I was terrified with the first MRI, but my husband held my toe and that helped. Then I learned to put a washcloth over my eyes. If I can't see I'm in the tube, I'm fine. The one exception to that is the MRI machine they had at our local clinic, which was 4 times as loud as any other I've experience. I could not tolerate the banging, and asked to be let out. Tech didn't care, so I was let out and left--neuro didn't care anyway, we had a local neuro who was sort of numb. But since then I've had more MRI's, both the open one to look at my knee and a closed one to see if I'd had a TIA. In both cases, the machines were quiet, and I was fine, with the washcloth over my eyes.

Where did they get that awful machine that's 4 times as loud as any other? From the Salvation Army used machine department?