Lower blood counts and platelets

Lower blood counts and platelets

by Gemita - 2021-12-05 10:48:26

Unlikely JFBuffy that any radiation during your procedure in 2020 is causing your symptoms which seem to have become chronic?  I would be looking more towards an infection somewhere, an autoimmune condition like Lupus, anaemia/hidden blood loss?  I would look even at your medication or any treatment you are receiving for another condition?  

I presume you are being monitored by your general doctor and any serious conditions have been ruled out like leukaemia or other cancers.  I also presume that you have not had any chemotherapy or radiotherapy since your pacemaker implant or have any current viral/bacterial infection or signs of blood loss causing anaemia?  What is your platelet count and what does your doctor suggest you do?  Will this need treating?  You don’t provide much information.

Radiation

by Julros - 2021-12-05 21:17:31

JFBuffy, yes, some radiation is used during pacemaker implantation, but it is minimal. It is used to visual the veins where the leads go, and for implanting the leads. And it is very localized. It is a lot less radiation that say a CT scan. People who recieve bone marrow transplants undergo full body radiation to suppress bone marrow. 

Blood production, also called hematopoiesis, takes place in flat bones like ribs, sternum and pelvis; the ends of the long bones; and in the vertebrae. So even though your ribs and sternum were exposed, most of the rest of your blood making areas were not. 

I agree with Gemita about working with your primary care doctor about lowered counts. Perhaps your bone marrow is under-producing but there are several reasons besides radiation. I am sure who ever orders your tests are aware of lowered values and should explain the significance to you. 

Best wishes. 

JFBuffy

by Gemita - 2021-12-05 22:17:09

Thank you for your private message which I have responded to.  I hope you get the help you need from your haematologist next week.  Good luck and please let us know what he advises. 

Bone marrow failure and environmental insults

by crustyg - 2021-12-07 04:55:20

It's firmly engrained in the popular consciousness that Radiation is a deadly killer.  Which it is if you stare into the remains of a previously working nuclear reactor.  For the rest of us, it's a massively over-hyped problem.  Chemical damage to our bodies is far greater, much more insidious and difficult to detect/trace/prove.  You only have to look at the blessedly low levels of thyroid cancer in people exposed to modest fallout from Chernobyl (where the authorities didn't even hand out iodine tablets as they should have) and compare that to Bhopal where the incidence of birth defects in the next generation from the survivors is higher than expected.

Our bodies have evolved over millions of years, evolving mechanisms to cope with damage to our DNA - the UV-light from the sun being the biggest problem (hence dark skin) and background radiation from our natural environment, including our bodies.

Have a read of http://tiemanninvestmentadvisors.com/ruminations-on-radiation/ and study the chart, remembering that every block contains TEN times as much radiation as the last.  25 flights from NY=>LA gives you the EPA yearly limit on radiation exposure for a member of the general public: Nuclear Industry workers are allowed 50-times that.  In the UK, long term studies show that these workers have better health and lower cancer rates than the general public.  The fluoroscopy dosage was probably about 50uSv - tiny and no worse than you accept by just living - see the chart.

Bone marrow and cells in the blood.  When one cell line - white cells, red cells, platelets - is reduced in your peripheral blood that *suggests* a myelodysplastic syndrome where the bone marrow cells that normally make these cells is failing.  If you look hard enough you can almost always find evidence of genetic damage to these bone marrow cells, and it's most likely viral or chemically induced.  We've been immunising our cats against Feline Leukaemia virus for decades, and human studies show that viruses are one of the biggest causes of genetic damage.  Chemical is probably greater, but we know so little about the contaminants and their interaction with biological systems that we're really groping in the dark.  Look at contaminants in the production of BHC, Agent Orange, synthetic rubber and the resulting human disease to understand the scale of the problem.