I just got home from the MRI, and I have to say, for all the horror stories people told me going in, it was one of the easier procedures I have ever been through. People said it would be super noisy, I’d get claustrophobic, etc., and I didn’t find it that bad at all. The hardest part was driving to the hospital without having had coffee.
For those of you who have never had one, I will walk you through it since the details are still fresh so you will know roughly what to expect if you ever have one. This is, after all, a full service blog.
At any rate, I was supposed to be there at 8:30 am, but because my father is German and I was potty trained at gunpoint, I was there promptly at 7:55. Checked in, got a bracelet, signed the HIPAA compliance forms, filled out a form requesting some medical background, and sat down at 8:05 and settled in to wait. At 8:07, a very pleasant nurse came in, called my name (which seemed superfluous since I was the only one in the waiting room), and took me to a different room. She gave me a gown and trousers, and ushered me into a little dressing room. Put my stuff in a locker, got dressed, and went back out.
She went through my records again, and then inserted an iv, and drew a little blood so they could check that my kidneys were strong enough to handle whatever they were going to inject me with to get good pictures. I then waited ten minutes for that, and then they took me into the room with the machine. I lay down, and they hooked up the iv so they could inject things into me during the procedure, and then positioned me on the sliding board that would move me into the machine. It looks like a big doughnut, and you are the hole:
It’s very space age and cool.
Back to the positioning. They put some cushions underneath my knees, a pillow underneath my head, and tried to make sure I was super comfortable before inserting me. The machine is tight, especially since I am a big boy and I have fat in places where most people don’t have places, and my right shoulder and its limited mobility made things an issue since I could not rest it at my side. I suggested keeping my left arm by my side and putting my right arm on my forehead like I was giving a British salute. They were a bit leery I could stay like that for the whole 45 minutes, but I told them I would deal with it and to just proceed.
So once all that was settled, they put earphones on me so they could talk to me and to muffle the sound, and they gave me a turkey baster bulb that I could squeeze to contact them that I put in my right hand. And with that, in I went.
I can see how if someone is claustrophobic, it would be horrible. I was in tanks several years, and I have really good willpower and mind control for short bursts of time, so I was ok. I mean, no one likes being jammed into something like that, but it wasn’t terrifying or horrifying. I mean, it’s not like the thing is going to crush me. I’m not one of those miners who was in a hole for 30 days. I’m in a perfectly stable machine, INSIDE A HOSPITAL, so if anything were to happen (which it wouldn’t), I am exactly where I need to be.
I just did some breathing exercises and got myself into a nice, slow, breathing pattern while they got themselves organized, and then we started. Every now and then they would tell me to breath deep, it would make some noises for ten seconds, and they would tell me to exhale. And so on for a while.
Then there was a period where I had to just lie completely still for 5-6 minutes while the thing kicked into gear. It was loud, but it was kind of cool at the same time. It made a lot of weird rhythmic sounds that I found super interesting and kind of calming, and then it would switch up a bit. I imagine the sounds are the cavitation (right word?) of the camera as it spins around you in circles- think of a washing machine with an unbalanced load, and the tonal changes are when they adjust it a bit. Here is what it sounds like from the outside:
Now remember, that’s what it sounds like on the outside. On the inside, it was a lot different- think of the difference between how you sound on a recording, and how you sound when to yourself when you are just talking. Hell, just do this and you will understand:
So on the inside, it sounded a lot different. The best way I can describe it is it sort of felt like being at a Blue Man Group show and being INSIDE the PVC pipe as they banged on it. I’m an odd duck, so I found it to be a completely pleasant and interesting experience. Kind of like drums/space at a Dead Show without the benefit of street pharmacology.
Then, at the very end, they started inserting the chemical through my iv, and ran the machine for five more minutes. They said it would feel like something cold running up my arm, but I felt more like something dull or numb was moving up my left arm and then slowly dissipating. It was another weird sensation, but not unpleasant.
And that was it. They pulled me out, unhooked me, undid the iv, and I went and got dressed and left.
Overall, it was definitely not a bad experience- a little cramped and mildly uncomfortable at times, and a couple times I could feel my hands go numb for being stationary so long, and once or twice the nurse forgot to tell me to exhale so I was holding my breath for like 40 seconds and got a touch dizzy, but it was a relatively unremarkable experience.
So if you ever need to have one done, ignore the people who say it is awful. It’s just not. It’s just different. And trust me, I know awful. Awful is trying to pop your dislocated shoulder back into place using a doorknob when it’s broken in 20 places and you’ve shattered your collarbone and scapula. Awful is trying to walk after falling off a roof. Awful is going through a windshield after hitting a tree and breaking ribs, your collarbone, and biting a molar in half down to the exposed nerve. This was a cakewalk.
I hope that helps someone who needs this and is nervous. There is no reason to be. Plus, keep in mind that these guys do this EVERY single day, and they know what they are doing.
Baud
I want one now.
Major Major Major Major
Next time I have an MRI (which are all horrible) I’ll remember to go back in time and have a career literally driving tanks beforehand to help me out.
Glad yours went well!
