Maybe some helpf or MRI Issues

April 5, 2008

Hi, All.

I'm terribly claustrophobic and have had to have MANY MRI's in my time. The

first 2 were done when MRI's were first beginning to be used 25 years ago. The

machine " tubes " were a LOT narrower and I was a LOT fatter. The scans took a

lot longer (1-1/2 hours for each scan without a break) and " thimping " noise was

incredible. I, too, got stuck twice and had 2 major panic attacks that had me

crying for hours afterwards. No drugs were used for calming people like me in

those days either. The next time I had to have an MRI, I asked if my husband

could be in there with me. They said he could. That made me feel a lot better

because if I screamed for him to pull me out, I knew he would. Just the fact

that I had that option made me calmer, at least calm enough to get the deed

done. Since then, I've had 6 more trips, with no drugs, in which I took my

husband or son and each one gets easier. Plus, with advancements is CPU speeds,

etc. makes the imaging possible in a much shorter time, and now they give

tranquilizers for panic and there are headphones with music to distract you.

MRI's are a really important tool for diagnosing many problems...They are a good

thing, so please try and use them even though they are uncomfortable. I figure

the hour in the machine has saved me years of pain.

So, it might help if you could take a friend/spouse/child in with you and that

might help you to get through it easier. It worked for me.

Take care.

J in East Northcentral Minnesota

'Life isn't about how to survive the storm, but how to dance in the rain.'

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