Re: OT: Nuclear medicine test coming up for me

[Guest guest]

sounds scary Barb, isn't there some other way?

>

> Anyone ever have a test via the nuclear medicine dept.? I have a bone scan of

foot rxed and coming up and it isn't the spot test for osteoporosis but I have

to go to nuclear medicine dept at hospital and get an injection of nuclear

medicine, then wait 6 hours for it to go all over my body and then come back and

get scan. The radiation will be in my body and the camera that they do the scan

has no radiation, just scans to pick up signals from the radiation in my body.

I'm really scared to put it mildy. I do everything to avoid cancerous

chemicals, pay more for organic foods, read labels, had the mercury taken out of

my mouth, now I'm going to have radiation injected right into a vein. Anyone

have any words of wisdom? I've been putting it off for six months but my doctor

has no other ideas on a foot problem I've had after an injury that won't heal.

After you have it done, I've heard people set off equipment, like airplane

scanners up to two days after test!! I've put it off hoping my foot would heal

and then it would be over.

>

[Guest guest]

Barb,

I don't know the extent of your injury. But have you ever tried to go to an

osteopath that is practiced at OMT(osteopathic manipulation therapy)? I have

seen people avoid surgery and heal from all kinds of injuries. It in my opinion

is a most effective tool in the right hands. The key is finding a doctor who

mainly does this in their practice as there are many DO's who never trained in

it or did the minimum. Try and find one with good references. I've been to a few

in different areas over the years as we'ved moved and found that one thing they

have in common is that if they find that after 5 visits or so that they are not

helping you they will not string you along and they don't believe in the need

for on-going long term therapy (with few exceptions). OMT (some call it now,

OMM, I think) pre-dates chiropractic and is much more subtle and comprehensive.

I'm not knocking chiropractics at all, as I've received some great benefits from

it. But I've found the

effects of OMT to be more lasting and complete. My wife has just started seeing

a DO for foot and back problems. She has severe bunions and plantar fascitiis.

So far she feels it is very helpful.

One question, what does your doctor hope to find with this radiation test that

he couldn't find with an mri or ct scan?

Hope this helps,Sam

--- On Tue, 5/18/10, barb b w <barb1283@...> wrote

Anyone ever have a test via the nuclear medicine dept.? 

[Guest guest]

Well Sam, I don't like ctscans either but a foot doctor has already given me an

MRI, which showed, edema in the bones of my foot where injury is, inflamation

around all my joints in forepart of foot, and a break in two bones that has

knitted back together okay. I think bone scan is to look inside bone in a

different way. Radiation density attracted there indicates if there is

infection in bones, cancer or if gathers on outside of gone, arthritis but MRI

already said it saw no arthritis. It's just that I have taken scans before and

they find things and then nothing is done anyway. I have rescheduled again for a

month out. I keep hoping my foot problem clears the old fashioned way, nature

heals it. So far it looks better but very very slow. Some things may not heal

though but it's too off the topic here so won't go into that. Just wondered if

anyone had had one or not. I went in for catscan with injection once about two

years ago and found the injection was going to be done by a MACHINE into my arms

and left so fast I probably left skid marks on the floor, went to a place that

would give the injection by a person. I asked before I left, " is there anyway I

can get out of this? " ..you know, because you sign things before you get there.

Honestly!! See, THEY don't want to get near the equipment themselves. Gives

you an idea of how safe it is. I had to get it presurgery for something very

significant or otherwise you couldn't get me near that equipment.

>

> Barb,

> I don't know the extent of your injury. But have you ever tried to go to an

osteopath that is practiced at OMT(osteopathic manipulation therapy)? I have

seen people avoid surgery and heal from all kinds of injuries. It in my opinion

is a most effective tool in the right hands. The key is finding a doctor who

mainly does this in their practice as there are many DO's who never trained in

it or did the minimum. Try and find one with good references. I've been to a few

in different areas over the years as we'ved moved and found that one thing they

have in common is that if they find that after 5 visits or so that they are not

helping you they will not string you along and they don't believe in the need

for on-going long term therapy (with few exceptions). OMT (some call it now,

OMM, I think) pre-dates chiropractic and is much more subtle and comprehensive.

