posted
Have had head mri before and no problems but today had the first of three mri for spine.
I have no idea what happened but the pain became really bad and i became disoriented and had a panic attack and since coming home feel nauseated and exhausted, fogged and great pain.
Can an mri cause neuro symptoms to become worse.
I have to go back tomorrow and monday and i don`t know how to handle it, now i even feel terrible clostrophobia (sp)
-------------------- 1999 CFS, 2002 CMV Myco pneumonia 1 year antibiotics on and off 2002 EBV, 2009 Positive Igenex Borellia and Babesia, Brain mri severe white matter disease Monoclonal Gammopathy. On and off antibiotics since sept. March 9 started iv antibiotics Posts: 328 | From somewhereelse | Registered: Apr 2009
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nenet
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posted
Did they give you contrast medium (called an MRI with contrast)? They would have given it to you through an IV I think, so you should know if they did.
You need to be sure if they did or not, because some people can have a very bad, dangerous reaction to a certain type of contrast formula, and if that's what's happening, you need *immediate* medical attention.
Not to scare you, but you need to be aware of this, just in case.
As for the MRI itself causing discomfort and pain, I seem to have a very sensitive system, because I was in an open MRI for just my wrist a few years ago, and it made my neuro symptoms, and general pain, get a lot worse. It was a very strange sensation, and very uncomfortable.
I also have a weird set of symptoms standing and waiting in front of some elevators as they are moving (not in the elevator, but outside in the waiting area, right in front of the doors). All I can figure out is that some elevators use very large powerful magnets, and I just seem to be extra sensitive to magnets for some reason.
posted
Wow, I did not know it takes 3 different MRIs to do your spine?
I'm so sorry about your reaction; wish I could help more.
Posts: 490 | From TX- Go Cowboys! | Registered: Aug 2009
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nenet
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posted
Gadolinium is one thing in contrast medium that some people have a very dangerous reaction to.
Since a larger area of your body was being scanned this time vs. the MRI of just your head, you might have been having a sensitive response to the larger area of magnetic fields, but I have no idea if there is anything to this theory.
I have never found any scientific or medical literature to explain my MRI symptoms, so I am just making conjecture.
This is quite scarey, while in the mri machine my stomach was going into spasems and the left flank pain kept increasing and then pain started in the left side of my head and felt like cold water running down the left side of my face.
Last night I had stomach cramps like I have never had before and then diarehea sweating like crazy.
Today I have a headache and the flank pain is still pretty bad and my stomach is still upset.
A year of so ago I was trying out a massage chair and a similar thing happened, I felt so ill it must somehow be related to having the nerves shaken up, or some other crazy thing.
The reason for three different days is that if they do them all on one day they can only bill for one procedure but as each area takes 30 minutes I don`t think I could stay in it for one and half hours anyway.
The last though is that maybe I suddenly came down with some kind of bug or ate something bad.
Any suggestions on ways to prepare for the second one today, I have some lorazapam so was thinking that I should take one.
If anyone has any links to nerve damage and magnetic fields I would appreciate it.
-------------------- 1999 CFS, 2002 CMV Myco pneumonia 1 year antibiotics on and off 2002 EBV, 2009 Positive Igenex Borellia and Babesia, Brain mri severe white matter disease Monoclonal Gammopathy. On and off antibiotics since sept. March 9 started iv antibiotics Posts: 328 | From somewhereelse | Registered: Apr 2009
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posted
Just to update. Today I went for the second mri and what a difference.
I did take a codiene tablet but it proved un-necessary. I had a different technician and explained the problems I had with yesterday and so she turned off the fan that was blowing cold air on my head and face, draped a light towel over my head and eyes, gave me headphones to put on over the earplugs plus two warm blankets. She also talked to me after every image was done. No pain and no panick.
So I feel sure that the pain was so much worse because of the cold air, plus having hyperaccusis having the headphones helped too.
I also pointed out that thier was not light on in the MRI I had done yesterday.
I feel I should write to the hospital and explain how much pain and distress I went through just because of an uncaring technician.
Anyway, all good to go for tomorrow, thanks for listening and your support.
-------------------- 1999 CFS, 2002 CMV Myco pneumonia 1 year antibiotics on and off 2002 EBV, 2009 Positive Igenex Borellia and Babesia, Brain mri severe white matter disease Monoclonal Gammopathy. On and off antibiotics since sept. March 9 started iv antibiotics Posts: 328 | From somewhereelse | Registered: Apr 2009
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nenet
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 13174
posted
I'm glad you had a much better experience this time, maps! At least next time you'll know what to ask for if they don't provide it on their own.
I found some interesting comments from a lot of people who have seemingly experienced different odd or ill effects from MRIs (either with contrast or without), so I thought I would share that here in case someone else finds this thread looking for answers.
The original post can be skipped over (it seems pretty misguided), but some of the comments in the comment section are interesting for anecdotal info (and info from MRI techs).
There are a lot of people commenting about experiencing neurological pain (nerve pain), pain in joints, or burning pain, during and even after the MRI, among other symptoms. Many were otherwise fine with the MRI, or had other MRIs that didn't bother them before, so they were really confused:
nenet
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 13174
posted
Here is a great comment from one MRI tech, that partly answers my question - why I get dizzy in front of some banks of elevators (the ones that use powerful magnets):
#149: MRI Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Wed, 04/23/2008 - 7:54pm.
"Here's a comment from a licensed MRI technologist.
I'm sorry that the majority of you were not informed by your technologist what to expect or what MRI is. The best explanation with out getting too deep is this.
MRI works with the use of a magnetic field (these range in field strength) and a radio frequency (similar to what is transmitted on the AM station of your radio).
The atoms in your body already have a magnetic field, everything does, if it is made of atoms, it has a magnetic field of some sort.
The radio frequency is a form of non-ionizing radiation, this means there no biological effects (no molecular breakdown of tissue occurs).
Together these two work together to cause the atoms in your body (hydrogen atoms) to generate a signal.
The computer uses these signals to spatially localize the body part being imaged (create a picture). To date no person has been permanently magnetized. What could happen is depending on your medical history.
If there is a metallic implant in your body, depending on the type of metal (not all metal is ferromagnetic) that can become magnetic (act like a magnet).
But, in this case you should not have been scanned to start with, because of other risks involved. More than likely you will find that there is a security (magnetic) strip that was never deactivated in your handbag or shoes.
I had a clerk fail to deactivate a security strip in a jacket once. It took me several weeks to figure out what is was, I had the same problem. Hope this helps!
*** As far as the comments on feeling dizzy and headaches. This can happen when exposed to high field magnets (really strong magnets).
There are several schools of thoughts on why this happens. The good news is that it stops when the patient is removed from the magnet.
If it continues past that point more than likely it is due to a form of stress on the body due to claustrophobia or anxiety. As with any type of stress on the body it takes time for the body to recover. ***
Listen, I cannot express this enough to patients. Get involved in your health care, get with a doctor you trust and one that can give you answers to your questions. If something doesn't feel right or if you don't agree with what is being ask of you.
Please remember by law you always have the right to refuse treatment. If you have questions, please ask. I see it all the time in my field. People coming in for scans and half the time they don't know why.
Unfortunately, by that time it is too late because the only person that can truly answer that question is your doctor.
We as technologists unfortunately only play a small part in your treatment. But, if you have questions on scanning and side effects, please ask the technologist.
That way you get answers from someone that has been trained and educated in the field. Good websites for diagnostic imaging are ASRT, ARRT and DOH (department of health). Take care and god bless!"
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