Mri
 

Has anyone ever had an MRI? I had that done today. And I freaked out. The woman put me in head first; it is open at either end, but it's like being in a coffin. You are not supposed to move. I guess when she put me head first, the top of the thing was so close to my head that I freaked. I asked her to pull me out of it. She put me in it feet first instead. My feet were dangling over the table a bit (I had a pillow under my knees), but I didn't feel so enclosed. I told her that I was sorry; I didn't think I was claustrophobic. She said that it was OK. She kept checking on me. The machine makes a lot of noise so they give you headphones with music piped in. She asked me what kind of music I liked & I said anything but country & rap. So I heard some Motown, "I Heard It through the Grapevine" & I heard "Jeremiah was a Bull Frog". I don't think the music calmed me though because I was breathing pretty heavy through the whole thing. It lasted about 20 - 25 minutes. You can't have any metal on your body, so I had to take my dress pants off (zipper) & bra (hooks) & put a gown on. She said that I did good & then I had a back x-ray (@ no charge she said) to go along with the MRI of the lower back. Some other woman did that. I was glad to get out of there. My doctor should have the results in three days. I'm not going to wait until the 11th to get the results though. I'm going to have the doctor call me next week.

Oh, this all started back in May. I was a little over zealous in my gardening I guess & I wound up in the ER on May 20th. I was in severe pain. They said that it was a groin pull. My left leg wasn't numb then, but it was the next day & a little section still is & it aches to my knee. I can walk OK though. I have arthritis in my spine, so when my leg aches, it's just like arthitis, but the neurologist thinks it's a pinch nerve. So hopefully I'll know for sure next week.

Lee :distress:

I've had a few....
 

and the first one was the worst experience of the few MRI's I have had, since I did not know at the time I was VERY allergic to IV Contrast - so when I was given the iodine contrast I had a very bad reaction (Thankfully I held on until the scan was complete to save the $$$$) and had to have a BIG syringe full of benadryl and I was hammered into 'la-la' land, thankfully I had someone to drive me home.

The second one scared me since it did indeed show clearly I have a mass growing inside my head (I thought it was my brain FINALLY growing, but alas... :D ). Sitting COMPLETELY STILL for a person who is chronically in motion was a pain, but I was told if I moved and the scan became blurred we would have to start over and I would spend another 30 minutes inside this complete MRI tube (I had the machine just one inch above my nose so I couldnt scratch my nose if it started to itch) and waste another $7000.00 (!!!!)

I relaxed to the modern jazz music being played (I like Jazz, hate to admit it since it ruins this 'metalhead' image I have) and sat perfectly still for 35 minutes - and once I was slided out of the machine, I asked, in a scared manner, "Did the images come out clear?" (I didnt care about the tumor at that moment, I'm clausterphobic BIGTIME and I DID NOT WANT to GO BACK inside for another 35+ minutes of torture in that CLOSED COFFIN!!!!). The radiologists said "The images appear fine, but have you ever had a massive stroke before?" - "If I did, that is news to me" was my reply.

So this tumor in my head is STILL growing and is more than likely one that cannot be removed unless I want to be paralyzed and/or braindamaged ("Too late for that"). Not to mention it affects you MENTALLY, and that has been a problem with me (Let's say I EASILY bet PO'd these days and I VENT bigtime when provoked - I think a certain LEDGIE knows that, dont ya 'nickay'??? hehehe!!!) From the time MRI #1 was performed until #2 several months later - this mass had grown from 2cm x 2.5cm to 3cm x 3.5cm - of course it is still growing and is now starting to effect my mobility. The first sign an arachnoid cyst is going bad is the pain one suffers in the back, so guess what has been hurting me as of late (Beside my pride of course) and now the pain in my joints has started so for the near foreseeable I am totally FUBAR'd.

I hope I do not end up suffering the same fate as guitarist Michelle Meldrum (Of the band Meldrum) who died recenly at the age of 39 when a cyst in her brain cut off her oxygen supply to/from her brain... I sarcastically ask myself this question, WHO THE HELL IS GOING TO GET MY MASSIVE MUSIC COLLECTION IF I BIT THE BIG ONE??? F**k that ****, I plan to stick around to keep ANYONE from inherting my music - they can buy/trade/download their own music!!!!

Brian "Cannot whirlwind headbang anymore to show those young un's this old man can hang at a death metal show" j. :lol:

I have had several MRI's and always get a Valium before hand (if you tell them you're claustrophobic, they'll prescribe one- too bad you didn't know ahead of time!). I'm not horribly scared but I definitely don't like the feeling of the top being so close to my face.