Chacal Charles Calthrop
Glad to hear it wasn’t so bad.
I remember reading somewhere that someone did a study in which they trained dogs to put up with being in an MRI machine & the researchers were pleasantly surprised at how well the dogs were able to stand it.
MisterForkbeard
Glad you did okay.
My own experiences with MRIs (I’ve had a couple of my neck/spine) is that they’re not bad, but if you’re getting your spine and neck imaged you basically have to stay still for 30 minutes or so. And I mean still. Fidgeting (which I do a lot of) makes them restart the current scan and you lose about 20 seconds of imaging.
That said, I LIKED the sound. It felt one track of a heavy metal or techno song. If you’ve ever played Guitar Hero or Frequency/Amplitude and only ‘finished’ one track of sound, you know what I’m talking about here. I spent my time trying not to fidget by trying to fill in the rest of the song in my head. It was actually fun.
@Major Major Major Major: I think we should all just go back in time and learn tank driving. It seems like this is a life skill that just keeps on giving.
Ruviana
Never driven a tank bit this sounds like my experience–weird perhaps but oddly enjoyable.
Major Major Major Major
@MisterForkbeard: good point, the one I had of my leg was fine, but the two of my brain were nightmares.
Gin & Tonic
I like that you spelled HIPAA correctly. I’m a pedant that way.
Villago Delenda Est
Awful is being driven bonkers by a missing jar of mustard.
Or losing your Subaru in a field.
Or Thurston leaving his snacks under the bed covers.
Butch
Unfortunately the hospital stuck me inside the MRI machine while I was still violently nauseous and I spent the whole time throwing up on myself. I promised myself that I will never, ever undergo another MRI.
john r
that looks more like a ct scanner than a mri machine.
Chacal Charles Calthrop
https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2016/08/30/491935800/their-masters-voices-dogs-understand-tone-and-meaning-of-words
And here’s the study! Complete with photos of the dogs!
Nicole
It’s a good writer who can put the funny in the middle of the sentence. Well done, sir.
Booger
I fell asleep in my MRI. They had to wake me up when it was over.
Matt McIrvin
I’m sure I’ll get one of these sooner or later–I just think the associated physics is cool.
Villago Delenda Est
So, John, when do we get a diagnosis on your pancreas thingy?
Gozer
Had a bone scan for an injury while in service. I fell asleep in the machine.
For some reason the hum puts me right to sleep. Same with cars and flights. If I’m a passenger as soon as the engine starts I’m out.
MJS
In comparison with many others who comment here, I’m relatively new, so I’m torn – do I want to know how John came to shatter his shoulder, fall off a roof, be ejected through a windshield, etc.? Or is ignorance truly bliss?
Fair Economist
I also don’t particularly mind MRIs. It’s loud and annoying but it just sounds like loud machinery to me, not dangerous. And while the tube is small, it’s only a few feet long and open space would be just a few seconds away if I chose to crawl out. They are even less bothersome now than when they first came out because the tubes are shorter.
Roger Moore
When I had an MRI, I asked for the package insert from the MRI contrast agent so I could find out. It was the diethylenetriamine pentaacetic acid (DTPA) chelate of gadolinium. Being a chemist, this actually made sense to me. YMMV.
Big Jim Slade
Regarding the sounds, I told my wife that getting an MRI was basically the most boring Kraftwerk concert ever.
MisterForkbeard
@MJS: Just read the “This fucking old house” tag and you’ll learn the lovely background to many of John’s injury stories. Of course, those are all from the last couple years.
I think my favorite is falling through the floorboards.
delk
Newer machines make a massive difference. I’ve had about a dozen or so done and the new machines are bigger and a bit more quiet. The place I go has headphones with Pandora so you can listen to music. Sometimes the clamps of the machine are in tempo with the song! I keep track of the songs and estimate 3 minutes for each to keep track of how long I have been inside. I keep my eyes shut the entire time. I’ve dozed off a few times.
BruceFromOhio
@MJS: These are tales of yore, starring the blog host, and handed down to future generations by storytelling around campfires and comment threads. The stuff legends are made of.
Matt McIrvin
The banging noise comes from the field-generating coils making themselves vibrate.
Starfish
Here is a video of people throwing things into an MRI machine.
M. Bouffant
Had a CAT scan a bit over 20 yrs. ago, for twinges in my right side (that are still going on). Second worst thing was the 16 oz. of icky tasting purple liquid I had to drink. Worst thing was the ‘phone call I got: “There was something wrong w/ the computer that day, you’ll have to come back & do it again.” Including the purple drank. Nothing found when the computer worked.
phein55
I’ve developed severe claustrophobia in my old age. So when I need an MRI, they give me two Valiums and send me to the Open MRI, and I basically sleep through it. If I do surface to consciousness, it’s easy to retreat until they wake me.
The wife says it’s the mellowest she’s ever seen me.
