Computers and Hypothyroidism

[mitchell1204]

I was diagnosed with hypothyroidism in Oct 07. My doctor said I had it awhile since my symptoms were bad and TSH levels over 150. I don't know the initial count. That was one month after 25mcg levothyroxin. I'm getting closer to taget, yet none of my symptoms have got better. I actually feel worse. The weight gain has put me borderline diabetic and I have now been diagnosed with chronic kidney disease stage III.

I look back, I can remember my symptoms starting in 2005. My family has no hypo history, only hyperthyroidism.

In 2005 I bought a new computer with a 17" CRT monitor. I use a computer alot. I noticed my eyes getting burnt. They would swell and the surrounding skin would be beet red and dry wrinkled. Similar to being overexposed in a tanning bed or in the sun. I used many computers and none has burnt my eyes like this.

I figured this was from the radiation from the monitor and tuffed it out for two years. Always dealing with burnt eyes when I used the computer alot. 2007 I moved and bought a laptop. I never hooked that computer back up. My eyes got better.

Last month, I hooked the same computer back up and started using it. Again my eyes got burnt.

Now that I put two and two together.... monitor... radiation...burnt eyes
They used radiation to kill thyroids in hyperthyroid patients.
I now believe this computer monitor killed my thyroid gland!!

Has anyone else experienced burnt eyes and are now hypothyroid??

Any thoughts appreciated.

[DLA]

While watching Ghost Hunters today--yes, I am a huge fan--I got to wondering if what could be wrong with your eyes is too high of an elctro magnetic field from your computer and the components with it.  Having high EMF reading can cause paranoia, thoughts of being watched, rashes, hallucinations, and a whole list of other things.  Realized why I feel like I'm being watched when I spend too much time at my computer.  It's the breaker box in the closet behind me.

[kitty9309]

It's great that you got such a good response from HP.

[mitchell1204]

Well, I got a nice phone call from HP. They seemed really concerned over the matter and have excellent service.

The engineer said the government has strict radiation guidelines and many safety features are built into these CRT monitors. They have built in circuitry that monitors the radiation levels and if a malfunction did occur the circuitry would shut down the monitor.

That puts a end to them thoughts :)

I'm still buyng a LCD flat panel to ease the eyes.

But however I still feel some hypo patients are victims of radiation.

[mitchell1204]

Many think radiation, sickness, death. Well yes in heavy doses. We're exposed to small doses everyday. One reason they ask you about how many Xrays you had. They have to limit the doses. Something like a monitor would emit a very little amount and is not dangerous at all. Except if you had a poorly calibrated monitor that emitted a little more than normal. Over more than normal use, you will absorb more than normal doses. Not enough to notice, but something like your thyroid that is very susceptable to radiation might suffer. If you sit at the monitor 8 hours a day, you will be exposed to X amount which is safe. Where as if you sat at the computer 16 hours a day you will get 2X the amount. Not enough to make you literally sick, but possible have effects over time including your thyroid.

35 million cases of hypothyroid, I don't think all are caused by heredity.

If any of you remember 3-mile Island Nuclear plant in Pennsylvania when it released radiation accidently in 1979. I grew up 20 miles down wind of there. Nobody was killed or injured at the time. Luckily I moved out of state the year before. But 20 years later, the cancer rate was twice the national average. Coincidence?? I lost my mother to cancer in 2000. She was living there at the time. And I bet if studies were done, Hypothyroidism cases would be more than double in that area. Look at potassium iodine tablets. They are given to nuclear plant workers and to other people in a nuclear war threat. The sole purpose of potassium iodine is to protect the thyroid gland from radiation exposure.

[quote]Radiation and Electromagnetics (ELF)
There are two types of radiation, according to Lita Lee, author of Radiation Protection Manual. They are ionizing and non-ionizing radiation. The ionizing radiation is more damaging because it is of a higher energy than non-ionizing radiation and produces charged particles called ions, either negative ions (the good "guys") or positive ions (the bad ones). Ionizing radiation is produced from nuclear bombs, nuclear reactors, medical and dental x-rays, and is the type of radiation used to irradiate food. The non-ionizing radiation includes electromagnetic radiation produced by electric current, radio waves, microwave ovens, radar stations, television (cathode ray tube), video display terminals (VDT's) computers, high voltage lines, infrared and fluorescent lights, and sunlamps (e.g. tanning booths which emit ultraviolet light)[/quote]

Here are some interesting links about radiation and thyroids...

http://naturalmedicine.suite101.com/article.cfm/causes_of_thyroid_disease

Ad for a radiation monitor, read the yellow box, lol
http://www.twotigersonline.com/combo1.html

http://www.cdc.gov/nceh/radiation/hanford/htdsweb/guide/hi_cond.htm

I hope I'm getting the point across it doesn't take very much to kill your thyroid. Even a few extra Xrays can kill it. Will you feel radiation sickness? Nope Thyroid die, yes.

Look at hyperthyroid patients, they are given radiactive iodine to kill your thyroid so they can control it. The thyroid loves to absorb iodine. Mixed with radiation, it's dead. Do you get radiation sickness? No or very little.

So the answer is yes, you can be exposed to small enough amounts of radiation that you don't know, but your thyroid does.

[imedicmommy]

I really want to know what you find out! I have no experience with this but it's an interesting theory and I'd like to see what you find out.
With a TSH that high it really is going to take awhile to feel "normal" again.

[DLA]

After your TSH comes back down to normal it will take quite a while before you begin to feel good again.  The damage it causes can take a year or more to heal so you will stay symtematic until it does.  Sometimes it feel worse as the levels are coming down than they did going up.