Just curious... is/was your tumor located on the phone side?

[matti]

I had responded to another thread regarding which side our tumors are/were located. My tumor was located on my left, which was my phone side. Got me thinking if your tumor was also located on your phone side. Probably no correlation, but I was just curious and thought it would be interesting to find out.

matti

[rntiggergirl]

Hi-
Yes my tumor was on my phone side and I worked on the phone 8 hrs/day.  I did see one article on a study that showed that an AN could be caused by extensive phone use.  I haven't seen anything since and this has been months. 

Cheryl

[wanderer]

phone side for me too

[kennymac]

Hi I couldnt pass on this thread. I am 50 years old I had  a AN at age 25. I was one of the first male telephone operators for the then NY Telephone company. I wore an ear molded headset in my left ear my AN side. Three years later AN was detected. I asked the doctors at Columbia Presbyterian Hospital if this was job related they said it might be but it would be hard to prove. I believe it was the cause of my AN. Many times I would answer the call Operator may I help you and I would get someone screaming in my ear for some reason or another. The bad thing was with the type of headset I wore you couldnt pull it away from your ear in time to save your ear from someone yelling. The Doctors at CPMC said I was very young to have an AN and that was 25 years ago. I belive the increase in AN's is a direct result of the increase of Cell phones and cordless phones.
just my opinion

[Dave_S121]

My tumor was on my right side, my non-phone side.  Since I am usually writting when on the phone 99% of the time the phone is on my left side. 

[Mark]

I've read the recent string of posts that suggest the hypothesis that cell phone use has generated an increase in the number of AN's. However, I can't seem to see where someone actually quoted some statistics to show that there has been an increase in AN's as a percent of the population. I posed that question to my neursosurgeon a couple of years ago and he indicated that the number of AN's diagnosed annually had been remarkably consistent over several decades. There is no clear understanding ( other than NF2 patients) as to why they form that I am aware of. If one follows the path of an epidemiologist in a process like this, the first issue is to determine if there has been a statistical change in the histoical trend. I've yet to see someone post results of a study that AN's have jumped from x% to y%. If no change has occurred then how can you suddenly claim a new causal factor? If you do see a change then you can look for possible change agent but you have to control for a lot of variables to make a determination. In Kennymac's case, he doesn't reference the size of his AN, but it was diganosed 25 years ago, so it probably started 5-10 years earlier if it was between 1-2 cm. Point being, it in all likelihood started somewhere between the age of 15-20, before he worked as an operator. If AN's were caused by loud noise exposure, then you would have to include those in industrial situations with high decibals as well as amplified noise through a telephone. As far as cell / cordless phones go, Since AN's typically grow at about 2 mm / year then any one with an AN over 2 cm probably had there AN start somewhere between 1990-1995, which predates widespread use of cell and cordless phones, so I think it's hard to make that case. Even if there was an increase in smaller AN's being diagnosed, one would also have to factor in the better diagnostic imaging capabilities today ( MRI primarily) than 10-20 years ago.

I am not debating whether the increased use of cell / cordless phones will result in an increase in AN's and be found to be a causal factor, it may well be over time. My 2 cm right side AN is in my phone ear, so I could also buy into that thinking if I wanted to. My point is only that if you have evidence based data to support the argument , then it's worth serious discussion . If you don't then it falls into the category of rumor and urban myth, which is , to me , irresponsible in a forum like this where so many newly diagnosed patients are seeking information. I have the same feelings about the unfounded "malignant transformation" after radiosurgery comments made by some when I've yet to see any scientific evidence supporting such claims. The studies I have seen put such risk at less than 1%, which is the same as those having surgery. The number of AN's being treated by radiosurgery has increased dramatically over the last 5-10 years to where it now slightly exceeds surgery as a percentage based on my conversations with docs at Stanford. Will that possibly demonstrate an increase over time, maybe, but with 30 years of data since the Gamma Knife was first used, there is yet to be any statistical evidence supporting such claims.