Mohagan
@Booger: I almost fell asleep too when I had one done on my shoulder. The easiest way to deal with the VERY enclosed feeling (and reality) was to keep my eyes closed, and then, zzzz
Cermet
If I recall correctly, the dye they use can be very bad news for some due to damaging the kidney’s – a Gadolinium based subsistence. Apparently that stays in the brain for many years (and no currently known side effects from that.)
zhena gogolia
@Baud:
haha, you’re crazy. I had one on my KNEE — i.e., my head wasn’t even in the thing, and I had about five panic attacks.
Corner Stone
@MJS:
Be warned: If you choose to follow down this road you will eventually find yourself in a cave staring at the shadows on a wall cast there by the fire that is your raging insanity.
trollhattan
My kid endured one at about five years old, so I learned from that point forward I could never bitch if I’m sentenced to one myself. Besides, they’re not clobbering you with x-rays. I always wonder about old x-ray machines when I’m being photographed by one. When I was a Kaiser patient the x-ray at my clinic (which I had several opportunities to take for a spin) was sufficiently old that it sported a pair of 8-inch floppy drives.
Once checked myself into a very rural hospital and the attending physician, who rotated in from some civilized locale, said she’d like to have me get a CT scan but because that hospital’s unit was so old she would rather not subject me to it’s “very high” radiation levels just to tweak her diagnosis.
So an MRI doesn’t seem so bad. MREs are another matter entirely.
Amir Khalid
@M. Bouffant:
Did they charge you/your insurance for the second scan?
zhena gogolia
@MJS:
Choose ignorance.
Mike
I appreciate your efforts here, but speaking as one of those people who are claustrophobic, I didn’t get much comfort from your overview. :)
I have had CT scans, which are no problem. Not sure how I would do with an MRI. I know they have been refined over the years and are not quite as confining as they used to be. But I hope I can just make it all the way to the end without having to get one.
Gin & Tonic
I wonder how an MRI would like all my steel parts. So far I’ve never had one.
Agorabum
I had an MRI and fell asleep in the middle of it. Found it all rather soothing. Didn’t sleep long (too much variable noise), but the hum of machinery was soothing
The Simp in the Suit
Agreed on everything you say about experiencing MRI, but don’t forget the warming. The last on I underwent, things got pretty warm in there. I made the mistake of asking for a blanket because the room was cold. I was really sweating by the 35 min mark and almost didn’t make through the final spin after the contrast injection.
Irony Abounds
I am claustrophobic and I seriously doubt I could handle an MRI. I mean, I can’t handle a middle or window seat on a plane, and the thought of being in the back seat of a two door car scares the hell out of me. Being completely still with a steel tube all around me for 45 minutes? Forget it.
Brachiator
@John Cole:
I’m just glad to hear that you did not bump into or break anything.
Hope everything turns out well.
ETA: We really need those Star Trek level med bay tri-corders.
rikyrah
Glad you made it through, Cole.
Jerome McDonough
It’s funny you mention Blue Man Group. I just had to have an MRI and told my wife afterwards that it sounded like the mutant offspring of Blue Man Group and Philip Glass.
Jerome McDonough
@Gin & Tonic: if you’ve got steel parts, they will not let you inside an MRI, as the magnets would very quickly try to remove them.
Smedley Darlington Prunebanks (formerly Mumphrey, et al.)
I’d like to thank you for everything you write. This blog is a public service, and I talk it up whenever I can. It’s the best blog most people aren’t reading. It’s a national treasure.
Roger Moore
@Gin & Tonic:
IIRC, it shouldn’t be a problem. Most steel implants are made from 316 stainless, which is non-magnetic. I’m sure they’ll consult with you before doing an MRI, though.
randy khan
I’m going to guess that calling your name was part of the protocol to make sure they give the right patients the right scan. She didn’t know it was you – you could have walked out to go to the bathroom and the person there could have been someone else who checked in while you were waiting.
WhatsMyNym
I have to get 2 MRI’s a year (head). My one warning is to make sure your head and back are supported comfortably, don’t be afraid to tell them.
I fallen asleep several times.
MoxieM
Well done, I hope the results are good. I’ve had more MRIs than I can remember… my spine is not the best, let’s say. I had one for my neck where they put a plastic collar around my neck so it couldn’t move (just like the non-choke collar I have for Murphy now), and chained me to the bed surface. Which is fine if you’re into that sort of thing. Also, that particular machine I can best describe as being like this hamburger patty making thing my mom had –two disks, and I was the patty. I just had foam earplugs I think, but that was ages ago.
Since then they’ve all been just like you describe, except for my spine, so no injectable fluids. Also, the different hospitals I’ve gone to will give you a little benzos or similar to calm you down (in and around Boston, BI, the Brigham– the machines are expensive and booked out, so they run them as much as they can–meaning you might get a 2 AM appointment, as I did one time.) Now I get earphones and they play music (I just go with classical). Keep my eyes closed the whole time and there’s no (well, relatively no..) claustrophobia. Done and dusted.
Yup, my spine keeps getting crappier! I myself did not need a machine for that info, but the insurance company does.
Major Major Major Major
@Roger Moore: just make sure you don’t get any red tattoos.
