MRI Panic Attack and Cancellation

Sorry to hear about that experience. With my first MRI, I had a flushing reaction to the IV contrast and had to press the ‘emergency’ button. I was able to complete the scan but was wary going into the next one. A different injection was used and things were OK.

Now that you know a little more about the procedure, laying on your stomach, etc I hope a mild sedative will get you through it. They might require you to have someone there to drive you home if you take lorazepam/Ativan or a low dose of Valium (which also happens to be a good muscle relaxant).

With your sister having metastatic disease, has genetic counseling been suggested?

I have to take Ativan for MRI.

The scheduling around your period is a nightmare. But it's best to wait to avoid false positives! Otherwise you get another MRI for a biopsy.

I'm so sorry you are dealing with this. There is certainly a synergistic event here...the stress of results/outcomes plus the claustrophobia.

I do not like enclosed spaces but for some reason, MRIs never bothered me. I used to be the guinea pig for GE when they were first making the machines and the noise lulled me to sleep. Go figure. There are some machines that are being made that have a more open structure. I'm not sure where you live and how common they are, but worth checking if you will need to go back.

Best to you.

***If you are taking the sedatives on your own prior to arriving at the imaging center, let them know ahead of time and ask if you can still sign the consent if you arrive medicated.

happyhiker

It varies. They sometimes relay instructions through the headphones if there is no speaker in the unit. Many places just have those compressible foam ear plugs to dampen the noise of the unit and an intercom speaker in the room.

I'm highly claustrophobic and was more upset about getting the MRI than I was about my lumpectomy. However, no one told me prior to arriving that it was face down. This made it so much easier because it did feel like you were on a massage table. My GYN prescribed Diazepam 2mg. The technicians knew I was claustrophobic and talked me through the whole thing and kept checking to see if I was ok. My imagined fears were worse than the actual experience. Just be sure to ask your doc for a sedative, have someone drive you there and home. I had my DH stop to get me a milkshake on the way home and then I took a nap. Sending you good thoughts for a positive experience. You can do it

Ask your BS about contrast-enhanced digital mammograms (CEDM) which are comparable to MRI as far as detection. If you google you can find studies and information on their accuracy. The hospital here uses them instead of MRI. I had one two years ago for a palpable lump not seen on any other imaging. (Turned out to be benign) and just had one last week after my screening mammo found two areas in my other breast.

This link has some information: https://densebreast-info.org/enhanced-breast-mammography.aspx

Just one xanax 0.5 pill was all I needed in order to feel comfortable throughout the procedure, and, mind you, I'm a person who suffers from anxiety disorder. I'm post menopausal however so can't shed any light on this part. Good luck, wishes for benign results. Drink enough water the 24 hours following the mri.

Christene - is your BS a sadist? OMG putting you through that is reprehensible.

Diane

Hi Happy H,

Mobile MRI - the one in the hospital parking lot in a trailer.

OK I am super claustrophobic. In fact the caustraphobia did in some way save my life by delaying my MRI for a wrist fracture like a year. Finally my teenage daughter did one, I did one after so as not to be a wimp and then they casted me, just in time to force me using a different arm shaving my armpits and thus finding the fast growing tumor in my breast that would have been otherwise undetected for at least another month. Thank you claustrophobia.

Now, here's what worked for me. The MOBILE MRI. See if your provider has them I'm with Kaiser, and most radiologists do not associate it with helping for claustrophobia so they kept sending me to open MRIs. Which are generally in big steel basements and hardly at all open.

Once I got to go to a truly boutique MRI but it was for neuro and so was Kaiser ok'd. But just the regular not open Mobile MRI is in like a bookmobile, or a dressing room trailer sort of thing. They're in the parking lot outside radiologies back door usually and I love them. That in itself was so NON claustrophobic. It was the basement and the huge installation and the feet of cold heavy white steel all around you that gets me. That's the regular basement MRI.

The mobile MRI was nothing. It was great. Good luck and happy sailing, and BRAVO for keeping on your doc to find that thing you are feeling. If he can't find it even with an MRI get a second opinion from another doc. I've heard of some hard to find tumors even on MRI's. I read a lot of studies. I'm a scientist myself but not a medical doctor at all, just a physicist so I find comfort just reading studies and knowing there are scientists and all sorts of people working on Breast Cancer. Anyway I read about this core tumor once, very hard to find. There are others too. And some tumors have cell types that are harder to see or can be. Persevere it serves you well to do so!

I had to use the mobile breast MRI due to construction at the hospital, and it was a horrible experience. I have arthritis and my knees were screaming at me the whole time - along with my shoulders and spine. I'll only do another face-down one if I'm so drugged they have to pour me on to the table. Oddly, regular MRIs don't bother me. I just keep my eyes closed and hallucinate a bit.

happyhiker

Here is an article on timing of MRI studies by blood levels of progesterone

https://www.breastcancer.org/research-news/20091120b

I have seen this used in patients that have had a hysterectomy but retained their ovaries and continue to cycle without any indication as to when it is happening. I presume it can be used for someone with irregular cycles as well.