Interesting medical experience today.....
Last year I was enrolled in the Radiology program at my local college and finished my first semester before having hip replacement surgery in December. My sciatic nerve was damaged, leaving me with some strength deficits and neuropathy issues. I had to take a break from the Rad Program. After nerve conduction studies revealed that I did indeed have sciatic nerve damage, and after a year post-surgery...........I finally got an MRI today through the VA to map the sciatic and see what might be happening.
Anyway, my initial interest in radiology was in MRI technology. Today, I got the full treatment at my local VA. I know many of you have been through it before. This was my first time. I am not claustrophobic which is a good thing because I was inside that tube for at least 40 min. Apparently, detailed spinal studies require more time than say a knee or shoulder. I was surprised by how LOUD it was. That magnet whirring and changing frequencies was pretty dang loud and monotonous. Not the worst procedure I have ever endured but it wasn't something I would want to do again tomorrow. It did get kind of warm in the tube, warm, like I had sweat running down my face toward the end.
Very interesting. Now I know, as a potential tech, what a patient will experience.
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I've had 3 MRI's so far. The first one was the worst. 45 minutes with my shoulders rubbing the tube, and my back at about a level 9.9 on the pain scale. They gave me a set of earphones and a choice of music to listen to, I chose classical. I got hollered at twice for moving, but I didn't care my back hurt so bad.
The second time I went to a different hospitals MRI room and asked if I could climb in the 3 different ones to see which one fit me. One of them was big enough that the tube just barely touched my shoulders. So it wasn't quite as bad.
The 3rd one was a piece of cake. I needed shoulder surgery and my sugeaon wanted an MRI. I had done a little research and found an MRI that was an open frame construction (called an OPEN MRI). It wasn't too far away, so I asked my Doc if that would work for him. He said that would be perfect because you get a sharper image and it would make his job easier. That one wasn't any worse than getting an x-ray.
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Don't mind an MRI so much because I am little,
FCD the room shouldn't be hot. At the facilities I've worked at all the units have a separate source for removing heat from the Helium and another unit used to cool the space and often another unit to cool the remainder of the equipment.
Someone is either hot dogging the T stat or something wasn't working well .
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I don't want any part of that machine as mine have been similar to yours.
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My next one will be with something to put me in la la land. It is not a fun experience as far as Im concerned.
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My shoulders are so wide I could not fit until they put a sheet under me and pulled the sheet along with me into the sardine can of a tube. The MRI was for my neck pre-surgery. I had a tough time with the pain being horrendous strapped into a head cage. When they got done I was unable to get up off the table without both techs holding my arms and pulling me upright.
Yea, I had an MRI, and it SUCKED!
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my last MRI was in 2011...got in and tech cranked it up and it was a humming and all of a sudden he YELLED at the top of his lungs "HOLY CHIT"....it wound down and he slapped me in a wheel chair and RAN back to the ICU... i mean full out RAN.....3 cardios showed up and i asked what was going on and one said you have the biggest blood clot rite next to the heart that we have ever seen in anyone still alive ???? and said they were going to dissolve it...i asked what would happen if a chunk came loose and one said "you"re dead" well OK........4 days later i went home on blood thinners and been going ever since......i was diagnosed one year ago with CHF and that has really slowed things down...
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every time i've been in one...first off its stuffing 3 lbs of crap in a 1 pound bucket.......2.. its been freezing cold and ive requested blankets. [i'm a polar bear by nature] and 3..i can fall asleep on a rock, so i last about 2 minutes and i'm off in never never land till they are waking me up
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I've had more MRI's than I can count over the years. The earliest back when our hospital used mobile units that came on the backs of semi's. Now they have a separate building equipped with two that I know of.
Funny no one has mentioned anything about contrast injections. That stuff is the worst part of getting an MRI IMO. An instant feeling of having to pee!
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