Tinare
I’ve had several MRIs including many years ago when the tube was longer. I’ve never thought they were bad either, but I think it depends on whether you are someone who has trouble staying still or not. I am really good at relaxing and feel like is an opportunity to just chill. I also make songs in my head from the drum beats. Anyone who needs to be constantly moving probably does feel like they are torture.
Brachiator
@Roger Moore:
I can google just enough to scare myself. There is of course a site about MRI Safety. And so, this little tidbit.
But the key is to hope that the people running this show are keeping up on the latest info.
Alls well that scans well.
Sister Rail Gun of Warm Humanitarianism
@Booger: So did I. Two MRIs, both head scans, slept through both.
HRA
I have had 4 MRIs. They got a lot more comfortable in newer versions. The first one was very memorable. My doctor prescribed one pill to take an hour before I enter the machine. The tech turns on the machine and leaves. A guy with tools belted around his waist passes by me. Now the banging of the machine gets louder and I am thinking why is he working on the machine while I am in it. I can’t see anyone to ask about it. The pill is not working. I start doing math problems in my head to help myself get settled. It is over and the tech come to untie me. I ask why was the guy working on the machine while I was in it. I explain what I saw earlier. Now I am watching her go through all kinds of methods to not hysterically laugh. This is not the end of my experience. As I go meet Mr.A in the waiting room to go home, I feel the need to lie down and go to sleep right now! The pill has kicked in. Faint clips of being picked up and finally waking up on the couch at home. :).
eemom
I was freaking out about the claustrophobia, but when the nurse pointed out that I could slide out of it at any time I was reassured and didn’t mind at all. I liked listening to the varying beats of the magnets.
trollhattan
@HRA:
Funny! I’m told by my spouse after a recent surgery that I had a nice conversation with the surgeon, who summed up how the procedure went.
I swear she made that up just to bug me.
StringOnAStick
I’ve only had MRI’s of my knees and I swear that during some scans I can feel a tiny “flutter” of the internal tissues.
Having to do IV’s is why I decided against becoming an MRI or CT operator; it creeps me out. Yet I have no problem giving people injections inside their mouths for nerve blocks as an RDH. Go figure.
Gin & Tonic
@Major Major Major Major: Not that I’m likely to get a tattoo of any color, but is there iron in that ink?
Gin & Tonic
@Brachiator: My fixations are internal, not external.
WereBear
@Chacal Charles Calthrop: Good luck doing that with cats. They just aren’t going to do things they don’t understand the reason for.
Hey, I’m the same way…
Kay (not the front pager& from my phone)
Another tip for handling an MRI: close your eyes before you are rolled in and keep them closed. Then you can imagine yourself in the open room, just as you were before you closed your eyes.
schrodingers_cat
I am listening to golden oldies. From 1949’s Mahal (Palace or a grand building)
Aayega aanewala*
I was creeped out by this song as a child. It has an atmosphere. The cinematographer of this movie is Josef Wirsching of the Bombay Talkies Studio. He moved to India in the 1930s rather than make propaganda films for you know who.
* The one has to come will come (rough translation)
Onscreen you see, Ashok Kumar and Madhubala.
Mnemosyne
I actually preferred the one I had 12 years ago, because they let me listen to the radio with a headset and that distracted me from the noises. With the one I had a couple of months ago, they only gave me earplugs, and I flinched a few times when the machine made a loud and/or unexpected noise, which made the technician sigh in exasperation.
The loud noises actually bothered me more than any claustrophobia, but it was an MRI of my knee, so I was only in the machine from about the waist down.
wmd
Typically they use gadolinium as a contrast agent. During my diagnosis of cancer last year I had a Facebook friend scream at me that it is dangerous since he had a bad reaction and subsequently searched for others with similar bad reactions. After about 6 posts telling me not to allow use of gadolinium I finally said he was abusing a cancer patient and should quit being an asshole.
Breathing does help with the claustrophobia. I’ve had about 6 MRI at this point… Also have a Cobalt Chrome steel implant that is not a problem.
WereBear
They always say that, and then the Living Dead appear. I’ve seen it happen dozens of times!
Mnemosyne
@trollhattan:
After my knee surgery 12 years ago, the surgeon called me that night and said, “Do you remember that we talked right after the surgery?” I did not, which was a little freaky, but he was not surprised.
The Moar You Know
I’m horrendously claustrophobic. Can’t get on an airplane without several tranquilizers.
But I’ve had four or five MRIs with no drugs and it’s never been an issue. Whatever triggers my brain to panic in confined spaces (and an MRI is as confined as it gets) the MRI does not do it.
trollhattan
@Kay (not the front pager& from my phone):
Picture yourself in a boat on a river….
I don’t fancy LDS* but would entertain the idea of mushrooms before doing the MRI thang. They’re being used in clinical settings for treating anxiety, evidently with good success.
Xenu was actually from Kolob.
joel hanes
@Corner Stone:
you will eventually find yourself in a cave staring at the shadows on a wall cast there by the fire that is your raging insanity.
So, basically, Plato’s description of philosophical reality.
