Big on the outside, small on the inside: the OPPOSITE of the booth from Dr. Who
When my mother had a full body MRI, she had a panic attack. I thought perhaps she was overreacting- not that I didn't believe her per se, but she does have a tendency to exaggerate stories and is sensitive. In fact, if she reads that sentence, I would get into trouble.
Anyway, it was my turn for the MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) experience, and I thought I was mentally prepared from what my mother told me (the loud sounds and claustrophobic environment): boy was I wrong.
So the purpose of this post is to spread the word about how to mentally prepare for a MRI.
1) Understand that the MRI scanner is HUGE from the outside, but small on the inside. It's VERY intimidating. I imagine small people like me would be fearful but big people would be afraid too, for the obvious reasons of getting stuck in there.
2) The sound of the air compressor (to keep the magnets cool) sounds like a heart beat and a bird chirping. In other words, it gives the impression that the giant scanner is ALIVE, like a Borg cube, V'Ger, Unicron, or Darth Vader.
3) I was told to lie still and never move, was given ear plugs and headphones, and an MRI head coil was put over my face to guarantee that I don't turn my head. A blanket was put over my body, and a pillow for my feet. When I was loaded into the chamber tube I felt like I was in a sensory deprivation from the 1980 cult classic "Altered States".
4) I asked the MRI technician if I should close or open my eyes. He said open is OK. Yeah, big mistake. Since getting an MRI is probably unavoidable for you if the doctors need to see inside you, the only advice I can give that you could control is to KEEP YOUR EYES SHUT BY ANY MEANS NECESSARY.Just trust me on that, and don't debate it. Keep them shut. Don't even look for one second.
5) Be prepared for crazy sounds. They sound like dubstep on steroids and really bad ATARI games. The sounds vibrate through your body. You can listen to them in this video, I'd recommend this before you go in.
Anyway, it was my turn for the MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) experience, and I thought I was mentally prepared from what my mother told me (the loud sounds and claustrophobic environment): boy was I wrong.
So the purpose of this post is to spread the word about how to mentally prepare for a MRI.
1) Understand that the MRI scanner is HUGE from the outside, but small on the inside. It's VERY intimidating. I imagine small people like me would be fearful but big people would be afraid too, for the obvious reasons of getting stuck in there.
2) The sound of the air compressor (to keep the magnets cool) sounds like a heart beat and a bird chirping. In other words, it gives the impression that the giant scanner is ALIVE, like a Borg cube, V'Ger, Unicron, or Darth Vader.
3) I was told to lie still and never move, was given ear plugs and headphones, and an MRI head coil was put over my face to guarantee that I don't turn my head. A blanket was put over my body, and a pillow for my feet. When I was loaded into the chamber tube I felt like I was in a sensory deprivation from the 1980 cult classic "Altered States".
4) I asked the MRI technician if I should close or open my eyes. He said open is OK. Yeah, big mistake. Since getting an MRI is probably unavoidable for you if the doctors need to see inside you, the only advice I can give that you could control is to KEEP YOUR EYES SHUT BY ANY MEANS NECESSARY.Just trust me on that, and don't debate it. Keep them shut. Don't even look for one second.
5) Be prepared for crazy sounds. They sound like dubstep on steroids and really bad ATARI games. The sounds vibrate through your body. You can listen to them in this video, I'd recommend this before you go in.
6) Relax your body. Go to sleep or something. Don't try to hard to remain stiff. Do some breathing exercises. Count. Dream. Have an out of body experience. Don't think of "Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan" when Spock was put in that coffin and shot into space.
7) Be prepared for RESCANS. Yes, the MRI technician has to QC the images. Otherwise he or she will get into trouble for bad scans. So you will be left in the heart of the Death Star for 5-6 minutes before the images are validated. Then you may get hit for another 5-10 minutes of rescans depending on how the images came out.
8) The music in the headphones is overrated. I think I heard some tunes from 1993 but they could have been voices from the spirit world or from another timeline. I mean I'm surrounded by magnetic fields- I just heard crackling.
9) Be prepared to WAIT an hour or more to be called.
Again, I don't want to SCARE YOU..but make sure someone is with you so you can hug someone once you are released back into the wild. Also, don't get me wrong- I do appreciate this technology. There's no radiation and I shudder to think about the crazy number of clinical misdiagnoses that doctors gave before actually getting clear pictures of tissue.
7) Be prepared for RESCANS. Yes, the MRI technician has to QC the images. Otherwise he or she will get into trouble for bad scans. So you will be left in the heart of the Death Star for 5-6 minutes before the images are validated. Then you may get hit for another 5-10 minutes of rescans depending on how the images came out.
8) The music in the headphones is overrated. I think I heard some tunes from 1993 but they could have been voices from the spirit world or from another timeline. I mean I'm surrounded by magnetic fields- I just heard crackling.
9) Be prepared to WAIT an hour or more to be called.
Again, I don't want to SCARE YOU..but make sure someone is with you so you can hug someone once you are released back into the wild. Also, don't get me wrong- I do appreciate this technology. There's no radiation and I shudder to think about the crazy number of clinical misdiagnoses that doctors gave before actually getting clear pictures of tissue.
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