This article includes a small map showing the radiation fall out from the explosion at the then secret nuclear weapon facility at Windscale in the Lake District.
news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tec...
Far more people could have been affected than was thought then. Research re Chernobyl has shown young people with no symptoms, but with autoimmunity which is expected to develop into thyroiditis down the line.
Aspmama, reminded me of my BIL.
My brother in law lives and works on the Belgian French border. When he heard I took levo he told me that he too takes it. I asked about his levels and how much he was taking.
He had no idea re his bloods and claimed to be feeling just fine but then he's not the brightest crayon in the box ( I pickled the right one !!). He takes 25mcg levo/day like a lamb. His doctor told him that his hypo was probably an effect of Chernobyl.
Oh, I had a 'boyfriend' in Paris who was hypo, and his doctor told him the same thing. I told my doctor and he laughed and said he shouldn't have said that without doing tests. He didn't say what tests, but I got the idea that it's a thing doctors in France just say, without any real reason to think it.
In France at the time of Chernobyl they announced that the fallout was not affecting France and that there was no reason to take protective measues. The fallout had conveniently stopped at the border, France was told. France had huge investment in nuclear power itself. Prof Pierre Pellerin, who made the announcement, was later sued by a group of people who contracted thyroid cancer but the prof sadly died before the case ended. So your doctor was taking a political position. There is little doubt that France was affected.
No, he wasn't taking a political position at all. He was saying that you can't just assume things without doing the appropriate tests. Sounds like common sense to me.
What would the appropriate tests be to establish on a patient that their antibodies came as a result of nuclear fall out?
Aren't we talking about a history, and about probabilities? But you may know of a specfic test, of course.
As I said before, in my original reply, he didn't say what tests. But, I Don't think we're talking about antibodies, are we? I'm not sure nuclear fall-out causes anti-bodies.
It does. That's why I posted the map....
state.nv.us/nucwaste/news/s...
Well, sorry, but I didn't read the article, and I wasn't talking about the article. it was just a comment to Rapunzel after what she said about her brother-in-law. Not a comment on your article. 
Sure. It's of direct relevance however since many may be making the same mistake. This is from a 2013 general research summary on thyroiditis.
"21. Radiation Exposure
"Following the tragic Chernobyl nuclear accident, the exposed children developed a high frequency of thyroid autoantibodies [71]. All the evidence suggests that the presence of thyroid antibodies increases the risk of developing thyroid dysfunction [4, 72]. Whether background radiation to which we are all exposed has any role in susceptibility to autoimmune thyroid disease is unknown. In a population-based study of 4299 subjects, 160 had an occupational exposure to ionizing radiation, nearly 60 percent of the subjects worked in a nuclear power plant, while the rest were either medical or laboratory workers. Ten percent of the female subjects with radiation exposure met criteria for autoimmune thyroid disease (anti-TPO antibodies greater than 200 IU/mL and hypoechogenicity on ultrasound) compared to 3.4 percent of those without an exposure. Subjects with greater than five years of exposure to ionizing radiation were particularly at high risk."
apsmama,
I assume from this document?
ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articl...
Which references this regarding occupational exposure:
ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/158...
Is it purely wild speculation that any impact by radiation (e.g. from Windscale) ends up making people more sensitive to other forms of radiation like, one of our classic question-mark issues, dental X-rays.
Had plenty of them! Don't know if it's had any detrimental effect on me...
Just to make clear to anyone reading this in future, the damage to the thyroid from the Windscale fire, which was a very serious nuclear accident, came from the fallout.
We now know that the release of radioactive isotype iodine 131 into the atmosphere in a very large dose would have contaminated crops and milk across huge swathes of the west of England and parts of west Scotland, Wales and the Isle of Man.
Chernobyl (a much worse disaster) has now proved that there were more effects than thyroid cancer. A rise in autoimmune antibodies followed years later by thyroiditis is another. Children and teenagers at the time of the fire were especially at risk. Adults seem much less affected.
No study of this has been carried out in the UK to my knowledge. But anyone who was young and milk drinking in the west of Britain in 57 who has since developed Hashis might reasonably wonder if this major incident was a factor. I am one of those, three years old then, and around 40 miles from the fire, drinking large amounts of Eden Valley Dairies milk because my poor mother thought it would be good for me.
