Anyone had an MRI?? | Arthritis Information
Has anyone here had an MRI ??? Just wondering about how I will cope being that I suffer from claustrophobia !!!
Even when the hospital rang to advise me of the date & they were running through it she got to the 'some people can, some people can't' bit and that put the wind up me because I didn't even tell them I didn't like enclosed spaces; in fact up until that point the close proximty hadn't occurred to me.
And,
Any clues why it would take 1/2 - 3/4 hr ???
Obviously I am a dill at this stuff ....
I have had several and never had a problem. It does take a bit since it is taking so many detailed pictures. For most people, it's the noise that bothers them the most. Kinda sounds like people hitting pots and pans. They will give you ear plugs. Actually, one place I go to gives you headphones and lets you pick music. Whoo hoo...Red Hot Chilli Peppers!! If you do feel like you are getting antsy, they give you a button to push or squeeze and they will take you out. Just remember, you are not really stuck in there-you can leave if necessary. But, you will have to have another one if they were not finished.
My mom had to be sedated. She had breast cancer and had to have a number of them. She was never able to handle it. Once again, no big deal. Just let your dr. know. You really want to get one done cause it gives your dr. such a better idea as to what is going on.
If you have that much of a problem with claustrophobia, talk to your doctor and see if they can knock you out. Of course, that will greatly increase the time of the procedure. 30 to 45 minutes sounds right for an MRI. It's not like an x-ray - dozens and dozens of images are taken. Plus it takes time to get gowned up and in position on the table. In addition, if there are any contrast agents used, they take time to administer as well.
Hi Maz, I have the same problem, you have to let them know you are claustrophobic and your GP or referring Dr needs to write "MRI with sedation" then the radiography practice has to book you in for an extra long MRI, I have had about 4 like that and they usually give me midazolam, you don't feel a thing or remember anything when you come out, it really is good, I would never be able to have one without it now. The scans usually take about 20 mins (longer if sedated), and if they are looking at more than one area it does take longer. Best of luck, Janie.
Maz, I've had several MRIs with no problems but then I'm not claustrophobic. That sounds about the right time span for them to complete it.
Check around and see if there's an open MRI unit in your area. Maybe one of the other hospitals or a free standing radiology unit. Open MRI units are great if you're claustrophobic. If not they can sedate you. Good luck. Lindy
Ditto to all above and one more thing...
It depends on what part of the body is being MRId and even the place you have it done at. Last year I had several done on my shoulder. At the first place, I was in the hood thing from knees up. At the other place, my head was out of it! You do not have your head in for other parts, like say, a foot... they actually have a boot for that.
Call the facility and tell them in advance. They will get orders from your doctor... and don't be shy about calling in a few days to check that they did.
CathyMarie
Thanks troops ---
Unfortunately for me its my pancreas and stuff they are looking at so I guess I will be 'in it' so to speak ....
They warned me about my fillings (in my teeth of course) what's the go with that ???
Maybe I just need a general anaesthetic beforehand .... lol
The hardest part for me was laying on that hard table perfectly still for so long. (I have DDD and bad hips, so hopefully that won't be an issue for you.) That was painful.
I didn't have any trouble with claustrophobia - just closed my eyes and daydreamed. My hands were up above my head, so as the pain mounted, I just squeezed my hands tighter, LOL, but I didn't move. I was bound and determined not to move!!!
I sleep......
Honestly, I do fall asleep. It's boring.
If it's the kind where I have to hold mybreath..which this may be, Maz... since my kidney ones needed my breath held for a count...
THEN, I want to cough so BAD!!
I have bad hips and lower spine so they put a pillow under my knees which makes it a little better.....
good luck.
Request an open mri, they are much easier to cope with. open MRI's are easier to cope with but do not give the same quality of pictures as the closed MRI.
I do fine with MRI's but now have too many joint replacements that interfere with the pictures. My brother needs valium to get through one...