I'm not knocking chiropractics at all, as I've received some great benefits from

it. But I've found the

> effects of OMT to be more lasting and complete. My wife has just started

seeing a DO for foot and back problems. She has severe bunions and plantar

fascitiis. So far she feels it is very helpful.

>

> One question, what does your doctor hope to find with this radiation test that

he couldn't find with an mri or ct scan?

>

> Hope this helps,Sam

>

[Guest guest]

I don't know Jeanine, but I might talk to someone else. So far two doctors have

requested it, a bone doctor and a podiatrist but I might talk to another doctor

and come more prepared for questions about it.

I found this about what they are just in case anyone else is confronted with

request for test. It's called a 'scintigraph':

Bones are live, dynamic tissue that are constantly remodeling. Old bone tissue

is dissolved, new bone tissue is created, and minerals are stored away for later

use. The soft core known as the bone marrow continuously manufactures blood

cells. These processes of growth and change are part of the body's metabolic

process. The bone scan known as scintigraphy detects areas of increased or

decreased bone metabolism and can indicate hidden bone fractures, bone

infections, arthritis, cancer, or the cause of unexplained bone pain.

Scintigraphy is a nuclear medicine test that requires no preparation other than

the removal of jewelry, dentures, and any other metal objects. The only pain

that may be felt is when tiny amounts of radioactive materials called tracers

are injected into a vein in the arm.

The tracers are radionuclides that are attached to particular biological

molecules. These molecules are attracted to and accumulate in the bones, taking

the tracers with them. The tracers emit waves of radiation that can be detected

by a special gamma camera.

It takes about two to four hours for the tracers to circulate and collect in the

bones. Several glasses of water are drunk during this time, causing frequent

urination. This helps to clear the body of the unabsorbed tracer materials.

After the appropriate amount of time, the patient rests on a padded table while

the gamma camera, housed in an arm-like device, passes over the body and records

patterns of tracer absorption in the bones. It is important to lie very still. A

scan of an individual bone can take from 10 to 30 minutes and an entire skeletal

scan can run from 45 minutes to an hour.

After the scan, the radioactivity generated in the body by the tracers (less

than that of a chest X-ray) generally disappears within one to three days.

The information from the gamma camera is recorded in a computer that processes

the data and creates an image. Normal radiotracer uptake in the bones appears as

a uniform gray in the image.

Evidence of abnormal metabolism shows up either as darker " hot spots " with

greater tracer uptake or as lighter, " cold spots " with little or no tracer

uptake. Hot spots represent increased bone metabolism while cold spots indicate

decreased bone metabolism. With arthritis, the tracers show up on the bone

surfaces of the joints.

While scintigraphy can detect subtle changes in bone before they are visible by

X-ray, it does not necessarily determine the cause of an abnormality. Other

tests may be performed to aid in establishing a diagnosis. The bone scan

findings are then correlated with the test results, other imaging studies, and

clinical information.

In extremely rare cases, a person may develop a rash, swelling, or anaphylaxis

as a result of this scan.

Jeanine wrote:

Sounds scary Barb. Is there no other way?

[Guest guest]

Are they still saying you have RSD. Seems like you have been dealing with this a

long time. So sorry Barb.

>

> Well Sam, I don't like ctscans either but a foot doctor has already given me

an MRI, which showed, edema in the bones of my foot where

[Guest guest]

humm, I dont know if I believe the " all leaves your system in 3 days "

and what it does while in the system. my feet swell off and on, sometimes cant

wear my shoes. sometimes from the knees down, but not as back as it use to be.

after my exposure my knee jouints hurt bad and I often had swollen legs and

feet, inflamation. it's gotten better

but still gets worse through the summer and fall. it goes along with my

increased general overall felling worse that I relate to breathing

more dry air particles/polution crap.

theres something called aplastic anemia, been along time sence I read about it.

can be caused by toxin exposure, affects bone marrow.

I remember this was a article where it actually said mycotoxins were one toxin

that causes it.

seems there should be other ways, like matabolism testing, red and white blood

cell counts or something like that. ?

