengthen them. I think things like exercise but there may be supplements too. I haven't done a lot of research into it.

Ignore all this if it wouldn't help. It just sometimes helps me to put my active and anxiety mind into research/problem solving mode. Then you can remind yourself you're doing what you can do now, you know?

There are lots and lots of things that factor into breast cancer risk aside from CT's. Focus on what you can control.