MRI experience ( Terror)

[RobbieB]

I got sedated for a tooth pull. Wonderful!

 

[bmcgonig]

Me exactly. First 10/20/30 seconds were scary. As soon as i closed my eyes and started deep breathing it went away. I kept my eyes shut for the entire time and it was a breeze after that. Next time i will bring eye pads. They provided ear plugs.

It hit me too as I slid into the chamber. A few deep breaths and closing my eyes were enough for me to settle down - kept my eyes closed tight, I did! Need to ask for a cloth/eye shades next time.

 

[SecretlyFI]

Last one I closed my eyes before they slid me in and kept them closed. It worked wonders. But next time I’d bring an eye mask because I think I’d be even calmer not trying so hard to keep my eyes closed. I also always ask how long it will take and believe it or not counting while in there helped too. 20 minute scan, 1200 seconds. I wanted to know how much longer the whole time, so counting did that. The noise never phased me for some reason. Music or no music is fine for me.

 

[Gumby]

Keeping my eyes closed works for me.

Did you ever dive one of the torpedo tubes after a water slug? As a new Ensign, I did. The torpedomen shut the breech door on me. I balled up the towels, put them under my head and went to sleep until they let me out.

 

[powerplay]

Wow! What a difficult experience to go through. I hope some sedation can help you get through it.


I've not had an MRI, but have had 2 PET scans. They were interesting and required fasting for some hours before and an injection of a radioactive tracer then relaxing for an hour prior to scanning. The scan itself was maybe 30 minutes and I was scanned from my neck to my thighs. I couldn't put one arm up over my head so it was strapped down at my side which worked fine. I remember moving in and out of the scanner multiple times so sometimes when I opened my eyes I was looking at the ceiling and sometimes the inside of the scanner. There is some noise associated with this, but minimal compared to the MRI.


I'm thinking the MRI noises combined with being in the tube both contribute to the panic.

 

[Lewis Clark]

Did you ever dive one of the torpedo tubes after a water slug? As a new Ensign, I did. The torpedomen shut the breech door on me. I balled up the towels, put them under my head and went to sleep until they let me out.

Good for you! Although I think the smell of the stale seawater would keep me awake.

I never crawled into a torpedo tube. But I did spend a lot of time diving various tanks to close them out during decommissioning. Some of the baffles in the main ballast tanks were a pretty tight squeeze.

 

[Just_Steve]

Ativan + MRI = Better living through pharmacology.

 

[jazz4cash]

I'm really surprised the open MRI was not offered to you.
Ive had a couple and it was not an issue for me. My dear brother, OTOH demanded to be removed from the tube and he postponed some badly needed surgery that affects him to this day. He ultimately went through the open MRI machine.

 

[W2R]

Does anyone else have MRI experiences like this and, if so, what did you end up doing ??

I have had only one MRI, back around 1989 give or take a year or so. MRI's were pretty new back then, so it was brought down from Dallas to the hospital at College Station in a trailer and that is where I had my MRI - - in a trailer temporarily parked just outside the hospital, not long after it arrived.

This was a brain MRI. Things were pretty primitive back then; no music, no earplugs, no sedation, no words from the technician, soothing or otherwise. I guess they figured Aggies are tough. Anyway, the tube was very tiny and I barely fit into it. Also the way I was positioned, the tube came to about 1/4 inch from the end of my nose (really!) and I could see nothing; what a claustrophobic experience. To add to the ambiance, it sounded like Paul Bunyan was hitting the metal tube with a giant hammer. I did not know that would happen, and I had no idea that the MRI would take so long.

I had a hard time with claustrophobia so I closed my eyes and told myself kids' bedtime stories like Little Red Riding Hood and the Three Little Pigs, just to keep from completely "losing it", a distinct possibility under the circumstances. I wasn't supposed to move.

I am sure MRI's must be better by now! At least, I hope they are.

Luckily I haven't needed any more MRI's since then. If I ever do need another one and if an open MRI is an option, I'd choose that.

 

[CoolRich59]

Sorry to hear this, but I know what you're saying.

I grew up in the Chicago area (flat as a pancake), but megacorp moved me to San Diego for 5 years. A boyhood friend visited us out there and one day we decided to visit Coronado.

We were driving our car and he was following in his rental. We got to the ramp to the Coronado bridge to cross over when he suddenly swerved on to the shoulder.

We assumed he'd had a flat or some other breakdown. I pulled over and ran back to his car. He was sitting there frozen and on the verge of panic. It turns out he was deathly afraid of heights, but living his whole live in the Midwest, he'd never known it.

 

[Scrapr]

Me exactly. First 10/20/30 seconds were scary. As soon as i closed my eyes and started deep breathing it went away. I kept my eyes shut for the entire time and it was a breeze after that. Next time i will bring eye pads. They provided ear plugs.

Ohhh, good call on the eye mask. I'm going in Christmas Eve and will add them to my list. I think it might help with the flashing and such. I've had several and not been bothered much. But I like this

 

[audreyh1]

I had serious difficulty with my first MRI. It was hard not to panic. They removed the pillow from under my head, and the extra room plus being able to see the open room above my head let me calm down. I didn’t realize I was claustrophobic.