I had dead white blood cells in my urine with my exposure, it got pretty bad, I

dont know if it's related or not but I finally dont have alot or as much as

before. I've thought about how I could monitor this myself by peeing in a jar

off and on just to see if it get's worse at some times when I fell worse. ? I'm

going to try to remember to do that. it had to be tied in with my exposure.

every uring sample I had while exposed show high amounts of dead white blood

cells. when I peeed in a quart jar to send to croft I could see it, a good half

inch plus settled in the bottom of the jar.

croft commented on it just like any doctors that took pee samples all those

years, but no one knew why and never tried to find out.

kidney damage could be one reason.

I suspect that haveing your t-cells fighting off toxins and dieing

might be another reason. maybe fighting toxins that are in bodily fluids vs.

blood. does seem that if your body is fighting off toxins

you might have some bone marrow/t cell/ lack of. and that could put your at a

risk for bone marrow problems. weakened bones/deficient bone marrow might allow

for bone marrow diseases.

??

>

> I don't know Jeanine, but I might talk to someone else. So far two doctors

have requested it, a bone doctor and a podiatrist but I might talk to another

doctor and come more prepared for questions about it.

>

> I found this about what they are just in case anyone else is confronted with

request for test. It's called a 'scintigraph':

>

>

[Guest guest]

Yes, CRPS (complex regional pain syndrom) was diagnosis by two doctors. RSD is

the newer term for it. I think it is a 'garbage can' diagnosis (one given when

they don't know and don't want to try to figure out what the problem is.)

However one doctor offered the radioactive scan to see if there was a reason for

pain that wasn't easily seen in other test. He is being more thorough but I

don't want the test if I can help it! Sometimes these tools are more accurate

at diagnosis but at a cost to you in some other way physically. Finally my

injured foot is at least the same color as the uninjured foot. It was reddish

after the accident for over a year. Now I just have some swelling in one area

that won't go down and one reddish toe that sustained the most injury and still

pain on walking on it. Anyway, don't want to go on about it but just wondering

whether anyone else has had this test. I couldn't decide today so I put it

off/rescheduled Thursday's appt again for another month since it's looking a bit

better. Thanks for asking .

> >

> > Well Sam, I don't like ctscans either but a foot doctor has already given me

an MRI, which showed, edema in the bones of my foot where

>

[Guest guest]

Oops. Sorry Jeanine. Forgot to mention I injured my foot, but slow healing

could certainly in my case be related to my general health which has been

impacted by living in my wd house, affects of which seem to linger on forever.

As for the radioactive material. They say 2-3 days but from my reading of the

material injected, it's nature changes over time but doubt it actually leaves

your body. Chemicals that are not fat or water soluable have a difficult time

leaving your body or may never, but the radioactivity of it probably declines so

you don't trigger the detectors at the airport.

>

> humm, I dont know if I believe the " all leaves your system in 3 days "

> and what it does while in the system. my feet swell off and on, sometimes cant

wear my shoes. sometimes from the knees down, but not as back as it use to be.

after my exposure my knee jouints hurt bad and I often had swollen legs and

feet, inflamation. it's gotten better

> but still gets worse through the summer and fall. it goes along with my

increased general overall felling worse that I relate to breathing

> m

[Guest guest]

Barb, with the problems I have with my feet, I can see how a injury could have a

hard time healing. I've noticed that when I get a bad chemical hit, even when

the tingleing stops in other places, the feet and hands linger on for awhile.

even if you dont have chemical sensitivity, I think there is something to the

chemicals,ect. going to our feet and hands to some degree, maybe moreso with

liver and kidney problems. I think about that trip to maryland, it was summer, I

was thinking about how I unually dont wear socks and shoes much and how it

seemed the problems starting with my feet started on the way there, because my

feet where hot and started sweating and the pressure from sticking swollen feet

in a shoe didn't help. I had never had foot fungus in my life, even while

wearing workboats 24-7.

what was coming out of my feet was getting pretty smelly, by the drive home from

the airport, my feet where on fire, I took off my shoes and the smell made us

have to open our windows, lol's funny but not. I through my shoes away. once

that got started it was hard to get rid of, the trip and exposures along the way

just made the matter worse. and my hands were also starting to do the same

thing. red hot stinky, pealing skin, and it just burned. but I dont consider it

to be what some might think of as foot fungus, this was coming from my body, not

a foot fungus like a normal foot fungus accures.

