Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire MRI Claustrophobia

Had 4 On My Back..I'm Claustrophic As Well. I Always Have To Have Verset.

It's a fairly common problem.
Usually just some tranquilizers are used.

I've always just closed my eyes, tried to think I'm on some beach somewhere and tried to figure the cyclic rate of the "machine gun" firing nearby.

Valium is my friend for that, two of them with a designated driver to drive home.

Failed miserably on my first one. Didn't last 15 seconds. After that always had an open MRI. Still sucks but much better. On the other hand, how many of you have had a tunnel collapse on you? Changes your outlook on confined spaces.

I know a nice lady who has pretty severe claustrophobia. I asked her if she knew where it came from.

She was a German teenager in WWll and was a typical teenager. Lived across the river from a big manufacturing plant, IIRC Farben, and the bombers came over. Because she refused to give a "Heil Hitler" she was refused admittance to the air raid shelter and sought refuge with a family with a grocery store and a three story building above. They went in the basement, were bombed, and the building collapsed on them. She was stuck in the rubble for three days before she was dug out.
Similar to the collapsing tunnel you mentioned. But a pretty clear reason for having claustrophobia. Sometimes an etiology is clear. Sometimes not. It is a phobia, after all.

I used to cave alot and got stuck one time. Ever since then i've gotten a little claustrophobic. I was suffering from migraines and had an MRI. I showed up and saw the tube and i said no way can i go in there. They rescheduled and i did the open MRI.

If it's a real problem, might be worth searching out a facility that uses a different configured machine. The tubes are the original, but they have another kind that kind of sandwiches you. Not pleasant, but not completely encapsuled.