AIBU? Child CT scan - anyone else’s?

[mumstheword1x]

My little girl (6 years old ) had a CT scan on her brain, due to severe headaches when she wakes up and vomiting, they done it in a&e a year ago - so she was 5.

they said they was questioning lesions on the brain, especially as her eye test was clear 💔

turns out everything was thankfully okay.

but I’ve recently started worrying about what ifs and im
super paranoid the CT scan will now cause her to get cancer.

I suffer with health anxiety, it doesn’t rule my life but it definitely gives me catastrophic thoughts.

anyone work within radiology?
anyone have one when they was a child and all ok?
anyone else child have on?
any reassurance?

ive been non-stop thinking of it tonight, and because the scan was clear, it feels like we did it now for no reason, even though we weren’t to know.

They don't do CT scans for fun. They would have weighed up the risks and decided it was medically needed. You can't think about what ifs.

Reassurance perpetuates anxiety cycle. Learn to sit with the uncomfortable instead.

I work adjacent to this area. For context:

The effective dose of a brain CT is approximately 2-4mSv (obviously this can vary).

The annual average background radiation dose in most of the UK is about 2mSv.

The annual average background radiation dose in Cornwall is about 8mSv.

The annual occupational dose limit for radiation workers in the UK is 20mSv.

A single head CT is a very low additional radiation dose, and whilst in does present a theoretical additional cancer risk (around 1 in 5000 to 1 in 10000) this is minuscule compared to the baseline cancer risk (currently something like 1 in 2 to 1 in 3). The scan will have had to be specifically justified to balance this risk against the gain for your daughter, and it sounds like it was very much needed for her care.