StringOnAStick
@randy khan: Yeah, the name thing is critical in health care. When I had LASIK they almost gave me someone else’s correction. The other patient and I have the exact same first and middle name, with just a one letter difference in our last names. Its only because I noticed they had the wrong birthrate on the paperwork. There have been protocol changes since then, I think spearheaded by the work of Dr Atul Gawande (“The Checklist Manifesto “) so we can avoid things like this with multiple fail safes built in to the process.
joel hanes
@trollhattan:
Xenu was actually from Kolob
But the other thetan overlords are prejudiced against Kolobans (because bicycles and black suits and black FBI shoes with white socks and backpacks are a bad look even in interstellar space) so Xenu has spent trillions of years “passing” as someone from Marcab.
trollhattan
@Mnemosyne:
Just before mine, after I was wheeled into the OR somebody asked me if I had any questions and I replied, “Well, the surgeon said each would take….” and he replied, “I am the surgeon.”
I could see the “Moron” thought balloon but in my defense everybody looks the same in those damn masks!
cckids
@Booger: I fell asleep too. Knee MRI.
It was 2 months after the birth of my third child; my oldest had had 3 surgeries that year & was at home, in traction. I had a newborn, a 2-year old who didn’t believe in naps, and a 12-year old who was completely dependent for all functions.
Oh, and my spouse had shattered his ankle and was only mobile with the help of crutches. I was a bit tired! 45 minutes with no-one needing to be fed, diapered, or comforted? Heaven. Best nap of the year.
Julia Grey
I have MRIs regularly for my MS. They were completely fine with me until I got fatter arms over years and now have to be more “wedged in,” touching the sides. There came a day recently when I had to ask to get out in the middle of the scan. So embarrassing.
I now know I have to have them turn on the fan that blows thru the tunnel to create the sensation of airflow over my face and body, and make sure I’ve checked my sugar before we start. Low blood sugar = sweat and panic.
satby
Hope you get the results soon John.
I’m not claustrophobic so I didn’t mind the MRI machine itself, but I am a massive fidgeter, so the hard part for me was staying still. I have the same problem on long plane flights.
trollhattan
@joel hanes:
I’m seeing a graphic novel. Author could be Elron Cupboard.
Roger Moore
On the topic of MRI, there’s rarely a bad time to bring up this class, Ig Nobel Prize winning MRI study (NSFW).
Trabb's Boy
“My father is German and I was potty trained at gunpoint” is an awesome line. Glad you survived both that and the MRI.
trollhattan
@StringOnAStick:
Oh shit, this actually happened to my friend’s sister! And they removed enough material to render it not reversible.
Mnemosyne
@The Moar You Know:
That sounds less like claustrophobia and more like a fear of crowds since an airplane full of people triggers it and an MRI machine doesn’t. ?
IANA psychologist, though, so my opinion is worth exactly what you paid for it.
NotMax
Now that’s the scariest, most unsettling thing of all.
Couldn’t help but flash back to this: Whoops.
Roger Moore
@Mnemosyne:
I’ve had this experience from the other side. I once had to call a coworker with a work question when she was recovering from surgery. She was completely lucid and gave helpful answers to my questions, but swears to this day she barely remembers it and would think it was a dream if there weren’t emails documenting it.
Corner Stone
@joel hanes:
Something like that. But after discovering the horror of how Cole went through all those mishaps/disasters, none of which are comprehensible to anyone of a different lived experience, the searcher will have no choice but to once again seek the comfort of the cave.
WereBear
@trollhattan: That sounds really awful. My sympathies.
Major Major Major Major
@Gin & Tonic: yep.
trollhattan
@WereBear:
Yup, a lose-lose to be sure. The lasik center swung the liability waiver around as though it meant they got take-backs and the sister, a lifelong hypochondriac and self-diagnosis “expert” tried to handle it herself sans lawyer. I don’t know how or whether they ever came to terms but her dream of no glasses remains a smouldering heap. I don’t know if she can even get 20/20 with correction.
I was pondering same but shelved the idea, especially since I’m not a great lasik candidate to begin with.
StringOnAStick
@trollhattan: That’s what would have happened to me since the other patient was much more nearsighted. There have been other health care facilities where she and I were both patients, and Denver isn’t that small. We’re within a few years in age too, so I can see where a mixup could happen.
germy
Mel B. (Scary Spice)
tomtofa
Were they special MRI trousers, or had you simply neglected to wear any to the hospital?
Msb
Glad it went well, John.
WereBear
@trollhattan: It’s my understanding that when Lasik goes wrong, it goes really really wrong.
Villago Delenda Est
@trollhattan: Oh, damn, that was a huge settlement pissed away. The Lasik Center dodged a bullet on that.
Miss Bianca
@Roger Moore: Um. that was…um. Something, I guess. Yay, science? Yay-ish? : )
On the subject of MRIs, the only time I’ve ever had one was while I was still in the hospital recovering from a bike accident. All I remember is being in the tube. I don’t remember having any particular feelings about it one way or the other, probably because I was so doped up on morphine and so banged-up physically that every procedure I went thru’ from surgery to PT seemed like a massive ordeal. In fact, the MRI was probably the least invasive or painful procedure I had to have done at that time!