I've realized sence that it wouldn't take much for this to get going again.

I've also had problems wearing a bra sence my exposure cause any pressure at all

around my rib cage hurts. sweating under my breast

can produce a oder there,alone with a rash of sorts, and my under arm BO can get

pretty smelly too. I've realized that these things can be a sign of toxins and

things built up in the body that need detoxed out. I still sometimes wake up

with the sheets soaked, so I know my body got to a point where it had to detox

one way or another.

I wish I could affort to regularly get in a sauna, but I also know

I cant get in one alone because I might not be able to get out.

it really wiped me out last time, as week as a baby.

but anyway, I do think things go to the feet and thats the problem with my feet

swelling and inflamation. I can see where a wound could be hard to heal. I was

dignosed with ostoarthritis or something else going on " as one doc said " during

my exposure. it was my exposure causeing those symptoms. they lingered on after

exposure for years and only started getting relief with advoidance but sometimes

it can start all coming back and I know my body is caring a heavy toxic load.

I've also noticed the condition of my skin gets much worse at these times. to

some extent I can tie all this in with my sinus disease too.

we have had alot of rain here, and summer is coming on and all this is getting

worse again as usual and I know there wont be alot of relief again until the

winter. sucks. summer used to be the time of year I couldn't wait for, now it's

the time I dread most.

my body doesn't like the heat or the crap that the dry summer air forces me to

breath. my sinuses suffer more too.

> >

> > humm, I dont know if I believe the " all leaves your system in 3 days "

> > and what it does while in the system. my feet swell off and on, sometimes

cant wear my shoes. sometimes from the knees down, but not as back as it use to

be. after my exposure my knee jouints hurt bad and I often had swollen legs and

feet, inflamation. it's gotten better

> > but still gets worse through the summer and fall. it goes along with my

increased general overall felling worse that I relate to breathing

> > m

>

[Guest guest]

Barb,

I've had the Nuclear Med test. It's not so bad really. You have to eat a fatty

lunch (good reason to go off diet for a day!) after the injection and before the

scan. The radioactive material stayed in my system for 24 hours, but I didn't

notice. It had a " half-life " of 24 hours and then dissipated. It leaves your

system completely and there is no residue that remains behind. The test is

painless, just time-consuming. I didn't set off any alarms...lol.

I'd rather avoid tests such as this, too, but it does yield definitive results.

Go for it.

Joanne

[Guest guest]

Barb,

I can't say this is not junk science but I'd always heard that unpasturized miso

has radioprotective effects, or in some cases is believed to act as a chelator

of heavy metals including strontium. I heard this years and years ago before

home computers. The research sadly started after the atom bombings of Nagasaki

and Hiroshima, where survivors who regularly ate miso seemed to have lesser

effects from the radiation. I tried to google around for it and came up with

this link. " http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11833659 " I guess it couldn't hurt.

Altho, as a fermented food, I'm not sure if you would have a problem with it.

South River is the only brand I've seen that makes it by hand and sells it

unpasturized in glass bottles. Also, do you have a doctor to work with who

might have some experience with iodine? I don't want to tread in areas that I

don't know, but perhaps if you are not allergic to iodine something like iodoral

might be helpful if you wind

up having to get this test. Isn't iodine a protector from radiation? It might

be good that if you choose to do this that you do so under an experienced docs

care. 

I guess you feel that your foot injury is beyond a DO's care?

I too wonder if certain type of detox protocols might help after the fact like a

sauna or a product like " modifilan " ? My doctor has me on it for heavy metal

detox. 

Just throwing out ideas. If nothing makes sense to you no problem. 

Hope you can find the best and safest and wisest solution.Sam 

I've had the Nuclear Med test. It's not so bad really. You have to eat a fatty

lunch (good reason to go off diet for a day!) after the injection and before the

scan. The radioactive material stayed in my system for 24 hours, but I didn't

notice. It had a " half-life " of 24 hours and then dissipated. It leaves your

system completely and there is no residue that remains behind. The test is

painless, just time-consuming. I didn't set off any alarms...lol.

