You don't want to have a MRI!!!

[Bill in SD, CA]

Had a MRI today for my spine. Really freaky.

Claustrophobia like crazy!!

Opened my eyes up once and saw that I had less than 3" of space. Heart started pounding and sweat was in abundance.

Started counting out-loud by 3's. At one point I thought: "777 is divisible by 3?" Go figure. Pulled me out at 1701.

Was inside for 30 minutes. Thinking of sleeping outside tonight.

Really not a fun time!!

Can't wait for my cat scan!

Bill

[XxNiXxX]

Congrats on the ultimite meber bill!

I work in a hospital its not that bad. really. easyest thing to do: meditate. or if not that. think about how to develop the next fad. all those elctrons going thru your brain might stimulate something

j/k

NiX

[n3uxf]

Didn't the hospital have an "open mri" machine? They were designed specifcally for situations as you described.

At least you wern't in one of those for two hours like I was.....

[John Prophet]

thats sort of one of the symptoms of us modern folk.....we cant really sit still or be quiet.....we have allowed ourselves to become conditioned to ALWAYS need external stimuli....like the kids who need to chew gum while smoking a cig while on the cell phone while listening to mp3s between school classes.

Its unfortunate for us..because if we are so used to piping stuff in from the outside...when do we ever sit still, listen and learn whats on the inside..where the real "us" is.

I had an MRI before..I remember it just being sort of boring.

There was a kid killed in one of those things because someone accidently set as fire extinguisher loose in the floor of the room.....the magnetism snagged the extinguisher and it flew across the room and hit the dude in the head..killed him. Can you imagine trying to tell his folks outside..."uhh, there's been an accident".

JP

[DPA]

hoyy... fire extinguisher slaughter house, who'd of thunk it?

Personally i don't get claustrophobia myself, i would be okay if i was on the 80th floor of a building trapped in an elevator.

But i feel for you bill, facing your phobias is no fun, thats probably why ill never be able to dive above 20 feet, the height just kills me between 20 and 500 feet. above or below that, i have no problems.

[The Real Bingo]

CAT scans are much better, Bill. Its not all enclosed and you can actually see light. You have more than 3" of space between your nose and the machine. The only problem I have is that when I go for my CAT scans they inject a dye into me through an intravenus tube. Its not too bad but Im not too fond of it. I wish you the best.

[ooops]

what breed of cats do they use ????

[wju425]

I've been in there and it's freaky. I looked over my head so I can see the wall at the end of the tube. Seems like a long long time before I got out of there.

\o/ Billy

[NeoStarO1]

I had an MRI done last year or so on my knee, I opted for the Open MRI as im extremely claustraphobic, My boyfriend was able to be in the room with me as well. With him there and being doped up on meds from the ER room the previsous night helped some but was too freaky for me. I can't hanlde those. I get the same way with a Cat Scan.

[Mickwish]

Can't do open MRI's on some body parts. There are technical limitations.

We had a real hullabaloo here when a ventilated ICU pt had an MRI a while back when we first got one. Had a heap of ICU nurses and doctors in the room, and they forgot to take their metal stuff off. Had badges and all sorts of stuff flying around the room! One doc had his wallet in his pocket and all his credit cards got wiped!

Did they pipe you some nice music to drown out all the clanking noises, Bill?

CAT scan is a piece of cake compared to MRI. Chambers are bigger. Hope all goes well for ya Bill.

Cheers
Mick