JustRuss
Does that mean I can get fries with my bag of salted dicks?
Skepticat
Same here. The broken neck, not so much.
Yarrow
I haven’t had an MRI but drove someone else to one and waited to drive back. They prescribed something for relaxation and then said no driving. The MRI machine was so loud that I could hear it down the hall and around the corner while I was waiting. The patient said it was really loud and nothing helped muffle it. Maybe the age or condition of the machine makes a difference?
divF
I got my first MRI the day after Madame divF listened to a med school lecture about Bad Things That Can Happen In Hospitals, including a story about a patient dying during an MRI from an allergic reaction to the contrast medium. So when the tech said to “tell him if I feel anything unusual after he injects the contrast medium”, I paid very close attention.
NotMax
@JustRuss
Afraid you’ll have to settle for the cole slaw like the rest of us.
;)
Yutsano
@Booger:
I’ve lost count how many I’ve had. I keep telling them I’ll fall asleep and they look at me funny. Until I actually come out snoozing.
sempronia
The concern about steel is that it’ll move in the magnet or heat up. If you have steel plates attached to bone, it’s usually not a problem, but you’ll also get a lot of scatter in the area that may render the images unusable. Your pacemaker though, that’s only attached to your heart, so it’ll come flying out if you enter a magnet.
There are reports of burns from red tattoos because of the metal fragments in the ink. And the gadolinium is only withheld if you also have kidney dysfunction (creatinine clearance is <30), not that it causes kidney problems.
Bruce K
I have to get a thoracic MRI every year. No access to an open-air machine; I get the torpedo tube. However, I’m able to close my eyes and paint a picture of someplace else with my mind’s eye; also, if I go early in the morning, I can sort of half-doze off.
The Simp in the Suit
@Kay (not the front pager& from my phone):
Yes! The only time I’ve had any problems approaching claustrophobia in an MRI was when I opened my eyes after being inserted and saw who close the ring was to my eyes.
sempronia
@Roger Moore: ah yes, you can rely on the BMJ’s Christmas issue for that sort of article.
Lee
I agree with you. Not really an unpleasant experience just different.
I’ve probably had 3 now. In the last one I fell asleep while it was going on (to classical music).
It’s not. I had a nurse grab the wrong chart with only me in the waiting room. As we started back and she said ‘Mr XXX we will be…’. I stopped and let her know.
Ruckus
I’m sure this is no record but I’ve had 12-15 MRIs, enough that I’ve lost count. 3 specifically of my brain. They found nothing! (MRI joke)
Machines of 20 yrs ago were much smaller in the opening diameter and I was scraping the sides as they slid me in back then. And I’m not all that big.
If you are horribly claustrophobic it may be a problem to have a scan, otherwise it really isn’t all that big a deal. Of course the first time……..
Hungry Joe
When I had an MRI I pretended that the clanging and grinding and shrieking was a from a concert performed by extraterrestrials. Enjoyed it quite a bit.
p.a.
@MJSAsk about neti pots. I dare ya.
If you do ANY work cutting, filing metal etc let the techs know before the MRI. Probably get an eye xray.
efgoldman
@MisterForkbeard:
I sing rotating group of Sousa and other marches in my head. Yes, I’m the weirdo who loves that stuff.
SiubhanDuinne
@tomtofa:
An entire week’s worth of internets is yours, just for coming by and playing.
efgoldman
@MJS:
He used to drink. A lot.
No, more than that.
Ruckus
@StringOnAStick:
There are two of us in the local VA area with the same last name and last 4 SSN digits. I always let them know this so that they ask more questions, DOB, first name, etc.
When I was doing temp duty as the transit barracks MOA at LB naval station, had a guy check in with the same first name, middle initial and last name and birthdays in the same month, different day. Now my name it not that uncommon but still in any large enough group of people there are going to be opportunities for ID mistakes if we don’t check ourselves.
I checked into the VA once for an outpatient surgical procedure. There were two of us standing at the window and the guy asked my birthday so he could make sure he had the right wrist band. I read the band as he put it on and said this isn’t me. The other guy had the same birthday so that wasn’t enough info to insure a proper ID. It was a fuck up that would have been caught because the band gets checked numerous times and with verbal conformation but in some situations this could have been bad. I always ask if they haven’t that people are actually looking at my info and understand why and what they are going to do when I deal with anyone who can affect my life.
sam
@Booger: I’ve never had an MRI, but I was having (minor) surgery that only required local anesthesia when I was 16, and in the pre-op beforehand, I fell asleep. The doctors and nurses all started interrogating my mother as to “what she gave me” to make me pass out, and didn’t she know how dangerous it was to give someone drugs before surgery, yadda yadda yadda. Of course, she had given me absolutely nothing.
If you put me in a bed, I would just fall asleep (I wish it was that easy at 44!)
Ruckus
@Roger Moore:
316 is not non magnetic. It has very, very low magnetic properties, like you can’t hold it with a magnet in a machine to work it, but it is not totally non magnetic. Nominally it is 62% Fe.
geg6
@MJS:
Oh my. And don’t forget to ask about naked mopping.
