I had one about ten years ago on my shoulder. I am severely claustrophobic and they had to blindfold me to even get me in the machine but no one mentioned that a sedative was an option. The open view machines weren’t available here yet. I remember the noises and the extremely painful position my arm was in but I don’t remember any pulsing or throbbing. And I had to go to work after I was done. That sucked.
If I ever have to do it again it’ll be an open view machine or not at all.
I had one on my knee, but went in feet first so my waist up was outside the machine. Not a deal at all. Had headphones with music and almost fell asleep. I also have fallen asleep during tattooing, so take that as you will. Had a CT on my head/neck once. Also not a big deal at all.
I’ve been taught meditative yoga since I was little, by my mom. I wonder if that’s had something to do with being able to just zone out and relax. She used it for spinal taps in the past.
I’ve had three ankle, lower leg, and gallbladder. The first two were feet first and I just laid there and hung out.
The gallbladder was another story. Shoulders touched the sides. Tube was tight.
I closed my eyes and just relaxed.
About every 15 min or so the operator would ask me how I was doing. At the 45 minute mark I told him my leg had gone to sleep and I needed to move a bit. He told me just a minute or two more. Good to his word they pulled me out.
Once I closed my eyes and relaxed I just got into a zone and it was no problem. If I had left my eyes open I probably would have gone stir crazy.
I was the opposite. I’d close my eyes for a few minutes because it bothered me that the tube was so close to my face (also I kinda hoped I would fall asleep like I’ve heard of other people doing). Then I’d open my eyes and realize that I actually had about 6 or 7 inches, not the 2-3 inches I was picturing in my head. After 3 or 4 times of doing this, I figured it made more sense to leave them open.
I’ve had a few. I usually go for the “open” variety. It’s not so much closed space that bothers me as closed man-made space.
Yeah…the ride is a problem for me. I’m single and live alone. I’d have to call in a favor with a friend. I could do it…and might have to next time. I barely got through the last MRI. My new plan is not to need another one any time soon!
I had one on my brain as part of an experiment a few years ago. Nothing seemed unusual, no pulsing, or anything I can remember. I was surprised at how tight the machine was, especially with all the mirrors they had crammed in there.
I just had another head one last week. I didn’t have the pulsing issue, though. I’m not really claustrophobic, but I don’t like the closed-in feeling at all.
I had an MRI to determine whether or not I’m claustrophobic - Steven Wright.
A couple I think. Or maybe they were cat scans. I had dye injected. They needed to see if I had fluid building up around my heart. Was that a CT?
I had one around 2008, and all I remember is that when they injected me with the dye it felt so bizarre that I promptly threw up. 
The fact I don’t really remember much else suggests they sedated me to calm my nerves before trying again, but I honestly don’t remember. All I know was I got a clean bill of health afterward, so all was good.
Could be either, but if it was your heart, I’d guess it was an MRI since that’s used (more) for muscles/tissues and CTs are used (more) for bones. CTs are basically just X-Rays.
For reference, an MRI is like going into a tunnel, a CT looks like a donut. Only about 6 inches of your body is in at a time.
An MRI machine is huge, a CT scanner isn’t really all that intimidating.
I have had several. Never again without extreme sedation.
I have chronic migraines. The last one was of my head while I was having a migraine. Turned my headache straight up to 11. The neuro was excited by the images. Apparently, it’s tricky to “see” the brain having a migraine.
Strapped down and and drugged out. That’s what it will take.
Had two MRI’s of the brain to see what they would find. (Spoiler: Yes, they found one.) One with contrast.
I didn’t feel anything that I would describe as “throbbing”. The noise was loud, and I definitely felt the vibrations from that. Yeah, the vibes, the vibes. Each MRI took about 45 minutes. I found the many different patterns of the sounds to be entertaining. In one MRI, there was that “boom-boom-boom” noise, which seemed to be coming from an adjacent room. It’s not in the MRI machine itself. In the other MRI, I didn’t hear that at all.
I didn’t feel anything at all when they injected the dye, other than feeling the injection itself. That was no sweat – felt just like having blood drawn. Also, I had no problem with claustrophobia, and no sedation of any kind.
