Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire MRI Claustrophobia

I'm 6'3 & 240lbs and felt like a sardine in that damn thing.

I'm usually OK with them if I hold off from having my mornin jo.

im 6'1" and 230 and yeah its kinda snug in ome of them but so long as i have fresh air im not the least bit claustrophobic.....heights are another matter though....im not scared chittless of them but if given the option i tend to avoid them if at all possible....

Salmonella, this is good advise. Some hospitals, especially smaller ones have old MRI machines. These are smaller & louder. I have probably had 25 or more MRI's through the years. About 10 years ago I went to a new hospital & the MRI machine was a much older version. I am a big guy 6'1" with very large shoulders (played football) & had to sort of pull my shoulders together to fit in the machine. The open machines do not show as much detail & depending on whats being examined may not be acceptable. I'm an old Vietnam tanker so I'm used to small places. I try & relax thinking about hunting & fishing & close my eyes. Seems to work for me.

Had one done last summer, the longest 20 minutes of my life! I'm 6'3"/235 lbs. Never again......


maddog

The few that i have had,when finished,they had to wake me up.

Just relaxed and fell a sleep.

Good Luck on the next one Sal. I don't have trouble with MRI's but they do lhave to drag me through an older machine, some fun that. The newer machines are better in that regard. As far as open MRI's go my Doc told me they are just ok as the definition, the amount of detail, is less then the closed machine. Good Luck.

I'm 5'9" and 165 lbs and I can imagine what you bigger guys go through. I've had about a dozen MRI's between back, neck, shoulders. I have to make a conscious effort to relax and have been able sometimes to fall asleep but if the fit were tighter I wouldn't be comfortable at all.

Can't take one without sedation and I mean REAL sedation not a tranquilizer which I tried once. It didn't work. Had a torn rotator cuff and couldn't do the MRI so the orthapaedic surgeon said to have an x-ray with dye. When the DR came in to do the prep he was wearing a lead space suit as was his nurse. They sat me under the x-ray and proceded to take this huge (to me it was) needle and inject the dye in the shoulder while looking at the picture on a screen in real time. He had to wiggle the needle around to properly get the dye in all the proper places. I said never again just cut off the arm next time. There has to be a better way. Claustraphobia is really a bummer. I can't even stand being cooped up in the back seat of a car for more than a few minutes.

Pop a Klonopin and you'll breeze through an MRI. Chances are you probably need to keep some handy for anxiety attacks.

Don't think it's the MRI per se, but the tube. Same tunnel for PET/CT scans.

Having no prior issue with a couple of MRIs I was rather astounded to reach critical mass in 2006 and abort during a PET/CT. Had never experienced claustrophobia in my life and I've a history of wiggling into some very cramped places such as engine rooms on pleasure boats and sail boats...upside down on occasion. But there I was tryin' to claw my way out...

Open MRIs are better but you can't do all such scans in them, nor can you do PET/CT scans. Valium works for most folks, 10mg about 30 minutes prior. They have other stuff available that works as well or better, ask for it, get comfortable and close your eyes before going in the tube. Fabricate rap music(?) to the rhythm of the hammering in an MRI...

And guys, if you have a bad reaction to MRI IV contrast agents, tell your doc before the fact when he writes up the order. It's common in men more so than women and in some cases the reaction can be crash cart serious. Tell the techs to phouc off if you don't want them. They enhance images, but the images can be made without them. There are oral contrast agents which do not provoke reactions.

Valium and ask for or bring something to cover your eyes. Guarantee you'll open them.

Years ago I was a caver, and did a lot of trips under the auspices of the NSS. I once spent a couple hours trying to make it 10 feet through a tight little hole in the wall called "Bob's Birth Canal." Bob was a little guy, and his 2 hour attempt at the hole reminded onlookers of childbirth, hence the name.

My job was to widen Bob's Birth Canal with a WWII trenching tool. They figured if I could fit through, then anyone could. The payoff, is that once I got through, I was able to discover 300 yards of virgin cave underneath the cemetery where Sgt York is buried in Northern TN. I have a room there named for me. After that trip I thought I was immune to claustrophobia.

About a year later, I was down south of Somerset, KY in the Sloan's Valley System, and my buddy took me into a section that you had to exhale to move forward. About a half-hour into the crawl I suddenly got claustrophobic. I flopped around a bit, hyperventilated and got dizzy and sick. After about 2-3 minutes of flopping like a fish stuck between the pages of a dictionary, the thought came to me that a) I wasn't getting out that way. b) I might (slim chance) of bringing the ceiling down on myself if I didn't stop acting stupid.

I got calm, got myself settled down, and told my buddy it might be a good idea to turn around. Twenty minutes later we came back out into the big passage at the bottom of Garbage Pit Hill, and started our ascent back out of the cave.

That was 1984. A few caving trips later I decided to retire, and take up hunting and shooting for hobbies.

I had one MRI back about 8 years ago-- no problems, but I can see how someone might.

Open MRI are MUCH better than conventional, if you have a choice. Open basically has a big plate right in front of your face, but the sides are open and not as claustrophobic...

The first time I had an MRI done was in a conventional. The only thing that made it bearable was someone had mounted one of those little dental mirrors at a 45 degree angle right above your face. That allowed you to look down at your feet and see out of the dang machine and watch the attendants.

My first one they put me in that tube and I came right back out within about 30 seconds. Total panic attack. Doc said "here, take this pill, wait an hour, come back in. You'll still have claustrophobia but you wont care" Made it through the whole hour but gritted my teeth and clenched my fists all the while. Sure hate the thoughts of having to get another one.

Ashamed to say that I am having a mild panic attack just thinking about one!

I had to stop one before too. Couldn't take the confinement. The open one was tolerable, but the tech and doc claimed that the images that they get from an open MRI are not as good as those obtained in a conventional tube?

Heck yes!

I've been in the plumbing and HVAC biz for 15+ years and work mostly in the office these days, but when I was still in the trenches I dreaded tight crawlspaces.

The fear of being trapped was the biggest issue. If I could see a way out and was still mobile I was OK for the most part. But if it got tight enough to where I struggled to roll over or had to crawl under a beam or duct to access the area I had to work in I was in trouble. Keeping up a conversation with a co-worker on a different topic usually helped, but I worked alone quite a bit and then it was just sheer will power that kept me going.

Heck, even getting my feet tangled up in a sleeping bag can give me a mild case of the hee-bee-jeebies. As a kid I couldn't handle being in the snow caves we were always digging out.

I had an MRI on my head for a hearing problem. I went inside a tube then they slid a smaller tube over my head. I was like having your head in a bucket while inside a drum. The nurses asked what kind of music I liked and played it for me. They had a huge selection and it wasn't bad at all. I just closed my eyes and listened to my music.

I used to be an installer repairman for a telephone company and spent a lot of time crawling under houses and in attics. I have carried a shovel under houses to dig my way through a tight spot. Tight places don't bother me much and never have because I knew I could get out, but just the thought of caving sends a chill up my spine. I don't think enough people could get close enough to me to put me in a cave that I had to crawl through.

Had one 6 years ago that took 45 mins and again a month ago that took 15 mins. Both for the same lower back problem. The tech told me better equipment with stronger magnets caused the time discrepency. Both times they would describe the sounds and duration of each proceeding segment. The hardest part was as they inserted me in the cylinder and being still. I am definitely claustrophobic but it wasn't too bad due to the calming nature of the techs. No sedatives.

Blinders, Ipod and sedatives. I would probably fall asleep in one too. I'll probably have one for my back this year.