Ruckus
@p.a.:
This is a good point. I’m a machinist and the VA will do an xray to check for metal fragments in the eye because the magnet will rip that fragment out in a not clean surgical manner.
hellslittlestangel
I’ve had a couple of MRIs and thought they were awesome! I’d happily have one once a week. (Disclaimer: I also like the music of Maryanne Amacher.)
Roger Moore
@Miss Bianca:
That tends to be the case with Ig Nobel Prize winning research.
Mnemosyne
@tomtofa:
Given that Cole likes to wear overalls even when he leaves his property, I think we can guess the answer, and it ain’t pretty.
Half of his meeting crankiness was probably because he had to wear big-boy pants and not overalls.
ArtificialIntelligence
Loved the story, but hard pass on that. I had an OpenMRI – think being wedged between two giant, upright pancakes – and I still wrestled with panic attacks. I’m either super-claustrophobic or had a traumatic breakfast experience.
M. Bouffant
@Amir Khalid: No, they didn’t. (I think the one that took was about US$1,300.) I had a real job (at a bank) w/ real insurance then, & was young & wild enough to have done a bit o’ physical damage to myself, Cole-style, including a scratched cornea which required laser surgery, a severed tendon in my right wrist (I think the surgeon in the E.R. [at world-renowned Cedars-Sinai, yet] actually finished the severing while poking around) which required several physical therapy sessions, a car accident w/ emergency room visit, an outpatient procedure related to what one croaker thought was causing the above twinges, & an operation to remove tonsil tags (had the tonsils out at four, enough of them grew back in my late 20s to keep getting infected) & I swear that besides a few US$20.00-ish co-pays I never shelled out another penny for all of that over the 18 yrs. I worked there.
gvg
I have had 3 MRI’s all open tube at 2 different facilities and they weren’t noisy at all. Wonder if the age of the machines makes a difference, although the first was over 20 years ago. I am a bit claustrophobic but these didn’t bother me at all.
trollhattan
@M. Bouffant:
So it was you who caused the healthcare crisis. Hrrmph! We should tell that Anderson guy.
Roger Moore
@divF:
I’ve heard about the CT contrast dye causing allergic reactions- it contains the same stuff people are allergic to in shellfish- but never the MRI contrast dye.
gene108
THIS IS NOT SUPERFLUOUS!!!
You do not want a medical provider fucking up and getting you confused with someone else. You may have been the only one in the waiting room, but the nurse may have had a file for John Coats and figured you were that John and not John G. Cole.
You always want medical people to ask you for your name and date of birth.
M. Bouffant
@StringOnAStick: I had an RDH (a retired dentist, she claimed) who gave me a novocaine shot for a deep scaling right in an effing nerve. YOW! What are the odds on that?
Roger Moore
@Ruckus:
316 is non-magnetic for the purposes of dealing with MRI-class magnets. I worked around a 7T magnet (higher field but smaller bore size than MRI) for a decade. Many of the parts around that magnet- including parts that went into the high-field region- were made of 316 specifically because it’s OK to use in magnetic fields. 304 is a different matter. It’s normally non-magnetic, but prolonged exposure to a powerful magnetic field can cause it to change its crystal structure in a way that lets it magnetize. Penny pinchers who specify 304 for use around strong magnets because it’s cheaper have learned this the hard way.
Ruckus
@M. Bouffant:
More than you might imagine.
Had an industrial accident that about 1/2 severed my thumb. Severed the artery, nerve bundle, and 80% of the tendon. The bone stopped the damage, getting cut in the process. Went to a local WC clinic and they sewed it up. But the shots the doc gave me to kill the pain of the stitches to the artery and tendon and the many to seal the wound, every single one hit the exposed nerve. He couldn’t have hit it so many times if he had been trying to. The cut didn’t hurt at all. The cast I had to wear for six weeks to immobilize the tendon was annoying but not painful, but the shots to kill the pain? Priceless.
Original Lee
I’m glad you found it to be a not unpleasant experience, John. The only time I had an MRI, I nearly fell asleep. Needless to say, the techs said I was atypical. Now I know I’m not the only one!
M. Bouffant
@trollhattan: Maybe I put First Interstate Bank (or the ins, co,) out of business. Next employer? Borders Books. I’m the touch of death.
Ruckus
@Roger Moore:
Understand. Just wanted to clear the record, it is used in the medical field all the time, I know this as I work with 316 quite often, just this week in fact making tooling for the medical industry. Also 303, 304, 420, 440, 17-4, 18-8. The last 4 are magnetic. Just for the record I also used to build bicycles out of Ti, which is non magnetic and has a few other of it’s own idiosyncrasies.
M. Bouffant
@Ruckus: Damn. Sometimes the cure is worse than the disease/accident.
Ruckus
@M. Bouffant:
Oh the story gets better.
