MRI

[[lo...]]

well i went to have a MRI done tonight and only lasted about 5 minutes and i started panicking and shaking and had to stop. has anyone on here had one and how did you do it with out the benzos? i am going to try a open MRI and hopefully i can do that.

 

i am still shaking i havent had a panic attack this bad since my taper started

[[Th...]]

I have had about 5 in the past 7 years. I have an arachnoid cyst in my brain that needs to be checked upon every once in a while. It makes me anxious too becaus I'm always afraid they will find a serious problem and I am a little claustrophobic. I just close my eyes and think of something else. It helps if I make the appointment later on in the day when I am more tired. All you need to do is lie there and the machine does all the work; it's not painful or anything and unless they are injecting you with constrast it shouldn't be too bad. Just try to breathe and get relaxed before the next one.

[Guest [...]]

Maybe you can schedule right after dosing...

I've done that.

Also, did you get any contrast dye during the MRI ? That can rev up your symptoms as well.

See my signature.

 

Hope you can do the open MRI. Wishing you luck with everything,

Moo

[[12...]]

I have had 4 contrast dyes injected with 4 MRIs in the last 3 years lasting 40 minutes lying in total pain, as my spine is deteriorating and they keep measuring the amount of new damage. Of course you have to lay in that claustrophobic noisy tube on your spine(unbelievably painful). I get through it by recognizing it will end, hopefully with answers that I will get help. The pain will get worse without help from the specialists reading the MRIs. I always ask them to play Michael Buble as loud as possible which I can occasionally hear over the pounding noice of the machine. The rest of the time I dissappear through Mindfulness meditation. I live during the time one moment at a time not thinking about more then each moment. If you only live in the moment you are in and don't think of the past moment or future moment you only have to make it through one minute at a time. That is the only way I can survive. Live one minute at a time. That way you can keep going. You really can. There is no past and no future if you just have one moment to live in. This is Mindfulness (Jon Kabat-Zin). I learned it in a 10 week Pain management program. Good psychiatrists are learning it to use instead of benzo. Prescriptions now. You can listen to Kabat-Zin on YouTube if you want to see what it is like. His voice is wonderful. The claustrofobia I try not to be aware of. MRIs really are awful but thousands of people survive them daily. I will be close, as I will be back in the tube on December 27.

[[be...]]

I have had about 5 in the past 7 years. I have an arachnoid cyst in my brain that needs to be checked upon every once in a while. It makes me anxious too becaus I'm always afraid they will find a serious problem and I am a little claustrophobic. I just close my eyes and think of something else. It helps if I make the appointment later on in the day when I am more tired. All you need to do is lie there and the machine does all the work; it's not painful or anything and unless they are injecting you with constrast it shouldn't be too bad. Just try to breathe and get relaxed before the next one.

 

Mine is open and they give me head phones. Not bad at all.

[[je...]]

Tell them you are severely claustrophobic & request an open air MRI.  Tell them you CANNOT go inside the MRI machine. That's what I've done in the past.  I had to wait an extra week until one was open.

 

NOTE:  Now I don't have anxiety for some reason & can have a regular MRI.

[[lo...]]

no contrast and hoping to get a open MRI next, i got extreme vertigo when i was laying there and that caused panic and I was crying and shaking. i had head phone and tried to keep my eyes closed but i was just to scared. for the open mro im going to burn a cd to listen to and they said should only take about 15 mins, i feel so stupid i could not do it

[[je...]]

They asked me "can't you just finish it out" & I said no.  You'll love the open MRI.  You're basically just laying down like you would be at home.  Play some music, relax & think of things that make you happy.  I always picture myself on a houseboat at Lake Powell, fishing & drinking a beer whenever I'm having anxiety during a medical procedure.

[[As...]]

I had an MRI done yesterday, they aren't too difficult except loud. I'm not claustrophobic, but before she rolled me into the tube she laid a paper towel over my eyes so the laser light wouldn't bother me, I had MRI's before and they never did that. Last time I had an MRI I was a little scared for a bit of the enclosed space, but with the paper towel over my eyes I wasn't at all this time.

[[12...]]

Never heard of an open MRI. It sounds worth the wait. Most people feel panic if rolled into a tight enclosure with lots of loud banging. I don't have one available so on the 27th I will try to get through the ordel. It is difficult when you are tapering. There is nothing to feel bad about panicking. That is why they have me hold tightly to the panic button. I think lots of people have the same experience you had.

[[Mo...]]

Yes, I just had my first MRI...open definitely helped, but I wore a paper eye mask so I couldn't see the thing that slid over my head. It took me a couple minutes for my body to relax, but it finally did. Man, though, is that thing LOUD. And I had earplugs! I think the open MRI will help tons. Good luck next time!!

[[lo...]]

the are IV knocking me out lol

[[12...]]

So it is done!

[[lo...]]

not yet, but they are knicking me out so not really worryig lol

[[12...]]

Good luck. Knocking you out as long as is not with a hammer sounds wonderful. I just had one and had them play Michael Buble through my headphones turned as loud as they could so I could concentrate on that rather then the pounding noise. The noise 98% of the time was louder then the CD. So to survive I started concentrating on the pounding noice. If you carefully listen I think there were 4-5 different variations of pounding.sounds during my MRI to focus on.

 

They are terribly difficult to endure for patients like us with terrible anxiety problems. You will be so relieved when it is over and behind you.