Thursday, February 9, 2012

Thyroid Cancer Warning

Are you aware that thyroid cancer is one of the fastest growing cancers among women?  I wasn't....but  on  Wednesday I happened to watch Dr. Oz.  I never do that but, Dr. Oz had a show on the fastest growing cancer in women, thyroid cancer. It was a very interesting program and  he mentioned  that the increase could possibly be related to the use of dental x-rays and mammograms(something I have done at least once a year).  He demonstrated that on the apron the dentist puts on you for your dental x-rays there is a little flap that can be lifted up and wrapped around  your neck. Many dentists don't bother to use it. Also, there is something called a "thyroid guard" for use during mammograms.  The program upset me enough that I went online and researched tyroid cancer and if you are interested click here to go to a site and learn all about it.Then, this morning I checked my emails and I had received an email from a friend and she said that by  coincidence, she had her yearly mammogram yesterday. She felt a little    silly, but she asked about the guard and sure enough, the technician had one in a drawer. She asked why it wasn't routinely used. Answer: "I don't know. You  have to ask for it." Well, if she hadn't seen the show,  how would she have known to ask?   I didn't know a thyroid guard even existed until yesterday myself.  This is something we  need to pass on to our daughters, nieces, mothers and all our female friends!! I thought it was important enough to let my blogger buddies know and hopefully you will tell the women in your life. 

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