This was in Compton, CA, not one of the up scale parts of socal. The guy in the workers comp clinic told me he’d have to get the hand doc. Black man of about 55-60 yrs old comes in looks at my hand, tells me what it needs, then asks if I want him to sew it up. I looked at him, asked him if he knows what he’s doing and he answered “Yes.” “Then why wouldn’t I want you to do it” was my response. (In case it’s not obvious, I’m pasty white) My choice is a man with lots of experience or go to county general and let a resident do it. I’m going for experience every time. He was excellent, pain shots aside, it works, which he warned it might not. And in all things medical, he told me that I was lucky, a little more rotation of the cut would have severed the tendon completely and they would have had to open my arm up, thumb to elbow to recover it and reattach it. So little favors where you can find them. Would have left a nice scar though.
Roger Moore
@Ruckus:
If you were in Compton, wouldn’t the nearest county hospital have been Killer King? I can understand not wanting to get anything done there you could avoid.
HeartlandLiberal
I have had three MRIs over the years, most recently last year after car accident, it revealed the two tears in right shoulder rotater cuffs, resulting in surgery. I have never had any trouble relaxing, in fact, I almost fall asleep. Just let your zone out. But I admit I always, always look around the room to make sure no one has left a fire extinguisher of metal object in the room. If you do not understand why I say this, read this NYTimes article from 2001, and you will, too, in the future.
http://www.nytimes.com/2001/07/31/nyregion/boy-6-dies-of-skull-injury-during-mri.html
Ruckus
@Roger Moore:
This was in the 80s and MLK hospital was a county facility. It has changed quite a bit over the decades, losing it’s accreditation about 10 yrs ago and being reopened since.
But your description, Killer King was pretty much spot on. If that had been my only choice, I’d have had my customer, the driver take me pretty much anywhere else. A Tijuana back street medical clinic comes to mind as a better option.
JustRuss
@NotMax: Nobody slaws like Cole slaws!
grandpa john
@Jerome McDonough: Yep. I had one many years and the I was expected then thing to blow apart at any timr. But since I have had stents (3) inserted I can no longer do MRI but do CAT scan instead thanks for small favors
Have also had nuclear scans to check heart arteries for blockage but they are nothing only take about 15 min. You do however have to take a before and after with a run on a treadmill in between
Shell
@Gin & Tonic: I have a partially fused spine with Harrington rods, but it must not be a problem cause ive has many MRIs.
A brain scan can be a little more stressful cause they fasten that plastic bucket on your head. But they can also attach a prism thingy to said bucket so youre able to see out the end of the machine. It made a big difference for me, believe it or not.
StringOnAStick
@M. Bouffant: Oh, that’s a drag for sure. Very rare but it does happen though I haven’t ever done it to anyone. The needles are so fine that they deflect based on the bevel at the tip and the nerves aren’t very big either so you experienced a needle in a haystack event.
Sloegin
Old farts sometimes have implants of unknown metallic composition – like me back in the 70s before MRIs were a thing; an implant in my ear might or might not be ferrous; and of course the original hospital didn’t have any records. Internet searches of the period in question period turned up a dozen types of implants ranging from titanium to steel to products with steel cores and or steel/nickel ends. Plus said research also uncovered one person’s horror story of a similar implant being nearly extracted by an MRI means CT scans for this old bird.
oldster
You were doing a good job persuading the faint-hearted until you got to this: “And trust me, I know awful.”
Then after that, you argued that an MRI is better than breaking your scapula, falling off a roof, and being thrown through a windshield.
If anyone had doubts about the MRI, those comparisons would not alleviate them.
I had a few, four years ago and my experience was like that of many others up above: I closed my eyes and kept dozing off, interrupted by the tech who would tell me I had to breathe in and hold it for ten.
Not a problem. Not even in the same *ballpark* as broken scapulae and windshields. More like: less discomfort than getting your teeth cleaned. That’s a more useful comparison.
maura a hart
well done you!
way2blue
For me, it felt like being inside a jet engine. With the weird drumming cadence continually morphing. Luckily I didn’t need to have my head far inside the tube. That would have been stressful…
Nancy
@Booger: That happened to me twice. I believe that I was seriously sleep-deprived at the time, due to unrecognized sleep disorder, but still, surprising since the noise is not rhythmic or particularly soothing.
Now that I’m not in that condition, I stay awake and focus on breathing slowly. It tends to be OK. OK is so much better than the many possibilities listed by our host.
And to Mr. Cole: this report is a public service. thank you.
Robin
I’ve had multiple MRIs since discovering I had metastasized melanoma tumors in my brain just after Thanksgiving. Fortunately I’m not claustrophobic, and I actually find the experience relaxing enough that I fall asleep not long after being sucked into the machine. Since my diagnosis I’ve been exposed to fairly awesome levels of medical science that have transformed what would have been a certain death sentence for me 30 years ago, to something that is treatable, and in which I have an excellent chance of surviving at least 5 years, and even a fair chance of beating the cancer completely. During my first MRI, I was fascinated by the multiplicity of sounds used,so I asked the tech afterwards if they had any significance. He told me that the different frequencies are used to stimulate different atoms in my body in order to make them visible to the machines as it builds the picture the Dr.s are going to use to diagnose & treat! During subsequent MRIs I’ve wished I had guide I could use to be able to know which articular atoms are being stimulated at any one time.