Lay in this tunnel. You're immobilized and can't move. Oh and no one can hear you call for help because of the loud jack-hammer like sounds. Wear these head-phones and we'll blast music into them so you'll feel better. Squeeze this little thing if you panic and we may come and help you.
The trick is to ask them for a Xanex when you check in.
I've had two MRIs. One with Xanex, one without. I actually enjoy the sound of the machine, it can be rhythmic and pleasing.
The only time I had an MRI without Xanex, was a religious experience. Things were going well for 20 minutes (they had me in for just under an hour total) and then the thoughts of how people die in MRI machines came on strong. I'd seen a few videos of how strong they are [0] and the thought of being crushed or otherwise mutilated by a million dollar magnet, along with the confined space, was too much. I felt panic coming from a mile away, and it engulfed me. My brain was telling me to 'get the fuck outta here!'. I knew it was irrational fear. I took labored breaths. The fear moved from my feet to the top of my head and exploded. The pulse oximeter must have been going crazy because the tech asked how I was doing. "I'm fine." The lie worked, the fear immediately dissipated and a wave of euphoria rushed over me. I'm not going to die. I'm going to live! What should I do with my life? The best I can. I fell asleep a few minutes later. I woke up feeling fantastic.
We discourage self medication as it makes sedation complicated. If someone took oral sedation, then is still needing sedation, we don't know if their medication hasn't worked, or is still coming on. We use IV sedation, its controllable, easily reversible, easy to top up. Getting an OD under control when they are still absorbing from their gut is not easy. We like to think we learn from experience!
The availability of sedation is often 'under advertised'. More doctors need to advise that 'yes you need an MRI, don't worry, if its freaking you out too much, you can get sedation and it will be like a 60 minute nap'
We don't advertise it but do screen people for claustrophobia instead. The doses we give of midazolam are usually small, but we have had respiratory arrests and significant cardiac events. It isn't something we like to give often. Between our 3 scanners it would be a dose per day.
I went through one in university as an electrical engineering studies "field trip". It's a lot of fun if you aren't worried about an actual medical condition at the time TBH.
I've had one as part of a brain science study at my undregrad school and aside from the loud noises (which can mostly be muffled enough by some good earphones), it's pretty okay. In fact, with the muffled MRI noises, I honestly nearly fell asleep every time I went in there.
I'm a big, broad man and was concerned whether my shoulders would even fit in the thing, and have very mild claustrophobia. I was tired... and had trouble staying still because I found it so funny - the noise made me think of bad scifi space battles: brrrrrr pewpewpew chchchchch
The MRI in which I was scanned had a headset with a noise cancelling mic so I could talk to the team behind the glass - that was nice.
On the other hand, the stance I had to adopt (even though lying down) meant I had to support the weight of my arms from shoulder to wrist, and after a while this became uncomfortable and caused them to shake a bit, at which point the MRI team thought I was freaking out - which I wasn't. Maybe this was just down to bad packing and could have been avoided.
The aircon in the room had also failed so I had a combined MRI and sauna; which meant the sensor pads kept coming unstuck and so I kept 'flatlining' and had to be removed from the scanner a couple of times for more bits of surgical tape.
Exactly! My mom had to take one recently (she is about 70) and she was sick with worry, had a panic attack inside the machine. The crude, no-nonsense manner in which the technician handled her was the main cause.
The cute pictures, etc. definitely help, at least with kids. But the real improvement would be a 5-min intro to the patient, perhaps a simple video clip, explaining the technology to put them at ease. Just reading his description of the response of the technician to the child's fear, you can see that it could have been handled much better.
The problem here is that you can't really explain the technology without freaking people out even more.
Well, at least not without leaving out the "1 ton magnet spinning around you at crazy speeds" part.
In any case, everybody goint into one of these things should at least be told that the machine works without ionizing radiation, i.e.: "Unlike a CT scanner, you are not at risk of getting cancer from this."
As far as I know, MRI machines have no moving parts aside from the bed that slides the patient in and out of the bore - the noise is entirely from coils expanding and contracting.
I wasn't aware you could have headphones! I would have asked.
To be honest, the only time I had to go through this, I was not scared about anything else than the possible result of the scan, but the noise was disturbing at best.
I give everyone earplugs too. Without hearing protection you would get damage. Its 95db outside the scan room. Dunno what it is in the bore, but it is loud.
It's different when you're told not to move for the next hour. Oh and the walls of the tube are about 4 inches away from your face. Oh and don't mind the sound what seems to be the damn thing ready to fall apart at any moment.
I had an MRI done and it took about 5 minutes to just gather in all the details of the situation. After that it was okay.
Lay in this tunnel. You're immobilized and can't move. Oh and no one can hear you call for help because of the loud jack-hammer like sounds. Wear these head-phones and we'll blast music into them so you'll feel better. Squeeze this little thing if you panic and we may come and help you.