paging MRI experts

I know more then a few of you guys and gals have had one of these recently. I go in for an mri this week on my back(spine to be exact) and last night my wife starts talking shit about the shot of fluid they will have to inject with some 8 or 9 inch needle :eek: . I told her she was full of it and just trying to get a rise out of me but I fugured I had better check on this just in case. Please tell me they will not shove a 10 inch needle into my back before this procedure.
For future reference it is not advised to jump off a 43 foot train track into the water at 1 in the morning after a day of multiple substance abuse and land like you are sitting in the lazy boy taking a nap after eating moms thanksgiving dinner. ouch!!

OK, I had/have 2 buldged discs in my lower back from an accident a long time ago. Befroe the MRI, no needles.

After the results came back, they needed to get some swelling down before seeing a chiro that specializes in athletes, previous trainer and doc of the Rams. Now in Logan, UT. They wanted to do it 3 times. Once was enough for this wuss. Plus one worked to get the swellig down properly. :D Yes it is the longest needle you have ever seen though. They numb ya, it is just kinda uncomfortable. If they even have to do this to ya.

So I did get a cortisone epideral. Like what they give to the wife in labor, except that the wife gets good drugs. It is not that bad. It is not great either, but it is not too bad.

I can give you more details if you want them.

MRI's diagnos a problem or not, then they start to mess with ya, so my trackrecord goes. :rolleyes:

edit: The cortisone that went in made me feel realatively uncomforable for about an hour as it drained down to my lower back, but I drove home with that pain, so it is not that bad, and I am a pain wuss. I really did not pay attention to the big needle, the little one with the numbing stuff (drawing a blank) in it was what I wanted to make sure was full.

no needles for an MRI

needles are involved in a bonescan.

It depends on what they are looking for how they look for it. It they are doing an MRI with contrast, gadolinium must be injected into the area first. Gadolinium is a "dye" they use to make MRI's clearer in certain joints. If they do just a plain old run of the mill MRI there wil be no needle.

And as far as needles go it is not the length of the needle you should worry about it is the girth of the needle.

But don't worry about it too much from what I hear it is only mildly uncomfortable to have this done, albeit far from pleaseant.

Never had any contrast injected for an MRI, but I have fot CAT scans. The injection is a small needle- doesn't hut too much (of course after 9 months of giving myself subcutaneous injections, I guess I'm not very needle-phobic)

no needle for my mri, but i had all 3 epidurals before my surgury. the first one was a 16 or an 18 guage needle. no pain, just discomfort from the pressure of the fluid. the second two were cathaders (sp) that were run up the spinal column from the tail bone. those hurt progressively worse. by the last one i could not walk for a few hours after. the mri is the best part of the process. you get to go to sleep for about 45 min.

No needles in your back are necessary for an MRI. Your wife was probably referring to myelography, a procedure in which contrast is injected into your spinal canal and either an x-ray or a CT scan is taken. Myelography has been supplanted by MRI in almost all cases and is rarely used anymore.

You will need an IV for the MRI contrast called gadolinium, but that's it. You'll also be lying in the scanner for quite some time. Since the scanner sounds like someone is hammering metal nearby, I'd use the earplugs that they'll offer. It can also get a little uncomfortable if you're claustrophobic as the MRI tunnel is a bit narrow. It feels like you're about to be shot out of a torpedo shaft.

Good luck.

Most have a collection of CDs they can play. Bring your own just in case or ask/call. I had some awesome headphones last time and brought my own CDs. It went quick and was just time.

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Originally Posted by Buzzworthy

Most have a collection of CDs they can play. Bring your own just in case or ask/call. I had some awesome headphones last time and brought my own CDs. It went quick and was just time.

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Wasatch Imaging (over at Alta View) lets you just pick a radio station to listen to in the headphones to drown out the noise. I fell asleep during my last one...

Hope it's nothing serious! Heal up fast - I can tell you it sucks being injured this time of year...

thanks for the info guys. Very good to hear no needles are involved. I have pretty good movement but they want to be sure nothing is wrong with the spine. Sounds like I might be getting a little nap during the mri :) .

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Originally Posted by skibe

Sounds like I might be getting a little nap during the mri.

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Can you sleep when there's a construction crew jackhammering outside your bedroom?

Dude, enough of the local Alta skiers getting hurt right before ski season. :mad: Hope everything goes OK and I see you in line on opening day.

I will say, when I had my MRI last month at Alta View, the MRI tech's bloody apron was a bit discouraging but it didn't go to badly. I really didn't think they would need to use so many dental tools for a few pictures of my knee.......Only kidding, I listened to the Morning show from Hell on X96 and almost fell asleep. They had to kick me out because I had to go back to work and really just wanted to nap there a little longer.