Sunday, 20 July 2025

Claustrophobic!!

 In  my news feed today I read of a man,  who was wearing a big metal necklace and was sucked into an MRI machine in Nassau.. I'm so glad I didn't see anything like this a few years ago, because I had to have an MRI scan. It was horrible I thought I'd have to press the emergency button to say I wasn't ok after just a few minutes.

The clanking noise was very, very loud so listening to music wasn't possible, but what I hated the most was not doing or listening to anything at all. I thought I'd go mad. That might sound extreme but I was struggling not to panic. Being slid into the opening was horrific, I was a bit claustrophobic and I reckon this procedure has made me worse

So I played word games in my mind, nothing very clever, but naming flowers going through the alphabet, then girl names, boy names and then a list adding an item each time, eg start with ..loaf of bread, add butter, add jam etc.. each time starting over with ..loaf of bread. I think I got to 15 items and then forgot some. 

When a voice came through the head phones .. 'just 6 more minutes Christine, are you alright?' I nearly said 'No' but I stuck it out and it was only 20 minutes altogether, but felt so much longer. I was wet with perspiration when they got me out and I cried and cried with Dh in the little room afterwards. 

Never again, you can't imagine what its like, till you have to have it, I couldn't do it again. Have you had to have one?

Chrisxx

3 comments:

KirstenM said...

I had one a couple of years ago. It was a bit of a shock at first, with the noise and enclosed space; also having to hold my breath (my lungs are so bad that's quite hard for longer than a few seconds. In the end I closed my mind and just prayed and concentrated on breathing gently and calmly and I found it not to bad. The staff were wonderful.
I can find it can be hard to get the initial panic under control; I've found I need to nip it in the bud before it starts to grow.

Mari said...

I had to have one several years ago and it wasn't fun. They let me have my choice of music, I chose praise and worship and prayed while in there. That helped.
I can't believe that man had the metal necklace on. I was checked before going in.

Lynn and Precious said...

I had multiple MRI's 20 some years ago when I was crushed in my car. But I just put up with the noise and the resulting headache. I'm glad I don't mind small spaces, not that they are fun. And why would any responsible employee let a person wear metal in a MRI?