Sorry for the ramble, but I really think it is important to reference documented studies before making broad based claims or solution jumping

My 2 cents

Mark

[GM]

I don't think it's early conclusions...but there just has to be something in common.  I'm not saying that cell phone use is the key, but hey its a start.   I hardly used a cell phone.  But I did use a cordless phone a lot!  What is the impact on that?  Is there a radiation sourse from that as well?  What about regular phones?  Is there some other type of history (non-telephony related), that we haven't thought about.  Measles, mumps, stress, bad divorces  , cancer, apendix removals, there has to be some trend to this.  That's probably the hardest for me...is that this is so 'random" and accepted as such. 

[becknell]

My husband is the AN patient. His tumor is on the LEFT, and he ALWAYS uses the cell phone on the RIGHT. We discussed the cell phone connection early on and I read about it. What I read was that there has not been enough evidence to support the cell phone connection and many experts in brain tumors don't believe there is a connection. I don't believe that there is a connection, and I read everything I could find about it. That's my 2 cents.

[sdinapoli]

I think that cell phones promote growth but is not the actual cause. I have used various analog and digital cell phones along with one sided headphones for dj'ing primarily on my left side for many many years yet my tumor was on my right side which was almost never ever used for these things. I am no longer a working dj and I don't use cell phones anymore. I always print out these studiess and save them in a binder. I will look for them and try to post. I believe that this was a Swedish study and the evidence is very convincing. If one day this all turns out to be true I feel that all the cell phone companies should be required to pay out settlements or make substantial donations for more research in finding that magic pill.

[maggiemay]

My tumour is located on my left -- phone side, but I very rarely use a cell phone.

I have heard that most people use the left ear when using the phone, because it (the left ear) is designed to pick up conversation, whereas the right ear is for other sounds.  Don't know if this is true or not.

[wanderer]

in an msn article I read a british study that said cell phone use resulted in a 35% increase in benign brain tumors.    It was a few months ago that the article appeared.

I don't know any of the specifics of the study though

[Windsong]

my AN is on my phone side, yes.....

I read a Swedish report the other day about electromagnetic fields and their impact on us... they include cell phones, tv's, microwaves, radios, pc's, electricity towers, aerials etc.... plenty of stuff not just phones....

I was searching about that because i live under a roof with plenty of aerials, began using a cell phone early '90's, microwaved foods/drinks all the time since the 80's, used a cordless phone a lot, am on my pc a lot off and on all day, have the tv on for background  far too much since getting sick, have a radio next to my bed with the  light emitting miniscule levels, i mean the list goes on and on...

the last while in the news, much has been said about the effect of cell phones even going so far as to say that those who have published negative reports seem to be muzzled quickly and stats have been finagled , even saying the co's with the most interest in positive reports have skewed their studies... i have no idea how true all this is....

i do find it interesting that many of my health issues came along after increasing use of all the above.. some of their effects can be very simple such as fatigue, headaches, increased olds, flu and so on....
the Swedish study had stats but I didn't save it so can't pass it on here...

Years from now maybe they will have answers that are clear about  cell phones.

In the meantime I have cut back on all the use of the things named above.

Doesn't change my having an AN however and that is what I am dealing with now.....

Looking at the existence of nf2 and the gene connection i wonder if  AN's generally  get activated, even the non nf2 ones, by some protein change at the cell level perhaps even brought about by a virus for example, something that activates the growth of the neuroma.....

Again, I have to deal with now, taking care of it lol...

Sunny

[dpericoni]

I have never used a phone on my left side. Only on the right. I don't use a cellphone often. Even when I do, it's on the right.  I have a small left side AN. Darlene

[MyrnaB]

I use the phone, including the cell phone, on left side.  I was also a telephone operator for 10 years and wore a molded hearing unit at work on the left side.  My AN was on the right side.

[alibauer]

Hi,

Not that it matters that much, considering that my tumor is not an AN. I would still think though, that the waves that cell phones send into/through our heads would effect more than just the area immediately adjacent to our ears.

At least 80% of my cell phone use is on my right side, since I'm a righty, and fairly right hand dominant. My tumor is low on my neck, in the C4-C6 region, on the left side.

Ali