Good luck and let us know how you're doing.

I had an MRI on my neck so there was no music for me. Fortunately a friend had prepared me before so I knew what it would be like. Yes it's loud and coffin like but it wasn't so bad. I would have been a little freaked out had I not known what I was in for.
Also, you should ask your doc if you can do a light yoga. It really works and the results are amazing in both mind and body. I haven't been to my class in about four weeks and I can really tell. My back is tight, I'm achy and just feel kind of cloudy. I'm going Friday and I know that by the time I get home (and shower) I'll be feeling a hundred percent better. I'd go today if my schedule allowed.

I had an MRI once. For my head because I was getting dizzy spells and stuff and they wanted to check things out. I guess nothing was wrong with me cause they saw nothing. Maybe I'm just weird like that...lol ANYWAY...I went in head first...I closed my eyes cause I am kinda clostrophobic(sp) I had headphones but no music(So u were lucky =P) I was in there for a while. I couldnt move. My head was straped in...lol..Kinda funny. They pulled me out and had to inject me with something..They couldnt find my veins and when they did they rolled.. So the nurse stuck it in my arm(missed) stuck it in my hand(missed) then called in the DR. and he got it in my oether arm and YATZEE finally someone got a vein. PLUS, i couldnt move or else they would have to start all over again. I fell sleep in the thing. I was in there for like 40 minutes

I had one at a place that specializes in them. I was really nervous about it because I figured I'd be pretty claustrophobic. But it really wasn't as bad as I thought. They actually give you knit clothing at this place so I was pretty comfortable not having to wear a gown. The rhythm of the machine was actually soothing to me. No music here either. I just went to my happy place. Lol. For me the anticipation was much worse than the procedure.

The result was that my S5 (bone just above tailbone) disc is bulging quite a bit and so it had inflamed the nerve it was pressing on. I was told by the surgeon who gave me my cortisone shot I would absolutely need surgery. This was before he even administered the shot. When I got the shot I was immediately pain free which was like a miracle to me after 3 mos of chronic pain. I really feel for people with chronic pain. It honestly felt like life without pain was a fairy tale existence.

I have never had that severe pain return but my back still acts up sometimes. I try to keep my legs stretched and abs strong and that helps a lot. If your hamstrings are tight it pulls your pelvis out of alignment and that can affect your back. I learned so much from my PT and chiropractory (haha, I don't know the correct word). I did know anatomy pretty well but not so much about the interconnectedness of it all.

I did too, I brought in my own CD. :shrug: Why couldn't you have music?

:) Me too. I also imagined that jack-hammering noise to be little elves repairing my disc. :laugh:

I've had it done twice. The tech told me that the magnetic force is so powerful, he could pull a car into the machine.

I had one - severe herniated disc at L5-S1. No music for me, but yes on the valium! They covered my belly ring with tape rather than making me remove it. I just kept my eyes closed and did a lot of deep breathing.

After being taken to the emergency room with unholy screaming pain up and down my right leg and back (paramedics had to take me from my bed because I couldn't move), I had one done last July and I had a massive rupture at L5-S1, also a herniation at L4-L5. The films were looked at by my doctor and he said it was the worst rupture he had ever seen. He sent me to a neurosurgeon and the doctor said I couldn't wait to have the surgery and the material had to be extracted as well as the herniation in L4-L5 pushed back in. Two weeks later I was in the hospital having a double microdiscectomy and was in the hospital for four days. The reason for the long hosp. stay was that when they opened me up the material that had blown out of the disc had already fused to my spinal cord in a dangerous place and I could have been left paralyzed if it was not removed perfectly. Needless to say, a 2 hour surgery turned into 4.5 hours...

Well, August 16, 2008 will be my one year surgery anniversary and i must say, the surgeon did a superb job because I have no pain except the minor pain one gets if they overdo an activity.

