I had my first MRI today...
 

Sacred feces what's with the noise? Even with ear plugs that was painful. I never realized how much noise came from the magnets. Add to that the cooling fans and that was an unpleasant experience.

Finally, something on PPOT that I know a little bit about ;)

Simplifying things a bit, an MRI system has two magnets.

The big one: which causes the water molecules in your body to resonate. This is called the main magnetic field and is (very) uniform and constant.

And a smaller one which allows some regions to resonate and not others. This is called the gradient magnetic field and is switched on and off rapidly.

If the system only had a main field, all regions of your body would generate data at the same time. For an analogy think about walking into a stadium and asking, "what is your name?" and 80,000 people answered at once.

With the addition of a gradient field, most of your body is detuned and only a small volume is allowed to resonate. To extend the stadium analogy, lets say you asked "section 3, row g, seat 22 - what is your name?" and one person answered.

The noise results from these two fields interacting with each other. Generally speaking, as MRI systems become more sophisticated, they make more noise and at a higher frequency.

As an aside, the signal emitted from your body is tiny, much like one voice in an 80,000 seat stadium

I had one a few weeks ago. Yes loud for sure. Old ones are even louder.

Wait until they're in the tube for a couple hours, get the contrast. Fun ole time

Hmm. They put headphones on me and asked me what kind of music I liked. I could hear the noise, but it sounded distant, like it was coming from another room.

I've had quite a few. The old ones were very small/tight, but it never bothered me.

My last MRI on my shoulder almost sent me into a panic. I’ve had three prior and never any issues. I believe it is the result on trying to be perfectly still and not taking any deep breaths. For me it was a test of self control and calming myself down.

It was an early application of noise cancelling headphones.

Love the technology and what it can do. However I found I have claustrophobia after being in the tube for about 5 minutes. I asked to be removed as I was not in a happy place and needed to get out. Nothing happened. Took some serious and intense internal dialogs to get my mind into a space where I could tolerate the situation. 45-minutes later they pulled me out and asked if I was OK to which I replied "No'. That was met with "Are you claustrophobic?.
"Yes".
"Oh well, we just have to inject the contrast dye and you'll be done in another 20 minutes" and back in I went.

Once we were done I was trashed. It was all I could do to just get home and climb into bed. I'm hoping that I do not have to do it again any time soon.

same here... headphones and music

Gee. I can't wait.

I had one on my knee years ago. It was early in the morning so I promptly fell asleep. All I remember is her rolling me in and then telling me I can wake up, they were done.

I’ve had several on my head, which I understand doesn’t take as much time. You need to keep perfectly still and they don’t want you to fall asleep as you can twitch and then the scan isn’t as good.

Of course as soon as they roll you in, you have an overwhelming need to scratch your nose!

I had a “shock” one time as a pretty nurse rolled me in and as I got rolled out, expecting to see her again, I looked up only to see a large bearded man!

My knee was strapped in place so for that it didn't matter. Your head I can see.

Same. claustrophobia was actually a question on the pre visit questionnaire.. and I said no.. I lasted about 5 minutes before I started to panic and freak out.. The operator basically ignored my request to be removed from the machine, and told me just a few minutes more...which were unbearable...

If I ever have to have another MRI, I'm doing the open standup MRI...

It was odd discovering this fear in this fashion... I climb all over some of the tallest suspension bridges without a thought.. And braking to enter a turn at 160... bring it on..

Enclosed spaces....just no

Stood in a truck for 2 hours rubbing my 3 year old daughter's foot while she held perfectly still for a scan from her tailbone to the top of her head. She fell asleep and received no sedation. For doing so well, we were presented with a nearly $22k bill.

I've had a couple. My last one was one of the "Open" MRI's. They put headphones on me and asked me what music I wanted to listen to. Pretty sweet.

I had one last year & didn't know what to expect. When I got out, I commented it sounded like a bunch of clown in a junk yard (or something to that effect). They said nobody had ever described it like that. "aston@xxxx". That was a great description.

When I go for MRIs , the techs usually have to tell me to stay awake because I always fall asleep when it is a long scan.



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One manufacturer houses their gradient magnet in an active vacuum. It results in a very quiet exam. Highly regarded in VA’s and children’s hospitals.