Would x rays make it worse? Who knows? I am no scientist, but I read that radioactive isotype 131 is rarely used in imaging. Perhaps it was in the 50s. But I think it is this ingested dose of r. i. 131 in this accident, which causes mutation and death in cells it penetrates, which must stand first in the dock.
I agree with above. I was raised in Poland and was 6 when Chernobyl happened. Lots of my friends in the same age group have thyroid problems and among people who used to live in same street we have had 4 cases of ms, my father including.
So that's practically the entire UK affected 
Makes you wonder doesn't it. I was born in December 1957 a couple of months after the Windscale explosion.
I have also worked very extensively in all parts of Europe with my old job, including plenty of times in the Ukraine in places such as Kiev. After the Chernobyl disaster of 1986 and working around Europe in the 90's my fellow workers and I wondered about milk and food but what do you do? Starve? You just have to go with the official word and I really trust Them (sarcasm *cough, splutter*).
I have no idea of family medical history as I was adopted.
Do you know where you were born?
Not exactly no. I was raised in London but apparently I was the result of a dalliance by a "gentleman farmer" and a librarian and that I came from country stock, so probably born outside London.
Myself, I really don't like city living....I've always felt the countryside is my spiritual home and I was ecstatic to have the chance to move away from London.
My adoptive parents said that they reckon I was matched to them because when asked what their hobbies were my mum said reading and dad said he liked gardening! 
I have never really wanted to trace as it would have hurt my mum and she was such a wonderful mother, bless her. My father died when I was 6 and mum never re-married. I suppose I am curious as to "where" I was born but that's as far as it goes. Anyway at my age you apparently have to jump through hoops before a trace can be initiated...I don't even really know what my birth name was or the adoption agency involved (I think it was church based) so it would take a bit of detective work and certainly more complicated than using a "ancestry" websearch site.
Gosh. Sounds really intriguing though, like a novel... poor librarian.
My Granny lived in Seascale as it was called then, and we used to go and visit and swim in the sea, and especially liked the warm area of sea from the "power plant"! Me and my sisters must have glowed like the ReadyBrek children!
One sister - no health problems, another sister - breast cancer and me, well lots of stuff! I must have swallowed more sea water!
My mum went to boarding school at Saeascale She was at school there 1949 - 1954 .Thyey did games on the beach & swimming in the sea. She has had to be tested for leukemia & thyroid at the doctors as they had bathed in the sea & people were dying younger who lived there.apparently she should be iller than she is the doctors said.She told me she is borderline low thyroid but she doesn't know the actual results so she is going to check.She has always had a lot of the classic hypothyroid symptoms.
I googled Seacale & there's some interesting old & newer photos, showing a good perspective of how close the nuclear plant is to the village & beach. I think the school has closed now.
I have updated this post now that I have asked her about it!
Do you know if she was there when Windscale blew?
She was at school there 1949 - 1954
Ok, so she got out before it blew in 57 ... thank heaven.
I was safely in boarding school in Surrey in '57. However, I seem to remember years ago that when Chernobyl blew, there were concerns raised about wind direction and effrcts on grazing animals, like sheep and cows I.e milk, lamb and beef.
They were saying the same about foot and mouth weren't they if any animals had got to market before that became so widespread. Potential for effects of 'mad cow disease!
Wouldn't radiation effects also have happened regarding windscale, and the grazing animals!
The same when microwaves came out, scare stories about radiation, that were dismissed. Nowadays we all have more radiation in our homes from tv's wifi, mobile phones, tablets etc., that who knows what we are exposing ourselves to!
Yes indeed, some fallout from Chernobyl blew across Britain, and indeed the poor old Lake District was once more affected. It seems to be specifically the radioactive isotype iodine 131 that you have to worry about for hypothyroidism, not general radiation.
That's interesting. I was a toddler in Glasgow when Windscale blew. Though apparently if nothing has happened after thirty years it probably isn't going to. Maybe.
But they would say that, wouldn't they.
But in your case, and mine, it has happened. There must be many moreThey won't officially admit impacts till they have followed the chernobyl affected generation through, I think. We were the guinea pigs, and no one noticed when we squeaked.
Could you check results please 
How many symptoms did you have before seeing your GP?
New results - could you please help?
Do you have to have a specific condition to be hypothyroid?