The guy kind of laughed when I asked if I could bring my iPod. He said something about the machine destroying it or something. So I just left it at that. I know, I probably got the equipment from yesteryear or he didn't know what the hell he was talking about. Oh and I may have had a valium before I went out there now that I think about it. :o

Well, I'm glad to see that I'm not the only one not comfortable in an MRI machine. (Well, not really glad; you know what I mean.) Right now I still don't know anything & it's been a week since my MRI, & I am really pissed off at the neurologist's office. After three times of trying to get someone to call me back for results of the MRI, the "medical assistant" finally called me back. I didn't want to have to go in there since I have a physical next week with my primary doctor (which I scheduled six months ago) & I'll probably have to take off to get blood drawn. But this woman said I'd have to come in & yes, I'd have to pay another $40 because it's an "office visit". They don't call over the phone in case I have questions. She said that she didn't have my results, but I had called the Imaging Dept. over where I had it done & they said that they sent the results last Thursday. The "medical assistant" insisted that they didn't have them. So someone is lying. This is the last time that this place sees me. I'm not going to any physical therapy either if it is a pinched nerve. In fact, I think next year, I'm going to switch my primary doctor to my husband's & get away from this particular hospital altogether.

Lee :(

Lee, that does sound shady. However, even if they had the results, medical assistants aren't allowed to tell you anything, it's a liability thing. If your tummy can handle it, take massive amounts of ibuprofen, it reduces swelling. I lived on that and vicodin a month before my surgery, my nerve damage was so severe that I was limping.

Gretchen, I feel your "unholy screaming pain." Literally. Guess I was lucky in that mine only involved the one area, but yeah, that sciatic nerve can be a b*tch. I only spent one night in the hospital with Demorol (wheee). Before the surgery, I took my MRI to another doc for a second opinion. He said, "A janitor could look at that and tell you to have the surgery." I loved my surgeon and would recommend him to anyone. Like you, no more problems. Except every once in awhile, I get a tingly sensation or a half-second jolt of pain.

Ohh, he's right, the magnet would've wiped your iPod out I think!

I actually like sounds like that, like the photocopier. I zone out to the rhythm. Disc repairing elves. :lol:

If it ever gets severe like that again I will probably have the surgery but so far I've been lucky. It was also "sciatic" but they don't really call it that anymore. I had pain accross my left buttock and down my left leg. It also radiated out to my hip.

My follow-up appt. was today (with the N. P.) She said that I had an old herniated disc (which I didn't know about), but also a bulging disc & a pinched nerve. She tried to give me a presciption for more muscle relaxers & an anti-inflamatory drug, but I told her that I didn't need them. The muscle relaxer puts me out & I'm not in that major pain enough for the anti-inflamatory drug. She said that it wasn't for pain but for inflamation. I told her that I'd just take aspirin or something. So I have to have physical therapy to which I said OK, but I'm thinking that I'll just go & see what I need to do & then I'll do it at home. I just don't have the time (to miss work) or the money for physical therapy. I had to ask her to show me the x-ray. I thought she'd just show it to me, but she seemed surprised that I wanted to see it. :shrug: I mean I had to lay in a coffin-like device for what seemed like forever, of course I want to see the x-rays. So if anybody here had physical therapy for a pinched nerve, maybe you could let me know what to expect. I asked the N.P. if there was anything that I could do now, & of course, I have to ask them at physical therapy.

Lee :distress:

Oh that sucks. Take Ibuprofen, it is an anti-inflammatory as well as pain reliever. PT helped me so much I would say go to at least one session so you can get what you need. They assigned me some gentle stretching and strength training for my abs and legs using a band. Also, what about a cortisone shot, can you get one? That could take care of the pain in one fell swoop and then you can do PT without pain. I found the PT to be excellent because they are really trained to be in tune with you and have MUCH better bedside manner than surgeons!

Ibuprofen!! :nod:

I ended up buying a Total Gym after using one at PT post-surgery. It is a great piece of equipment for stretching. I agree w/ Suze, go to one PT session to learn what to do. They also had me use those giant rubberband things that you hook onto a doorknob. Those are probably inexpensive and can be purchased at any sporting goods store.

I've had a few MRIs, one of which with music. For me, being in enclosed places has never been an issue, so it was never a problem......:nod:

hahaha this is what I do for a part time job during the summer when im home from school. I check in people for xrays, catscans, ultrasounds, mri's ect. Sometimes I get to even help out on the actual exam. In fact, im at work right now. Everyone who works or steps foot in this hospital is angry and miserable. I have found that working in a hospital has definitely made me a worry wort. Its so difficult to check in someone who is getting their lungs drained, or has breast or lung cancer. The down side of the job is big. But I always tell everyone not to be scared of these tests and to just relax. The exam itself isn't scary, its what the results could be.

I'm avoiding another MRI...
 

because I fear what I may already know...So I avoid it.