Maz - its scary the first time, but now I fall asleep too :) The first time, I was put on the table and shoved in and my forehead and nose were about an inch from the top of the tube and I had my eyes wide open and I started whimpering and almost screamed - if felt like I was being shoved into a coffin. Nobody had prepped me on what to expect, and it was so quick it caught me off guard. They put a washcloth over my eyes and got my husband and he held onto my feet for the procedure (I love this guy). Now its a breeze, I bet I have had a dozen by now. But once they told me to keep my shoes on and after I was all tucked in my knees kept pulling up and I had to stop it and come back out - the shoes had metal plates in the arch and the magnet was trying to draw my shoes (and my feet LOL) into the machine.
I do feel though for very overweight or obese patients, as its a tight fit then. I am a little overweight, but small overall and its a snug fit for me.
But, I want to go OT a little here as this dialogue is also over on the AP thread and it might be more beneficial here in a general way - how were you diagnosed with the pancreatitis? I cannot remember anyone else having it but me in here, but frain bog. What were your symptoms? How did they know it was pancreatitis? I am just curious as I looked back through my notes and it was four full years of complaining of terrible right side pain and horrifying bowels, then firing Cleveland Clinic, before the next doctor in two days pulled my amalyse and lipase (never done before) and I had huge pancreatitis numbers.
Thanks, just curiousity. Take care and good luck with the MRI - they did find a hot spot on my pancreas, but it was gone 18 months later in the post-gall bladder removal MRI. That's when the general surgeon caught my mysterious moving around right hip nodule due to a typo not caught by the radiologist - another long story of screwups :) At least I got a refund and didn't have to pay my co-pay :) Cathy
I have had several...you jusy lay there as still as youcan, i took in a tape, but they had music to choose from.
try to think of it as a "cozy" spot rather confined in noisy tube, it helped me to think that way.
I am hoping all those "sik: days are behind me,,,,oh wishful thinking i am sure but it doesn't hurt to dream does it?
Oh the unklnown is always difficult so take it as it comes. It could all be so much worse. I think about all i have been through these past years and thank God i have a few super great friends i can turn to.
I've had a couple and my doctor gave me valium. One didn't help.....but two seem to do the trick.
I had an open MRI done on my knee before and that's the way to go if you can; but I don't think everything can be done in those. The ones I've had on my back were the tube type and those freak me out! Valium.....that's the way to go.
Valium, Valium, Valium! Maz, I too am claustrophobic and I take 3 Valium. No worries then! Go for an open MRI if you can. I have also had IV sedation.
I hope you feel better soon, Maz! I am hummmmming for you!
I'm also claustrophobic. Had an OPEN MRI. See if they have one.I have never had an MRI but I am extreemly claustrophobic. Take some meds or ask for an open one if possible and good luck.
I'm also claustrophobic and have had many MRI's over the years. Some have taken up to 1 1/2 hrs. I always take 10 mg of valium to calm me down. Most techs. don't want you to go to sleep, as many people jump or jerk in their sleep. I do that a lot.
When I first started having them, many years ago, I had no problem keeping still, but my claustrophobia was very mild at the time. I agree that you should ask for ear plugs or headphones with music, if they have them. They can be pretty uncomfortable if you have bad joints and/or a bad back. As someone else said, the tables are very hard. But they try to help you get as comfortable as possible with pillows, blankets, etc.
The worst one for me was when I broke my pelvis. It was so hard to get comfortable and try to stay still. (Then I broke it again 3 months later, on the other side!)
Good luck, Sweetie! Be sure to ask for, at least, valium and take it 1/2 -1 hr. before the procedure.
Hugs, Nini
Good luck.
I have nearly fallen asleep while having one as well....it is the constant noise that just lulls me to sleep......
Good luck on the MRI.....
Hello and thanks to everyone - I am not as worried as I was about having it.
To Cathy,
The acute pancreatitis was easy to diagnose, when they stopped thinking I was having a heart attack.
I got up Sun morning, put the kettle on made a cuppa, sat down to talk with my hubbie and the pain just hit. It was full on within seconds, about a 9 out of the 1-10 scale, which was pretty bad ... after 1/2 cuppa and a hot shower the pain just maintained itself, it wasn't coming and going, and I said to my daughter, who had called in for breakfast, call an ambulance!
