Had an MRI Today - thought of the forum

[debblyn]

Hi All

had an MRI today - it was a routine follow up to the one I had three years ago. Of course I go to the dark side as I wait for the results -- its always when you least expect it you end up having something terrible LOL OK some habits die hard -- like health anxiety --mine ebbs and flows -- LOL today it flows like a very healthy river.

it has been four years maybe five since I have had a closed MRI sigh - I had forgotten how small of a space you are in -- how do men do it they are much broader than most women...

I made a very big mistake about test four -- I opened my eyes LOL I had this very intense impulse to start screaming at the top of my lungs -- "get me out of here" but much to my great relief I actually stayed in the tube. Right after I opened my eyes I also relaxed my arms LOL I touched both sides of the machine LOL again that impulse to scream for help came over me LOL but I decided to see if I could relax myself and find some comfort being jammed in a small space -- I did it. LOL

I kept thinking of all the crazy things we talk about on this forum -- especially the flaming fights LOL aaahhh the good old days. I did recall the many mind over body discussion and ya know -- there is a lot to be said how powerful the mind is - both in a positive as well as a negative way.

I was determined to relax and not let the acute anxiety take over I calmed my mind and my body followed -- it was and still is a very powerful thing to win....

so now I am kind of calm waiting for the results -- I will hear them tomorrow Or I will go to the docs office and hang out LOL I was told MRIs are no longer done at my hospital the old fashion way -- there are no films to wait for -- its all on the computer -- the radiologist can read them once every hour and then e mail them to the primary care doc or prescribing doc - so my neuro has them on his computer -- I am calling in the morning LOL LOL

so lets all hope and pray my head is void of anything terrible -- I am thinking it will be filled with air LOL fine with me.

I will let you know.

miss all of you

debblyn

[mamafigure]

We may be small in number, but we are still here for you and for each other.

Mama

[debblyn]

thanks mom LOL

I was told my neuro has the results but who knows when he will give up the results to me -- his nurse knows I am showing up at his office tomorrow LOL

hope no news is good news.

db

[mamafigure]

next time you can take one of my pillows...there isn't any metal it it. and we all could crowd inside of that MRI with you. Now wouldn't that be cozy??

[fishdude]

So what was the news, Deb?

Wishing you all the best

Fish

[sofiebest]

When trying to find a dx for me they run every test in stock, MRI included.
The noise was unpleasant, even if they gave me headphones with nice concert music.
The tube sure must be a nightmare for people with problems related to choking in small rooms.
I hope all will turn out fine for you, surely waiting for results sucks.

My wife might have comments on the idea of me in the tube with charming girls, but you are all welcome to visit Norway or Sweden.

Per, Norway

[mamafigure]

I never had headphones or music, and I hated them, but the open ones are the worst. I would take a closed one any day over having my head constrained for the open one. I am so blind that I cannot see the big E on the chart, so having the top open did nothing for me.

I heard from Deb. Her tests turned out fine. i apologize if I have spoken out of school, but wanted to lessen the worries of others.
Mama

[debblyn]

hey fish, mama and norway person -- tak norway person for writing LOL

my mri was clean - I have a small lesion on the pons of my brainstem but other than that small detail all is well.

I had to wait two days for the results - this time it drove me crazy as I am a freak and waiting is not in my vocabulary LOL after the second day I literally went to my docs office and took a meeting LOL literally.

I found out that MRIs are no longer, in some places anyway, developed into actual film - its all done on the internet now -- my doc had the results of my MRI two hours after I had them. I found this out by contacting the mri place -- it pissed me off that I had to wait and my doc had not only looked at the results and made his comments on monday and it was wed when I walked into his office to find out where the results were -- he thought his PA called me -- thank god I am a pain in the *** or I would still be waiting LOL glad I showed up.

I did ask if I could meet the radiologist to ask a couple of questions I didnt ask my neuro. I had to pick up the old comparison films anyway so it was a long shot he would take the time to actually see me -- he did ( the radiology office is dark and kind of like a comfortable cave LOL)

He the radiologist and I went through all of my old films and compared them to the new shots of my head. I asked if I could meet with the radiologist for a few minutes -- nearlly an hour and a half later he was done LOL it was the coolest thing to really discuss the brain and how it looks -- especially if its looking healthy as mine was to him.

he did tell me the lesion could have been there all of my life or I had some kind of small stroke 7 - ten prior to this film - it teh legion appeared on an older MRI about six years ago - in fact - a neuro surgeon looked at a set of my films from ten years ago now and he thought there was a mark on the pons then -- as technology gets better the smallest things will now show up -- so while no one is to worried about it they are not really sure if I was born with it or it happened and it is so small it didnt really do much damage that is noticable to me.

he did say it may have affected my balance a bit as well it may be adding to the ring in my ears and finally I have had some neuro related vertigo in the past which may be blamed on the lesion but no one is concerned so I'm not either.

so good results. No sign of disease that the radiologist could see -- the radiologist admitted that he wasnt a neuro radiologist but he took such a close look at the films with me and prior to my coming in that if there was any doubts he would have shown them to a neuro radiologist. He ( the radiologist) said if my neuro was concerned about something he would also consult a neuro radiologist as well order a second type of test. So I am confident that all is well -- thank all the gods -- that means my memory loss is probably due to stress.

again sorry it has taken me so long to get back here - we had a really cool thunder storm last week -- we literally had over 12 inches of rain in three days, anyway, lightning took out my computer I am just now getting interent back and hope to all the gods in the universe the rest of my computer will be up and running tomorrow.

I bought a super duper surge protector for the office just in case we are not home during the next lightning strike.

take care - fish and mama thanks for responding as well norway person. I took four semesters of norsk in college -- would love to know how to write the words , "off the coast or off the shore" in norsk.

