Have You Ever Had an MRI?

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Have You Ever Had an MRI?

July 2, 2009

An MRI is a medical procedure that takes images of the body using magnets and radio waves, rather than radiation. The process involves lying down in a machine that makes a lot of noise, and for people with claustrophobia, it can be panic-inducing, but other people might just fall asleep! Have you ever had to get one for a diagnosis?

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40 Comments

Monique Marie 3 years 44 weeks

I had a few MRI's done and both times they made me really sick.

shannon_xo 3 years 45 weeks

I had one when I was 11 because of severe migraines.

Allytta 3 years 45 weeks

ask the same question anywhere in the world and the results will be reverse, but no - America...

herfallingstar 3 years 46 weeks

I've only had the one. It covered basically my entire spine and took around 3 hours, maybe more. Noisy as hell, but you get used to it after a while. But I wasn't allowed to move AT ALL, so sleep was out of the question.

ellieb 3 years 46 weeks

ditto @PinkLizzie: My MRI was just for a friend's experiment. The worst part was I HAD to gorge myself on M&Ms before the last run (that WAS the experiment)-- what a tummyache! But now I associate MRIs with all-you-can-eat chocolate..... :P

3 years 46 weeks

i have had about ten for brain surgery/related problems. at first its claustrophobic but these days i can fall asleep.

kia 3 years 46 weeks

I've had to go in the tube for ACL and meniscus tears in my knee. The last time I was in I teared up a bit. The droning, repetitive sound and the confinement freaked me out and I was in there for a long time.

3 years 46 weeks

I had to have one to check for urethral diverticulitis. I am claustrophobic and found it very difficult.

VeganDragan 3 years 46 weeks

Fleur, they're so loud because what the machine does in a nutshell is to use a magnet to create radio waves that pulse through your cells. This causes the protons in the molecules of your cells to snap out of place for a minute amount of time. Different types of tissue snap back at different speeds. The machine records what snaps back when. (this is why you need to stay so still) So based on that, the machine can develop a "picture" of what your insides look like. The sound you hear is basically radio waves pulsing through your body. This is way way safer than X rays, and can be done many times with no damage. Neat, huh?

susanec 3 years 46 weeks

Yes, for migraines. I barely remember the MRI itself but had an anxiety attack at the prospect of contrast (needles). Luckily that wasn't ordered.

darkoblivion 3 years 46 weeks

I had one on my knee when I was 13... I tore it up pretty bad playing softball. But that's my only one.

GlowingMoon 3 years 46 weeks

No, I'm really healthy. However, every member of my family has had a MRI.

3 years 46 weeks

I have had 3 MRI's, the worst was on my knee the machine shakes so much I was very close to screaming stop due to the pain it was causing. As for the noise it is really loud even with the headphones on. My other two were for both feet they were about 2 months ago, it was interesting since they were for the same thing yet the 2 techs put me in totally different positions. I have a rip in my meniscus in the knee and plantar fasciitis along with arthritis in my right foot, left was clear thankfully. If you get the right tech you can choose the radio station ha ha ha. By my third one I was asleep partly since it was at 7am!!

PinkLizzie 3 years 46 weeks

I work in a psychology/neuroscience lab where some of my coworkers do studies using functional MRI (so you see patterns of brain activity). I've been a participant in their studies lots of times, but haven't had an MRI for clinical reasons.

cereal_please 3 years 46 weeks

I had one because I was having back/tailbone issues. I wasn't nervous but I wasn't a fan out how loud it was! My MRI seemed to drag on and it was hard to stay still for so long.

doogirl 3 years 46 weeks

I've had two, I was 13 at the time, they were no big deal. You lay in a tube that has some banging sounds. Easy.

sparklestar 3 years 46 weeks

No, thankfully.

dubalicious 3 years 46 weeks

I've had so many... I think some of them were actually CT scans though. I've had a couple on my knee right before surgery and then I've had 2 on my head because I've had some pretty serious sinus problems.. and the rest of the head ones (4-5) were all ct scans. So not as many as I initially thoughts.

fuzzles 3 years 46 weeks

I've had a few MRIs. I'm one that can fall asleep in the tube! During one particular MRI, the tech kept asking me if I was OK over and over again. I assured him that I was, and would be, perfectly fine. He finally stopped asking me after I replied "This has a nice beat, but I can't dance to it."

Spectra 3 years 46 weeks

I've never had one, but my mom had one when they were diagnosing her Meniere's disease. They had to rule out a brain tumor, so she had one done. She said it was fine, but it was just the fear of the actual diagnosis that made it scary. @fleurfairy--they're loud because there are a bunch of magnets in it that rotate around to give the sequential images. Every time they move, they make a big loud clunk.

margokhal 3 years 46 weeks

I've had MRIs twice - God it was NOT nice in the least. The first time they were looking at my head, so they put me in the tunnel and put the cage thing over the top of my head and face. And there was about 2 minutes when I wasn't allowed to breathe or breathe with movement. All the clacking and stuff the machine made is really, really creepy. It sounds like hammers in a hollow space.

3 years 46 weeks

Yes, a few accident after a major car accident that left my partially blind in one eye (permanent)

Kimpossible 3 years 46 weeks

I have not, buy my now 12 year old daugher had one when she was around 8 or 9. She was diagnosed with migraines and they wanted to rule out other things. She was a trooper in there!! Made Mom proud :-)

3 years 46 weeks

I've had about 10. So it seems that being scared of the machine is like being scared of a noisy car, nothing to fear. They are great diagnostic devices. For me they are life savers.

3 years 46 weeks

I've had 3. I suffered a stroke last year (March 2008) and had two while in the hospital, and then a followup MRI 4 months later.

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40 Comments

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