Radiological health expert Daniel Hayes, Ph.D., of the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene suggests that a form of vitamin D could be one of our body's main protections against damage from low levels of radiation. Writing in the International Journal of Low Radiation, Hayes explains that calcitriol, the active form of vitamin D, may protect us from background radiation and could be used as a safe protective agent before or after a low-level nuclear incident.

Your cancer treatment is over, but your risk of side effects goes on. You might be surprised to know that side effects can continue after your cancer treatment or even develop several years later. Some cancer survivors wonder why they weren't told about the possibility of late effects before they began treatment.

Looking back on my conventional treatment for my myeloma, the local radiation that I underwent in my neck (C5) and to my iliac crest and sacrum (hip bone and tail bone) was both a blessing and a curse.

I underwent radiation therapy three times during the period of my conventional myeloma therapy from my original diagnosis through October of 1997. The first radiation series was to the area of my fifth cervical vertebra. The next radiation therapy was to my iliac crest area and nine months later, a radiation series to my sacrum or tailbone. No discussion of the possibility of nerve damage ever took place. I began to notice my legs weakening in 98 and 99 and went to a neurologist for some explanation of what might be happening to my legs. He told me that I had peripheral neuropathy.