It’s common for doctors to prescribe a sedative for MRI patients who get claustrophobic. Good luck.

Seems like any (non painful or surgical) medical procedure that requires sedation raises a risk/benefit question.

At age 72 with family histories of strokes and Parkinson's, not to mention the already mentioned obesity and a few other issues, my decision tree gets complicated.

You and your doctor can decide what works best for you. Good luck.

👍

what is wrong if they are looking for nerve problems. The closer it is (but not to close) to the body the better the image. That's why open MRI's are a viable option but not the best option.
A CT will give different imaging. CT is good for bones (its an x ray machine) and ok for nerves. MRI (magnetic waves)is better for nerve tissue but not so great at bones. Most doc's order both if your insurance can hack it..
If the patient could not deal with the tube we would reschedule the patient after the referring physician ordered some sort of meds to help with the situation...
Hopes this helps..
m

I am glad you stood up for yourself - any reason given why you didn't get the open MRI? I hope you can find one and get the answers you need.

facility that has an open MRI

Was much more closed than the open ones I’ve seen online. The noise was almost unbearable. I’ll do anything I can to avoid mris in the future.

He could not get one. The open MRI is not as open as they sound .

MRI machine and got terrible claustrophobia so they pulled him out and set a new appointment and gave him 10mg of Valium to take when he returned. All OK

I finally told my doc she really didn’t want my blood pressure to go sky high during an MRI.
If I ever have to have the head cage they’ll have to sedate me.

They kept saying just 5 more minutes. I’m sure I was in there about 40 minutes total. I have a bad back and it’s hard to stay completely still and add to that being extremely cramped. They wanted to do a second round with some kind of dye injected. “Just 5 minutes”. By then I knew they were full of shit and made them stop. I was soaked with sweat and could barely get off the table. I’ll never do another without some kind of drugs.

I am using a wheelchair due to lumbar spinal stenosis and increasing leg weakness.

If I took a healthy enough dose of Valium or Xanax to tolerate the claustrophobia of even an "open" MRI, i would be so out of it that i would be dead weight. Who is getting me into and out of my car and then into my house? My 72 year old wife?

First time I had one, it was for my knee. When I made the appointment, they asked if I was claustrophobic. I said no, because I didn't think I was. Turns out I'm not claustrophobic in small rooms, elevators, etc., but when you stuff me into a tube the size of a coffin where my arms are literally pinned to my sides, I have a panic reaction, because it literally feels like being buried alive to me. Who knew?

I managed to get through it only because I didn't have to have my head all the way in there for them to scan an area that low on my body. But it took all the self control I could muster to keep from fighting my way out of there. I tried to concentrate on staring at the ceiling and keep my mind off the feeling that the rest of my body was immobilized. The problem is you need to be very still while the machine is doing its thing, and it's really hard to be that still while stifling waves of panic. Ironically, that made the whole ordeal take even longer!

Years later, I needed to have an MRI on my neck. Remembering the earlier experience, I looked for a place that advertised open MRIs, figuring I'd be fine as long as I didn't have to be "buried alive" in that tube. WRONG. I was okay with the basket on my head, because that didn't give me the "buried alive" feeling that triggered the panic. I was able to closed my eyes and relax, UNTIL I gradually became aware that they had also put some kind of enclosure around the rest of me. That did it. Even though it wasn't nearly as constraining as being stuffed in the tube, that triggered the same "OMG GET ME TF OUT OF HERE NOW!!!" panic reaction that the tube did.

We were not able to complete the scan that day. *sigh* Since then, I feel like I understand phobias a lot better than I used to. It is very strange to be completely terrified of something that you rationally know is not going to harm you, but knowing it is an irrational reaction does nothing to dispel the terror and panic. It's completely involuntary and outside one's conscious control.

If I ever need an MRI again, I will plan ahead for sedation, because I know that's what it will take.

It was a closed MRI and took over an hour. The tech said that was the longest one they do. Anyway, I'm not claustrophobic, but it was a real pain in the ass, sitting still for an hour with the god awful sounds that the MRI makes. Good luck to you. I think a Xanax or something like that might help.