Radiation during pregnancy.

keniialise

Are there any current moms that had to be exposed to radiation during their previous pregnancies? 

Spent the the night in the ER last night due to unexplained chest and left shoulder pain. They never did figure out what's going on, but they ruled all the scary stuff out. My original blood test came back positive for pulmonary embolism and the only way to rule it out for sure was being exposed to radiation. After signing the scary waivers I agreed to a CT because it was less radiation than the alternative. The CT proved I didn't have a PE but now I can't stop stressing about the radiation I was just exposed to. They brought up the fact that it's not proven, but many think that radiation during pregnancy leads to learning disablilities. 

MotherofDragons

No advice related to the CT but I'm so sorry you had such a scare. Hope you're feeling better. 

I work with speech therapists that do swallow studies under xray and they continue to do so while pregnant. They just monitor them with a radiation button that tracks the exposure. 

HopefulNoob

I work in nuclear medicine. I have minimal exposure that's equated to the same amount of radiation we get from the sun. I have still opted out of doing nuclear tests during pregnancy anyway. But I do trust the physicists when they say it's ok. Lots of the other techs don't opt out and go on to have perfectly healthy pregnancies/babies/kiddos. 

Here's some info you may have read as well. I wouldn't worry if I were you with just a single dose.

https://americanpregnancy.org/pregnancy-health/cat-scans/

michaela0704

I had abdominal and pelvic scans with and without contrast in early September looking for the source of my pain (thank you hernia).  Add on that I have PCOS-IR with crazy long cycles (LMP being mid-July and BFP 9/30) my PCP flipped out that I was supposedly pregnant during the scans she ordered even though she did a blood pregnancy test beforehand which was negative.

The feedback I ended up getting was although not ideal, it is always a risk/benefit decision... does the mother have a condition/situation (which IMO a PE would be) that would require care that necessitates the radiation.

I think you did the best you could while ensuring you were healthy/OK.  If it makes you feel any better, it's better that you had it done in 2nd tri instead of 1st... I wonder a little bit if having radiation and contrast during my follicular phase could've harmed my egg/LO, but I had to get the scans done as I was having trouble breathing.

Xath

I fly a lot for my job so I get radiation exposure that way.  None of my doctors have expressed any concerns.