I'd rather avoid tests such as this, too, but it does yield definitive results.

Go for it.

Joanne

[Guest guest]

I dread the air conditioning season also. When it gets cold enough to turn the

heat on, I start to feel better.

>

>times. to some extent I can tie all this in with my sinus disease too.

> we have had alot of rain here, and summer is coming on and all this is getting

worse again as usual and I know there wont be alot of relief again until the

winter. sucks. summer used to be the time of year I couldn't wait for, now it's

the time I dread most.

> my body doesn't like the heat or the crap that the dry summer air forces me to

breath. my sinuses suffer more too.

>

[Guest guest]

I haven't turned on the ac yet, it's been cool here, if it's clean ac, I fell

better than I do outside,the heat and dry air crap.. I'm just not doing as well

sence I moved to this ground level apt. the landscape out front causes water to

run up close to the apt. with alot of rain it gets like a lake out my door, I'm

not happy about it and it was supposed to be dealt with last year, still

waiting. I can tell by my symptoms that theres some mold problems here, theres

also a problem with the guttering and when it rains the rain sets in my window

between the glass and the screan, I know there got to be some mold growing in

the wall there. not happy at all. I'm scared that haveing some of my symptoms

aggervated by this in a more constant way is going to be very bad for me. grr, I

hate haveing to be at the mercy of landlords, my illness can not tolerate

waiting for them to get around to do something about it. I have that hud

program, so, I complain to them, they give me 30 days to move. I've complained

to the landlord and well, when they get around to it. , I'm pissed.

it's been raining, to much, I have been sleeping, everytime I turn around. my

ears go to ringing and I know thats mold. my inflamation is worse, my feet and

fingers are tingling right now. I have gained even more weight sence moveing

here. I can't afford to just up and move again, plus, it's so damn hard for me

to accomplish anything.

I cant even manage to keep a check book balanced. just paying the monthly bills

is hard enough, both money wise and memory wise.

yes, it's bigger than the place I was in and actually has a real liveing room

and kitchen, but this watery mess out the door is not what I signed up for. when

I first moved in and turned on the ac last year, I got a hit of mold. I went

around and cut filters and stuck them in the vents which helped, but I cant do

nothing about the rain soaking into the wall from the messed up guttering. but

complain.

I dont think they realize that I'm about half a inch away from throwing a bitch

fit. I have no patience anymore for people who dont take my needs seriously, who

exspect me to suffer because they dont get it. I just want to scream at them.

> >

> >times. to some extent I can tie all this in with my sinus disease too.

> > we have had alot of rain here, and summer is coming on and all this is

getting worse again as usual and I know there wont be alot of relief again until

the winter. sucks. summer used to be the time of year I couldn't wait for, now

it's the time I dread most.

> > my body doesn't like the heat or the crap that the dry summer air forces me

to breath. my sinuses suffer more too.

> >

>

[Guest guest]

Barb, I would get some ALA Iv's Dr Berkson can heal diabetic toes and prevent

amputations with it, I am sure it would help heal your foot

>

> Anyone ever have a test via the nuclear medicine dept.? I have a bone scan of

foot rxed and coming up and it isn't the spot test for osteoporosis but I have

to go to nuclear medicine dept at hospital and get an injection of nuclear

medicine, then wait 6 hours for it to go all over my body and then come back and

get scan. The radiation will be in my body and the camera that they do the scan

has no radiation, just scans to pick up signals from the radiation in my body.

I'm really scared to put it mildy. I do everything to avoid cancerous

chemicals, pay more for organic foods, read labels, had the mercury taken out of

my mouth, now I'm going to have radiation injected right into a vein. Anyone

have any words of wisdom? I've been putting it off for six months but my doctor

has no other ideas on a foot problem I've had after an injury that won't heal.

After you have it done, I've heard people set off equipment, like airplane

scanners up to two days after test!! I've put it off hoping my foot would heal

and then it would be over.

>