The MRI itself seems to consist of a series of separate “shots” – each having a different pattern of knocking noises, but separated by periods of silence. I think it’s okay if you twitch in between the shots. And since each individual shot is rather brief (5 to 10 minutes), if you twitch and ruin it, they can re-do just that shot. The technician is watching the shots in real-time, so he’ll know immediately if each shot came out okay. It’s not like one twitch and they have to start the entire MRI over.
I had a friend to was a co-founder and principal of a major company that made CAT scanners, and was the VP of R&D. He had been doing computer imaging research for years before that. So he has credentials to know how this sort of computer imaging is done. He told me that, due to the way the process uses Fourier Transforms to re-construct the visual image from the data, you can’t help but know if a shot was bad. If you twitch even just slightly during a shot, it doesn’t just make the image blurred or fuzzy, as a regular photograph would do. It causes the whole image to be massively garbled. So there’s no way to miss noticing that.
I had one.
The technicians were very good. They pointed out that both ends were open and slid me in for about a 10 second preview. Then they told me I should not move around, and suggested that I scratch any itches before I went in. And they gave me a pair of headphones, and asked what radio station I wanted to listen to. (And apologized; the said that by next month they would have the ability for me to bring my own music CD/flashdrive to listen to, but that wasn’t ready yet.) When they put the headphones on, I almost told them that they had the volume too high. But I saw why once the machine started; some of the clunks & throbbing still came through.
They pulled me out partway through, to adjust me for another scan, so I got to scratch & stretch then. They also told me that this one would be shorter; I was about 2/3rds done.
Overall, they were very reassuring & treated me quite well. At the end, they apologized again, saying they knew it wasn’t very pleasant. I told them no problem, they were the only test people in the past week who weren’t sticking needles into me or taking samples of something out of me!
I’ve probably had MRIs on my knee about 10 times. Honestly, I find it one of the most relaxing experiences I could have in a hospital.
The only noteworthy experience I had was one time I forgot to take off my wedding band (18K gold). Nothing disastrous happened, but I did notice the ring was unusually warm afterwards. I don’t know if the magnetic fields could cause that, or if it was something else.
Holy crap, I can’t imagine one with an active migraine (I have chronic migraine myself; with treatment, down to about 4-8 headache days a month from 25+).
I’d request lots of sedatives, too.
Hey, I’ve got the same problem. The meds they gave me helped out with in weeks. I felt SO much better after a month or two I was a different person. I gained a ton of energy, lost weight, all sorts of other benefits. After almost four years they are getting ready to take me off the meds. Hopefully the same will happen with you.
I’ve had 5-6 MRIs in the past few years. I’ve noticed some things each time I have one. I remember once it felt like my body was at a 90 degree angle to my head. I’m guessing it’s just because you’re laying there for so long without moving the the sounds and such are so different from anything else.
I’m slightly claustrophobic, I can do most things, but the first time I got in to a regular MRI I couldn’t do it because my shoulders were stuck in there. Freaked me out. The newer ones that are large enough for my shoulders don’t cause me any problems.
Oddly, no. I’ve had a great many x-rays, some with injected dyes, a few CT scans and a couple ultrasounds, but never an MRI. If/when I ever get my insurance straightened out and have my back examined again I’d be surprised if I don’t finally have one.
I am a very large man and when I first injured my back 26 years ago the “open” MRIs hadn’t yet been developed.
I had foot MRIs about 16 years or so ago. Claustrophobia wasn’t an issue because they slid me in feet first - so my head was sort of in a funnel area. The biggest problem was I didn’t force myself to relax when they started the first foot, so it was tense - and I had to hold it that way for 20+ minutes.
I’ve since had other MRIs: shoulder / knee (one visit), head (one visit), and thoracic / lumbar spine (one visit). Those times, I took medication - I know I can be a bit claustrophobic, and figured there was zero point in attempting it w/o sedation on board and then finding out I couldn’t tolerate it. This last time, I opened my eyes once or twice while in the tube and it really looked like that wall was about 4 inches from my face.
Lucky me, I get to go back and redo part of it - the radiologist asked for a redo for one section. I think I’ll do w/o drugs that time, as it’s only supposed to be 10 minutes.
The headset for music is interesting - I was wondering how it worked, what with no metal allowed. This last time, the tech explained that it is 100% plastic. The music is literally piped in through a hollow plastic tube.
