MRI

[wildestranger]

I am having an MRI tomorrow (nothing to do with me, it's part of a study into something), which is sort of exciting but also slightly annoying, as I am not allowed any coffee or tea after tonight at 9. I am not convinced that I'll be able to get out of bed without it, and certainly I'll have a massive headache after a few hours.

Have any of you gone through and wouldn't mind telling me about it? I am mostly worried about what to wear, since most of my clothes (and all of my bras) have metal in them, which apparently would be a bad thing.

Comments

[catwalksalone]

I had one!

Yeah, they don't want you to wear metal. It's quite warm, so a t-shirt and some jogging/sweatpants and nice warm socks should be okay. I think I actually went without a bra. I'm not entirely sure, but if you are wearing things with metal in, I think they change you into a gown. I had to take off my glasses which I did not like. Inside the machine there's a mirror so you can see out (unless they've taken your f'cken glasses off you). It's really noisy and you have to stay completely still, but just go to a happy place in your head and you should be fine. Mine was on my ears so I don't know if it was noisier because the action was concentrated around my head or if that's SOP.

It was mostly boring. And noisy. But not a big deal.

[wildestranger.livejournal.com]

Thank you! It went fine - they were filming my heart and it was still pretty loud, but yes, boring.

[pluvial-poetry.livejournal.com]

I had one, years ago. I don't remember what I was wearing but they had me change into a hospital gown. I would also say that if you have earrings in it's easier to leave them at home than having to fiddle with them at the hospital.

Good luck!

[wildestranger.livejournal.com]

Thank you! It went fine - although the hospital gown kept flapping off and I was worried about accidentally flashing people a lot.

[shaggydogstail.livejournal.com]

I had one, but it was only a head scan so I didn't have to worry about metal in clothes or any of that sort of thing. It takes quite a while, and feels longer because you're sort of trapped in this big piece of white machinery. There's nothing painful or even uncomfortable but it is definitely weird.

Ask to see the results if you possibly can. I will never forget the experience of seeing SLICES OF MY BRAIN after mine.

[wildestranger.livejournal.com]

Hee, I did ask to see my results after - it was very weird seeing my heart pump in "movie time", and apparently the stomach looks like a bunch of grapes.

[mysid.livejournal.com]

Dittoing what everyone else said: no metal. If you have a bra with no metal whatsoever, you might get to keep it on, but chances are that they'll have you take it off and change into a hospital gown just in case.

I'm not claustrophobic, but even I found the extremely tight quarters hard to take after a while. The "ceiling" of the tube seemed just inches above my nose. I found that I did best if I kept my eyes closed most of the time. (Mine did not have a mirror so I could look out.)

[wildestranger.livejournal.com]

I did wonder about that - the ceiling was less than 10 cm from my face, and I am a tiny person, so I can't imagine what it would be like for a normal-sized adult. Perhaps they can adjust them. But yes, keeping eyes closed was definitely a good idea.

[jennfic.livejournal.com]

I've had a bunch. No metal (remove earrings, glasses, and all piercings). They'll probably ask about tattoos and possible metal shavings. Depending on the body part, you may be able to get away with sweats and a tshirt, no bra (unless you've got a sports bra w/o metal). Mine were always cold, and I got a lightweight blankie over the gown.

It's noisy, and will take a while -- be prepared to go to your happy place.

[wildestranger.livejournal.com]

I was expecting them to ask me about tattoos, but they didn't - apparently only old man have metal tattoos these days, so it's no concern!