MRI - Panic attack ran out

Is there a site with an open air MRI option? I had a a brain MRI a few years ago and that's what I did.

I was not prepared that first time either. Subsequently I have taken meds beforehand. I also go to my happy place mentally. Sometimes I go through a host of songs verse by verse in my head. Sorry you had so much trouble.

My MRI technique--

Take 2 mg lorazepam thirty minutes before the predicted time.

Wear a lovely bean-filled (weighted) eye pillow, lightly scented with lavender. If I can't see the scanner walls, they're not threatening.

Yoga breathing. Inhale 1-2-3-4, pause, exhale 1-2-3-4.

Take myself mentally on a bicycle ride in the mountains. (Yours might be the beach, or getting a massage)

Good luck!

My first MRI was 30 years ago. My that tube was narrow and I had to go in head first. I did ok for the first scan, the machine made a loud rhythmic noise that kind of soothed me, but as soon as the noise stopped the panic set in and and I shot out the bottom like a cannonball. I thought, we'll at least it's over, but nooo, they wanted me back in the machine. They allowed my husband to come into the room and they opened a little window on the machine and I was able to see his face. They let him stand there till the scan was finished.

For the open air mri, I couldn't stop shaking, anxiety I guess. Next mri, I want drugs.

Chiefswife, me too. Hope to never have another one though.

I took Ativan and asked for a washcloth to cover my eyes. Yoga breathing helped. I totally understand the fear and won't even consider going through that without meds!

I too close my eyes and don't open them until it's done. I also ask for the maximum amount of cool air, so it feels like I have a breeze blowing over me and it doesn't feel at all as through my body is enclosed in a tube. In fact I visualize myself lying on a beach chair with a cool ocean breeze blowing over me. My MRIs used to have me going in feet first but now they are head first (but still face down, thankfully). When the bed moves in, with my eyes closed I visualize it moving me all the way through the tube until my head is right at the opening at the other end. My last tactic is that I focus on the sounds. I count how many times each sound repeats, and I count the number of different sounds. I go I expecting 15 different sounds, which is the most I've ever had. Usually it's less so usually the MRI is over before I expect it to be. The most important thing for me is to occupy my mind so I don't for one second think about the fact that I'm in that tube.

Notsure, the Xanax will help. Trust us.

Don't you love it when a medical person says, "just relax?" YOU RELAX, YOU NUMPTY!

I'm extremely claustrophobic, especially after getting trapped in a bouncing elevator car not long after 9/11. A combination of an open MRI and the maximum allowed dose of an oral medication did the trick. Hmm, it was two mg, but I don't recall if it was Xanax or Ativan or ? The bad news is that you'll need a driver.

Lyn

you had an open MRI for screening to see if your implant is leaking or for a breast cancer screening?

I ask because I could hold still for a open MRI without Valium or Xanax and then could drive myself. I have degenerative discs in my neck and lower back, and move slightly ( without even knowing it...but the tech notices when reviewing the slides...and I get called back in) I have an open MRI for a benign Pituitary tumor every few years, and have no call back issues due to movement, and it's a long, two part test.

It someone is fibbing to me at my breastcenter...well, just grrrr!

I actually called my BS for another reason today....and his office stated that, while all breast centers "do not" have a dedicated Breast MRI coil....most, if not all, are heading that way. So no open MRI's preferred for breast cancer prevention screenings in the near future, or so I was told.

A standard MRI procedure can be used to check on breast implants, though. I am aware that some doctors do not prefer open MRI's unless you are claustrophobic, and the meds do not work for you.....I had to really push my Endocrinologist to order the open MRI for the brain imaging. She feels you get better views on the closed MRI.

Hello Notsure: lots of suggestions for you already - i'll just add my 2 cents. My husband had to get quarterly, then every 6 months, and now yearly MRIs for brain cancer follow-up. He has to lie face up in the tube with his head sort of strapped in and with a plexiglass box over his face - talk about feeling like suffocating - I'm sure he can totally empathize. He is a big guy and very claustrophobic. He takes 2 separate 1 mg Ativan (lorazepam tablets) about 1 hr prior to the procedure, which is always in 2 parts - once without contrast and then after contrast injection. Initially I would go in the room with him and hold his ankle just to reassure him with touch. Now having had them so frequently, the drugs work OK by themselves and I don't go in the room any longer.

I am no stranger to MRI myself, including the face down one you had in a machine with a dedicated breast coil. I have had ones with my whole body in the tube with my face looking up at the inside - they are the worst for me. Ear plugs for the noise, rhythmic yogic breathing, and meditation on a "happy place" work the best for me.

You might need something different than Xanax to really get you to relax. I would discuss with your doc before the next one for sure.

All the best, roofcat (( ♥ ))