Image by simulacrum used under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

Here’s an article that I’ve filed under, “Well, that would have been good to know two years ago.”

15,000 will die from CT scans done in 1 year: Scans have higher levels of radiation than thought, researchers say

I’ve had a sinus CT and a head CT within the past year, so if I ever get a cancerous tumor above my neck (or superhuman powers), I’m blaming the CT machine. Most frustratingly, before having the second CT scan, I asked a friend of mine who is a radiologist if it would put me at significant risk for cancer. She drew on the knowledge she had at the time, and reassured me that having two CT scans wouldn’t put me at that much risk. Whoops!

Mostly I just sigh at news like this, and reflect once again on the fact that what we don’t know about the universe greatly outweighs what we do know. I can look back on the 60’s and be shocked that women smoked while they were pregnant and [...]

• Continue reading "If I’ve been exposed to that much radiation, I should at least have superpowers!"

Yesterday, I was all, “Hey, by the way, did I mention I’ve been in chronic pain for three months? I didn’t? Whoopsies!” For those of you sneaking in your blog reading at work, I shall summarize: my head has hurt constantly since February 18th. I was going to list everything I’ve done or considered here, but it got insanely long. (I have a headache notebook now just so I can keep track of all the doctor contact information and record all the drugs I’ve introduced into my bloodstream.) So today I’ll just cover treatments I’ve tried and tests I’ve taken. Tomorrow I’ll go over other possible causes/treatments I’ve considered and am still considering. I’m leaving out some of the specifics because I have privacy concerns and I don’t want anything to come back to bite me in the ass, even if I can’t completely visualize how it might do so right now.

Over-the-counter painkillers

Like most people, I didn’t immediately reach for the intravenous drugs, I reached for my medicine cabinet. During the first week [...]

• Continue reading "The headache that never went away: Part 2 – My medicine cabinet looks like a pharmacy"