MRI is a tool

John T

Well-known Member
A "tool" was used on me today which was pretty scary at first. They give you a panic button and I almost pushed it the first few seconds lol. I have a hard time being pinned down or in a small tube (sort of like a small coffin) with hardly any room to move grrrrrrrrrrrrrr I underwent my first MRI and that darn loud (they gave me earplugs) banging ringing machine gunning ram ram ram, bang bang bang, buzz buzz buzz, zing zing zing, cooped up in a small tube wasn't the favorite thing I ever did. Magnetic Resonance Imaging hmmmmmmmmmm I can still hear that machine gun and that enclosure grrrrrrrrrrrr Maybe it was solar powered to save energy??? That would have made it easier, I bet the electric meter needed its bearings greased!!!

John T
 
I have had several. They tell me to not move, I tell them to wake me up when they are done. Just make believe you are plowing with a 2 cylinder John Deere with a straight pipe.
 
I do the same thing only different, I am riding a 55 year old big one cylinder
motorcycle at speed thru the Black Forest with out any traffic.
I am just about disappointed when it is done.
 
I have had them several times and they always played music. I almost fell a sleep on one of them. I told the nurse that when they moved the table the next time to take it easier so they did not wake me up.
 
I have had several MRI's and it is not a big deal for me. My late Brother was over 400 pounds, closter phobic, with brain cancer and I took him to an open MRI in Fort Wayne Indiana. I don't know how common they are but it was a help for him.

Open-Mri-Machine.jpg
 
Agreed. After having two dozen plus of those things I simply use them as nap time. I have to always tell them that if I don't respond to your questions, don't worry I am asleep. They look at me like I have three eyes.
 
Had my first this past August. She rolled me in and I couldn't take it. Back out and the nurse got a wet cloth and put over my face and put her hand on my leg and back in I went. I made it that time but did not like it one bit.
 

Thanks for that tip :) I have had a few as well as a full body isotope scan and really found it hard . Hopefully there won't be a next time but if there is I will be on top my Grey Fergie .
 
I had mine last year and I closed my eyes and pretended I was on a ride at Disneyland and the noise was part of the ride. Wasn't horrible.
 
I have had about 6 or 7 MRI's and they were like being past through a tight douhnut hole with a jack hammer running.
 
Had 2 of them back to back a year and a half ago, too long on that hard table. Had one about 6 weeks ago, didn't bother me at all.
 
I had to do one for my neck not too long ago, first one for me. I can say clearly that I'm not claustrophobic but that was about the most annoying environment I have ever been in. I never felt like hitting the panic button but felt like I needed to get out of there. I was sure glad it was over in 30 or so minutes.
 
One of the best places for a lawyer to be. LOL feeling trapped and out of control like most that have to deal with you guys. Just joking by the way but any more a lawyer to me is a bad guy sorry to say. That said yep BTDT back in 1995 due to a crime and yep the PA did nothing about it so it cost me pretty much my life as I knew it back then. Been in more then one over the years and yep sure makes you think about how close things can be but then I have done time on a sub and been in many caves
 
Regarding close enclosures; Remember the trapped Chilean miners and the tiny capsule that was designed for the miners to get into for the 10 minute ride to the surface. I believe they had to give them tranquilizers before they climbed in to prevent the panic. I think I would choose the MRI.
 
Hi John;

I had one last October. I thought one MRI would cover both shoulders; when I found out it wouldn't, I talked the surgeon into ordering another for the other shoulder. It was too late to schedule them together so there was going to be a ninety minute wait between the first and the second. I brought a book.

Prior to the first MRI I had to fill out some paperwork, and one of the answers I had to give was what kind of music I preferred. I couldn't think of anything I particularly wanted to hear, so I put down Middle of the Road/Easy Listening.

When the time came for the procedure, the Vietnamese technician noticed that I was scheduled for two non-consecutive MRI's. He told me he thought we could get them done in one session if I would cooperate. I told him I would. Cooperating turned out to mean letting him arrange my position on the table without too much in the way of, "Would you mind if I....", or, "Now you have to..." He stuck one of my thumbs in my jeans pocket to hold that arm in place, and stuck foam wedges under the other side of my upper body to immobilize me in the correct position. He put earphones on me and placed a call button in my almost free hand. He said to push the button if there was a problem, and he would talk to me via the earphones, and there was a mike somewhere so he could hear me answer.

The MRI started and I thought it was going to be fine. It made lots of strange industrial noises, but they had a certain rhythm, and I sort of liked it. Then my music started. Somebody's guess at what I had asked for was Frank Sinatra singing unfamiliar songs. I found that more annoying than the MRI noises. Then I started feeling a tickle in the back of my throat. When I didn't think I could contain it anymore, I pushed the button. The music stopped and the technician's voice came through the earphones asking me what I wanted. I said, "I'm going to cough." He said, "Don't." He resumed the MRI and the Frank Sinatra music while I felt that I was going to explode. In a couple of minutes it was over and the technician came on to say, "Cough now."

