Thank you Concussed in PA, I will pass that along to her also. She is not yet able to get online for anyting that takes more than five or ten minutes. She is feeling lousey today she is thinking doo much and tried to concentrate on a meditation which left her body less tense but her head hurting. I told her to leve that for when she is a bit stronger. And to find a more passive way to relax.

Happily her father and I got them to agree to let us take care of the kids tomorrow. Her husband will now stay with her for the MRIs. Knowing that she will not be left alone to fend for herself at the imaging center is a relief for her father and I. Espicially since they will be using contrast. Her husband had originally planned to drop her off and take the kids to lunch. So glad they thought that one through.

I am surprised by how many people think an MRI is a benign imaging system. The noise is exhausting. The tension of staying still and dealing with the close quarters just adds to it.

I have had MRI's MRI/MRA's, CT with contrast, SPECT which means a sizable infusion of the radioactive glucose or other isotope. I passed out during the infusion. Scared the tech half to death. She was about to call a Code when I finally started to revive.

I had a similar reaction prior to a brain scan in 1970. Back then, they injected me with two syringes full of a mercury based contrast. I almost fell out of the chair I was sitting in in the hall outside of the X-ray room. Then the x-ray device slowly traced a pattern over my head for about 45 minutes. I much prefer the MRI even though I am claustrophobic.

For those of you who need an MRI, the trick I use to deal with the claustrophobia is simple. I close my eyes before entering the tube and I also hold my arms tightly folded over my chest so they will never touch the sides of the tube. I try to think of something that has an open feeling to it. It has worked for me at least 6 times.

I wish her a good experience.

My best to her.

Thank you Mark, I have had both open and closed MRI's I had no problems with the closed one but it didn't last very long and I had no contrast injections. However I do suffer from migrains with symptoms that are similar to the symptoms my daughter is experiencing. I cannot imagine having to do an MRI in that condition. Like I said I am glad she will not be alone. She said that "he will be very bored" waiting around. My reply was "he can read the TBI guide while he waits". Unfortunately, I was unable to print it out my printer is out of ink.

FYI,

An open MRI is of little value for a brain injury. The resolution is to large. They are fine to tumorous organs with contrast or such but not any good for brain injuries where the damage might be much smaller than a BB. A brain injury MRI will be best if it is 6 Tesla or greater. Most closed MRI's are 1.5 Tesla.

Well she said it was like they were drilling her head . She was totally wiped out when she returned home. She is very concerned about the inner ear testing now cause the doctor told her it would be unpleasant. He said nothing about the MRI. Therefore she is assuming the ear tests will be worse and she is already dreading them. Sigh.