The ambo's did an ECG and all was well, offered me morphine by IV which I took and the pain lessened to around a 6-1/2 - 7 --- when I got to the hospital they rushed me in and started with the whole heart monitors, blood tests etc ... the only relief I got was to pace up and down to take my mind off it, the pain itself stayed the same -- the results came back and the inflammation markers were 1400 --- that's when I was tranferred to another hospital and was told it was 'acute pancreatitis'. The pain was right across my diaphram but eminating from that point in the middle between the ribcage. All they can do from then on is IV fluids, nil by mouth & rest, to rest the system.
The thing that bothers me the most about that whole episode is that they didn't look for the cause for 2 days (other than the ultrasound), because the main causes of pancreatitis is 'stones' and/or 'alcohol', and the doctors wouldn't believe me when I said I don't really drink alcohol. I told them the truth, I had a glass of scotch and dry at my BIL's funeral 3 wks ago, before that I had 3 glasses of Baileys on crushed ice at New Year and I don't remember before that. After being badgered for 2 days about my supposed drinking habits I exploded telling them if you really believe I have an alcohol problem it's pointless asking me because I am going to deny it, why don't you ask my family, friends or better still my doctor or you could be really smart and do a blood alcohol test, which will be zero you morons. Anyway, the next day they apologised and said it was 'idiopathic pancreatitis' meaning there was no known cause, that's why they are doing an MRI - just to make sure there isn't something they missed.
All I can say is it was bloody sore - but for me not intolerable - my PR flares usually hit around the 9 to 9-1/2 mark and although it has been a while since I had a flare I can still remember how bad it is. Think I am just plain lucky I have such a high pain threshold!
Edited to put this bit in:
I have had someone send me a link on mycoplasma bacteria and the pancreas and being that I am trying to kill off that very bacteria with AP I am beginning to wonder if it is that that sparked the problem.... ??? Don't know, but worth looking into...
Maz-aust2009-03-26 16:28:56I just had an MRI last Wednesday, and I am claustrophobic. My doctor prescribed a Valium, and I was TOTALLY fine. I was in the tube 45 minutes, and I don't think I could have done it without the medicine. Good luck!
Jamie
Wow, thank Maz. My experience was nothing like yours, no wonder you were hospitalized.
My amalyse was 848, but it was never as painful as you are describing, as I would have gone to the hospital if I had that type of pain. It was very painful, I don't want to diminish that part, but not what went through. That's one reason they allowed me not to go into hospital - I was working, felt okay, just the usual bad right side pain (from the gallbladder) I had been complaining about for years (no stones, bad thing, makes doctors go stupid). I had walked into the doctor's office who found it and had walked out, so it was pretty obvious I wasn't in emergency trouble.
Glad you called them morons - you were so right, pull a damn blood test and see what my blood alcohol content is if you won't believe me. I will remember that one.
I read that you may only have one or possibly they can come back. I hope you only have this one. Thanks again, Cathy PS Maybe you experienced the herx from hell :)
justsaynoemore2009-03-26 17:05:23Thanks Cathy,
Morons is right - have you ever heard of someone who has a drink problem actually admitting it to anyone ??? No way known, not until they are doing the whole 12 step thing.
I too am wondering whether it was a herx -- all that bad stuff attacking my pancreas ... don't know - but whatever it was I don't want it ever again !!
Edited to pop this bit in: MY GP said if I go a mth without a relapse it is highly unlikely I will ever get another bout of pancreatitis ... hope he is right!
[QUOTE=justsaynoemore]
Glad you called them morons - you were so right, pull a damn blood test and see what my blood alcohol content is if you won't believe me. I will remember that one.
I read that you may only have one or possibly they can come back. I hope you only have this one. Thanks again, Cathy PS Maybe you experienced the herx from hell :)
[/QUOTE]
Maz-aust2009-03-26 18:40:17
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