For whatever reason, I actually find getting an MRI kind of relaxing. I usually fall asleep in the machine.

If you lay there with your eyes closed, you could just as well be lying in a bed, or in an open field somewhere. Of course, the noise is different, but I find the repetitive noises kind of hypnotic. I just have no problem with the entire process...

I pop an Ativan to take the edge off the clanging and banging noises and I find that if I never open my eyes while I am inside the tube I am completely fine.

Try taking some deep belly breaths while inside-- concentrate on slowing your breathing down as much as you can. As you breathe in say to yourself "in goes the positive" and as you breathe out say to yourself "out goes the negative." If your thoughts drift while you do this, don't beat yourself up...just go back to the mantra and focusing on your breath.

Good luck Dejibo! :hug:

I also find it very relaxing. I can't sleep because the noises make music in my head, and I want to remain still. So I find it a quiet relaxing time, eyes open or closed.

Everyone that knows me says I have bionic ears (I always request ear plugs but it does not help) and I was shocked that no one mentioned the God awful sounds that makes me want to scream plus I feel like I am in a coffin being buried alive!! A fate worse then death and unless it is a life or death reason, I had my last one last year!

i don't mind closed spaces so can only imagine how difficult this is for you.
take the ear plugs. i keep my eyes closed. i also ask for support for under my arms and knees. add a blanket for warmth is that helps.

i pretend the chirping are birds in a forest with sun shining thru the trees. and that there's a nice bubbling stream.

sometimes breathing exercises (like having a baby) helps.
there's no getting around it that it's uncomfortable.
take your own medication if it will help you.

i had to get thru my own today and my pain made it very uncomfortable.
there are open mri machines, or partially open machines. you might ask your dr about them.

I feel sorry for you that they bother you. I am glad they don't bother me cuz in the trial I am in I have to have one almost every month! I call it my "nap" time. I put in the ear plugs, ask for a couple of warmed blankets, get comfortable for the hour+ I am in the machine, and off to sleep I go!

Seriously, they don't bother me at all..in fact, I get annoyed that they actually talk to me while I am trying to take my nap. :eek: And then they pull me out and give me the GAD...that wakes me up!! Darn...all that in and out and give me your arm stuff...just get it over with so I can get on with my nap!!! :p

So that's how I get thru my MRIs...what I hate is the 14 or 15 tubes of blood they have to draw each time....trade ya!!

I am amazed it sounds like birds chirping to others when to me it sounds like a jack hammer going off in my ears!!! I too love the under the knee pillow!

I do not have the same reactions to being placed in the MRI machine. The first time I heard the noises, I found some of them bizarre and I had to keep myself from laughing at the banging, burring, kabong-ing. And I also felt so relaxed that I had to try not to sleep and twitch.

All that said, you can play the counting game. The tech will be glad to tell you how long a certain image will take - two minutes, etc. By constantly being in touch with you, it may take off some of your anxiety edge.

The first time, when the tech would say that an image would take two minutes, I would begin to count off the seconds to see how well I could space it, as a game to see if I could correctly be "on time." It was also a way to know when an image would be complete.

The counting also ending up being a relaxation technique. That may have been why I fell asleep.

The most recent time I had an MRI, I was given earphones for music. Loved that. Music and the banging sounds. Quite the combination.

I have done a mixed bag of tricks. First off, you have to be absolutely comfortable. I wear sweat pants so I can keep them on and request a blanket. And I love that wedge pillow thingy for my knees! I take along my favorite CD. For me a relaxation CD works. I have heard that for some they have to have rock or some rockin country music to 'go to that place'. One time I actually fell asleep. One time I imagined myself IN a nintendo game,not doing the game but part of the game. The jack hammer sound of the machine went right along with the game that I was in. Good luck:hug:

I do so wish I could feel like this FG. I never even knew I was claustraphobic until I started having MRIs, and although not badly upset by them I'm sure glad they're over when time's up!

I never have felt sleepy during the session, and music and ear plugs have never made any difference for me either. I must have concentrated on every rat-atat-tat, because I found myself counting each one of them and working out how many there were until the next phase of the films as each cycle went through.

This last time I was offered some Valium, and I accepted. Very first time ever I'd taken a sedative and the whole thing went like a dream. I wish I'd accepted sooner because this was my easiest MRI yet.

I know how I'll be doing my next one as well.