I thought it was something like po kuston ???

take care

oh for anyone concerned about having an MRI i have managed to get through it with flying colors -- I played a counting game while in the tube. I was fortunate enough to have a radiology tech who told me there were ten tests I think she said the longest one would last four minutes.

she would start a series of tests by saying ok, there are three tests each lasting one minute or two minutes -- I was able to count down the minutes LOL to see if I could count them down on time -- it distracted me as I started competing with myself to see If I could count down the seconds eg 1 thousand one, one thousand two and so on LOL it passed the time away fast.

anyway all is well today
deb

[Matuboo]

Hi All

had an MRI today - it was a routine follow up to the one I had three years ago. Of course I go to the dark side as I wait for the results -- its always when you least expect it you end up having something terrible LOL OK some habits die hard -- like health anxiety --mine ebbs and flows -- LOL today it flows like a very healthy river.

it has been four years maybe five since I have had a closed MRI sigh - I had forgotten how small of a space you are in -- how do men do it they are much broader than most women...

I made a very big mistake about test four -- I opened my eyes LOL I had this very intense impulse to start screaming at the top of my lungs -- "get me out of here" but much to my great relief I actually stayed in the tube. Right after I opened my eyes I also relaxed my arms LOL I touched both sides of the machine LOL again that impulse to scream for help came over me LOL but I decided to see if I could relax myself and find some comfort being jammed in a small space -- I did it. LOL

I kept thinking of all the crazy things we talk about on this forum -- especially the flaming fights LOL aaahhh the good old days. I did recall the many mind over body discussion and ya know -- there is a lot to be said how powerful the mind is - both in a positive as well as a negative way.

I was determined to relax and not let the acute anxiety take over I calmed my mind and my body followed -- it was and still is a very powerful thing to win....

so now I am kind of calm waiting for the results -- I will hear them tomorrow Or I will go to the docs office and hang out LOL I was told MRIs are no longer done at my hospital the old fashion way -- there are no films to wait for -- its all on the computer -- the radiologist can read them once every hour and then e mail them to the primary care doc or prescribing doc - so my neuro has them on his computer -- I am calling in the morning LOL LOL

so lets all hope and pray my head is void of anything terrible -- I am thinking it will be filled with air LOL fine with me.

I will let you know.

miss all of you

debblyn



Umm, man, head MRI's are indeed rough. I had one about four months ago and walked right into the diagnostic imaging center and got the results for myself the next day. It's in plain English and despite some medical terms, it's easy enough to ascertain whether or not it's normal. I see that yours was, good news there!


I only had to wait a day but worse than that was the actual test, I just about flipped out, felt like that poor girl in the Exorcist when she had to have the Pneumoencephalogram (an X ray of the brain made by replacing spinal fluid with a gas (usually oxygen) to improve contrast.) Well, not quite that bad but even two mg's of Klonopin didn't keep me calm, but I fought it off, extremely clausterphobic.


M

[debblyn]

matubo I am with you on having a hard time doing an MRI> Truth be told i am not sure why. I have never had a bad experience during one. In fact I have been lucky that the techs who have conducted all of my MRIs to date have been really good actually.

the last mri (this past mont) the tech was outstanding.

it is a very scary process as you are in a tube -- but when you think about it -- the back is open and there are people who can really hear you frantically push the panic button.

if you think about it -- it really isnt a big deal. But I know that it can and is pretty daunting.

I am glad my results were good -- now I am worried that my tummy hurts so bad I cant stand it -- I will call the doc this week. I cant tell if its organs that are hurting or the muscles - I am over weight and very out of shape -- I am swimming and doing excersize in my pool trying to A get in shape for my new long board surf board and to loose some weight.

I am sure the doc will help me figure it out -- despite how fearless I am about the MRI - LOL - I hope I dont need one as part of the dx process LOL

take care and good to see you

debblyn

[triple*eee]

I have never been able to stay in those tubes! I have to do the open MRI, (which isn't much better lol)

I'm glad you were able to .


*I haven't been here for a long time, I miss all the people. It seems to have really died down.**

[islandshan]

Hi Deb,
See you had an MRI too. I had my first one ever last week and just found out today that I have some kind of scarring on my brain.

No medical tests bother me. It is the outcome I dread. I didn't mind the mri at all. Noisy but not bad. I know other people just can't stand them though.

One good thing. I was given a cd with all 300 plus images of my brain for my viewing pleasure at home. I was able to conclude on my own that there were no masses. But I wondered what the scarring was. And so I just posted that question to see if anyone else knows. I do not wish to have a revisit to my past days. Not after the death of my mom and marriage and crap. Otherwise, I am still alive. And I can still kick. Glad your mri was normal. Why did you have a recent mri?

[debblyn]

hey shan -- had my mri as a follow up to the last three over the last four years. When they did my base line MRI in 2004 they found a lesion on the pons of the brain stem.

my vertigo symptoms are not really caused by the lesion however over the past two years I have experienced neuro related vertigo so they have decided to check the lesion every three years now to see if it has changes.

like you there is a scared area on my brain --for me its the pons - with unexplained origin - they said I could have been born with it, I could have hit my head hard ( which I did when I was 19 while skate boarding championship -- ha came in first for my state and second for the state of california and second over all LOL LOL ) brings back memories I totally forgot = I digress anyway I fell and hit the back of my head during a practice run - the neuro said I could have broken blood vessels then or I could have had a mini stroke that went marginally unoticed -- despite the reasons its there so they are going to check on it.

some of my balance symptoms could be due to the lesion as well my shortness of breath on occasion - but all and all no one is really worried about it so now I am not either.

miss you and hope you are feeling better about what they found on your skull.
db