 

[timbervest]

I have had several MRIs. Put the earplugs in and close your eyes before they slide you in and then (here is the important part) DO NOT OPEN YOUR EYES until they pull you out. If you can manage this you can imagine you are sleeping or lying on the beach or such. Works for me.

 

[Telly]

I've never had an MRI, nor any other type of scan. After reading all the experiences here, I took a look at youtube to see some video of the different setups:

A regular MRI scanner, and a very good walk-through by an intelligent patient:

An "open" MRI:

An "open upright" MRI:

A "regular" MRI but has a significantly larger bore, 70 cm, over 24" (I'd go with this one!):

 

[Amethyst]

In Mr. A's case, it was more as if Bunyan was a kid at the kitchen table with a giant spoon, banging on the plates, the glasses, the sugar shaker (I date myself), and Bunyan Mom is not telling him to knock it off.

Listening for patterns in the noise made it somewhat bearable. If we go through this again, though, I'm bringing the silicone earplugs I use for sleeping; not the chintzy foam ones they give you.

I it sounded like Paul Bunyan was hitting the metal tube with a giant hammer. .

 

[aggie76]

thanks for the responses. I talked to a very good friend who is a gas passer at a large urban hospital. I asked him how many patients he would see that he put to sleep for an MRI since this was the first I have heard of it. Told me that it was VERY VERY common , did it all the time. He fully understood the sudden panic attack as he has witnessed it many times. Hit a lot of folks of every flavor, age , gender ( all 57 of em) and size. He has seen big scraping pro athletes absolutely go bonkers upon sliding into the tube and it aint pretty. Of course privacy laws apply so NO names but he did say that you would be amazed at the number of pro football players ( they have a lot of MRI's over a career) that have to be either heavily sedated or they see him and the pink juice. In virtually 100% of these sudden attacks the patient had no idea so therefor told the dr and the tech that they weren't claustrophobic. It can hit someone who has already had an MRI successfully , usually years earlier. Sedatives work SOME TIME but based on the severity of what I experienced ( common) it was going to be OPEN ( if the neuro-doc allows) or I get to go to lala land with the wonderful pink sleep juice. For damn near everyone a closed MRI is AT BEST a very unpleasant and stressful experience. The human brain is hardwired with an escape circuit when put into a closed in small tube with no visual avenue of escape. Our fight or flight instinct is a dominant human instinct that ,for some of us, instantly causes a full blown shot of adrenaline and a resulting panic attack.

 

[Nemo2]

I talked to a very good friend who is a gas passer at a large urban hospital. .

I think I've encountered him - does he work in elevators too?

 

[frayne]

My first MRI I felt like I was in a coffin buried alive, the longest twenty or so minutes of my existence. My second one was with a newer more open MRI machine and wasn't bad at all.

 

[Nemo2]

I had one, (or maybe two), full body scans previously.....but in Malaga when I underwent a brain scan, after a TIA scare, I was in a compact unit for 25 minutes, (head only).

Recall writing here at the time that it was akin to having my head in a metal bucket while someone drummed on the outside.

None of them bothered me - sometimes being insensate has its advantages.

 

[Ronstar]

I’ve had a couple MRI’s. No claustrophobia- I can nap in there. Problem is that I once had metal fragments surgically removed from an eye. So I need to go through an eye X-ray before an MRI to make sure that there are no metal fragments still in the eye that would be sucked through my body in an MRI

 

[ckelly78z]

When I first had an MRI was a long time ago, and the machine moved very slowly, and took a picture of each 1/4" slice of the intended area. The electric table would move 1/4", I was told to hold my breath while the magnet slowly rolled around me, and then breath again, so each slice took about 30 seconds with alot of 1/4" slices in a chest/neck area.

MRIs now do the entire scan while you hold your breath for 20 seconds.

The one scan that I did freak out on was a PET scan

. The machine has a MUCH deeper tunnel, and takes a long time to do properly. They didn't play any music, or even talk to me during the 1/2 hour I was in there. I also wanted to rip the IV out, and go home. In 50 years, I had never been clausterphobic until that moment.

 

[pacergal]

severe claustrophobia here, yes I have had one and been sedated. Kept my eyes closed and tried to listen to the music.
DH has had both, the open MRI was easier for him. However, one of the surgeons told him that they are not as clear pictures so if trying to decide whether surgery or not is needed, he wanted the closed ones done. DH was heavily sedated for that one!

 

[Beststash]

I had one in Austin last year and I swear they played Pink Floyd's "Welcome to the Machine" - I thought it was very cool!!

 

[Rianne]

I might try to close my eyes and imagine I'm Uma Thurman in Kill Bill:

 

[Bir48die]

Have reacted in terror before. Went to an open MRI. That was easy but it’s not as accurate. Went back after drugs and did a regular MRI. Put a towel over my eyes. Worked great