MRI number two was essentially a repeat of the first, except that I coughed hard enough during the pause that I didn't need to cough for that one. When it was over, I thanked the technician for saving me half the afternoon, and told him that I wished I had thought to ask for techno music. It would have gone well with the noises the machine made. He agreed that would have been a better choice, and then he suggested a different one. He said, "They tell me Pink Floyd is good." I wish I had asked. I guess I'll know next time.

Stan
 
I had one for my knee about 10 years ago. They offered earphones and my choice of music. I just closed my eyes and listened to the music.
 
I had one a year ago to check out my shoulder. They did a dye injection first, and after that the MRI was a cakewalk. They shot me up with a local, then put me under a fluoroscope so they could be sure they stuck that huge horse needle right in the middle of my shoulder joint. My shoulder was swollen for a couple of days after that.
 
I'd worry about some unknown metal fragments I don't know I'd have from working on all this old iron. Do they scan you with a metal detector first ?
 
John T;
All that racket is so you'll know you're still alive while you're stuck in that coffin. I've had one but I travelled to the only open station walk in one in the state. Wasn't any quieter but at least I wasn't buried alive. LOL Hope everything turns out well.
 
Had one a few years ago. Checking on condition of dislocated shoulder. Didn't like it, I'm not claustrophobic, but it felt like they were ripping my shoulder off. And I could feel a pressure on my face. They told me I was nuts, you can't feel those magnetic waves. I sure felt them.
 
Interesting to hear of your experience, I can't recall how many times I've been in either one of those giant life savers or the other thing the CAT scan. MRI's and ferrous metals, strong magnet I guess, they X rayed me to determine I had no obscure bits of iron in me. They are a bit cramped, but no problem for me, did not bother me. Best thing was, an old friend is the X ray technician, was funny when he said, "you still at such and such working" which was like 25 years prior LOL ! Hopefully the reason you went in for turns out well for you, best wishes !!!!!
 
Kinda strange that he said it wouldn't cover both shoulders, I had one about six years ago that did. I knew I had a torn rotor cuff in one and the Dr, said the other needed to have some calcium deposits removed, but they don't hurt and I never had it done. The post op therapy hurt more than the operation.
 
Pretty obvious no one likes those things. My doctor prescribed me a pill to take just before the scan. It didn't help the noise or anything, but it made me not care. A few years ago the drywall company I was working for contracted an addition to a hospital. Part of the addition was a room for the MRI. If you think those things aren't powerful, the nails used in the sheet rock were made of aluminum, and even the hanger wire and supports for the suspended ceiling were aluminum! In other words, NO ferrous metal could be used.
 
Read sometime ago a fellow was killed when an extinguisher flew off the wall . Killed him by smashed head! Bad way to go.
 
I had to sit in the room with my son for an MRI when he was about 10 - he had to have his brain scanned.

I think one thing that's worse than being in one yourself is watching your little boy go into one, pinned down and scared )#*($less. On top of the fear of what they're going to find.

God I hate hospitals. Like what they can do in them - just don't like being there.

Weird sitting next to one of those machines while they run - I swear I could feel the magnetic field with my whole body.

I was also worried that some old metal splinter in me was going to rip out.

My boy was fine, they did't find anything scary.
 
My son had a high definition MRI on his brain a few years ago. He was 5 years old and was sedated so heavily that he had to be on a respirator to help him breath. He was in the tube for 2 hours and thousands of "slices" were taken of his brain looking for abnormalities. None found.
 
My doc gave me a script for the pills but I never got it filled lol wish now I had. Regardless I did it and its over, haven't got results yet

John T
 
trucking company I work for was contracted to move a mobile mri unit around central Wisconsin for 10 years, was an interesting job, I would be the guinea pig when the technologist wanted to try a new procedure, fell asleep in the tube many times, ear plugs only, no music... kinda relaxing after a while..
 
They question you about any possible metal in you. I used to spend half my time getting metal taken out of my eyes before I sharpened up enough to wear glasses or a face shield. I told them about that and they x rayed my eyes and nothing showed up.
 
CAREFUL::::::MRI's can really do ya in if: you were in the machinist trade.
or: any metal body parts hidden inside YA.

Lots of times, no one askes these kinda of questions.

Jo.hn, PA No more MRI's due to metal in left arm.
 
After you do the first one it gets easer, I have to get one done every year sense 2001 to make sure the tumor that was in my head has not come back. I still haven't figured out how the 16 Titanium screws and wire that holds the plastic plate in don't come out. Now the Nucler bone scan is fun, Makes you feel funny. Oh just don't forget you don't want to walk into an airport a week after you have one done, Those people get a little up set with you when you set off there alarms! REALLY UP SET!!!! Its amazing how they can look inside of you and see what's going on. The new 3D MRI is really something to see on the screen, But I still don't looking at them. Bandit
 
The M in MRI stands for magnetic. Metals like titanium are not affected by magnetism. For practical purposes, only iron, nickel, and cobalt, and most of their alloys, are magnetic. The few rare earth elements that are magnetic are just that---rare.

Stan
 
Well, not entirely. Only metals subject to magnetism inside you will be a problem. Most metals used for body repair and replacement parts are non-magnetic. You are right that steel splinters you get in your flesh or in your eyes, on the other hand, are a big problem.

Stan
 

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