MRI Claustrophobia: Is it crazy for me to even try?

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I have an MRI scheduled for later this week (on the 7th), and I am definitely claustrophobic.

I have been reading some comments here ...

http://blog.remakehealth.com/blog_Healt ... strophobia

Any suggestions on how I might be able to get through this?

I had an open MRI back in 1998, and I did manage to get through that one ... but now I have been told there is no "open" MRI available and that I will have to go into a tube in order to have one at all.

Help.

I plan to go try to have a look beforehand, and I definitely intend to request as much sedation as possible ... yet I do still know "the proof will be in the pudding", so to speak, on the actual day at my appointed time.

I've been in a MRI machine so many times, just let the nurses explain and comfort you - it's in their job to do so.

The machine makes alot of noise for which you get hearing protection and depending on the reason why you are getting an MRI there might be an injection/IV for contrast fluid.

Breath in, breath out and relax to the music (if available)

A cloth over my eyes saved me from completely freaking out during my MRI.

Call ahead and see if they're cool with that - ask if you need to bring your own cloth/hand towel, or do they provide one?

Practice laying completely still, with something draped over your eyes, breathing purposely, and concentrating on all your happy thoughts - seriously. If you don't know your happy thoughts, start thinking about what those might be so that you can call them to mind easily on the 7th.

These are the things I wish I could've done before my MRI - it would've helped.

Definitely give it a try. It might work out ok and if you do have to stop the scan, they may get enough images to still be of some use.

I've had one, and I don't remember it bothering me that it was enclosed... However it did bother me to lie still that long. I am afraid of such tight places as crawling under cars, or going in the space under raised-floor buildings. But I don't think it's a fear of the confinement; rather it's a fear of it falling on me and killing. I tried to conquer that fear by crawling under a mobile home to hook up a friend's mother's cable TV to another room, and the next week, that mobile home collapsed in the 1994 Northridge Earthquake. . I haven't done that again. I'll reach under places, but not crawl in...

If I were to be worried about handling the MRI, I'd take a really good look at the machine, and form an understanding of how it's shaped, and how it's assembled. Ask what happens if the power fails, and know that they can slide the table out if needed by hand, etc. Knowledge is power, and that might help!

Charles

I think there is much in what you say here, and I do hope to learn something about that machine this afternoon and/or tomorrow ... but I think the biggest problem for me here is largely a matter of "escape control". For example: I can slide under a vehicle that is properly supported, and part of the reason I can do that is because I know I have an immediate and wide-open escape that is not dependent upon anyone else being involved. In contrast, however, and like with the mobile home you have mentioned, the fear of a "complicated escape" that could/might go wrong while crawling around or under or over things in order to get back to an exit is a big one ... and in the case of the MRI, I would likely be dependent upon someone else to get/let me out, and that was the situation in my first experience with claustrophobia about 30 years ago where my escape had to be temporarily blocked by a co-worker while he and I were working together in a specific machinery-maintenance situation.

I am presently trying to psych myself into a logical place where I simply remember many people before me have survived the experience, and my current blood pressure of 158/84 (with a pulse of 68) indicates I still have a little "wiggle room" before the stress and anxiety overwhelm me.

Update: Whew. Not even close. The technician was very experienced and considerate, and she listened and answered all my questions beforehand ... but then my face and ears began to flush just as soon as I had laid down on the table and that was enough to let both of us know this was not going to work. So, she called the doctor's office and said I need an IV-sedated MRI.

Well, I have an open MRI scheduled for later today, and my doctor has just ordered a .5 Xanax to be taken about 30 minutes beforehand ...

We will see what happens!

Have you tried practicing any basic meditation to see if maybe that can help you? Visualization exercises to picture yourself in a wide open space. I'm sure if you dig enough online, you can probably find some of the same exercises that soldiers are taught in case of torture.

I had not heard of that being taught to soldiers, and I will look into that. But, all went well today. It all began with discovering I would be going in feet-first, and then I was allowed to cover my eyes with a damp cloth before going in at all. Best of all, however, there were some pedestal fans keeping a constant flow of air going everywhere ... and my visualization ended up with me in some kind of outback setting listening to a concert of didgeridoos ...

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dFGvNxBqYFI[/youtube]

I like the didgeridoo thing.

I had a scan a while ago, head first for half an hour. I'm quite claustrophobic, but they gave me a beeper to press if I needed to come out.

They also gave me some plastic headphones and a choice of music. I thought classical music would be soothing. So in I went. A minute later the music started - Beethoven's 5th symphony. Da Da Da Daaaa. I love that piece, but not the most suitable for an MRI scan!

Beeep. Out I rolled. We started again with Country and Western. I don't particularly like it but it somehow put me into the right mental place.

Maybe a bit of clogging here will remind you of the machine in the background ...!

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=06D8hHtyDa8&feature=fvst[/youtube]