Getting Thru an MRI Without a Panic Attack

The MRI’s of brain, neck/spine, and cervix were yesterday. They are done and complete. It will be a “few days” the technician said. I was a little nervous, mainly because I was worried about being in a small space for 20 minutes. I was afraid of a panic attack. And I DID have to talk myself through the process of NOT having one.

Things to Remember Before the MRI.

1. Eat a little something, but not a lot. Just something so you don’t feel hunger. You want to feel as good as you can going in.
2. Don’t drink too much caffeine so that you are more relaxed.
3. Go potty in the lobby right before you go back so you don’t have that worry while you are in the test.
4. Drink a couple of sips of water before going in, not much, but enough to wet your whistle and throat.

How I Got Through the MRI

1. Being realistic. Although panic attacks often don’t care. It’s what our mind perceives as trouble. But I kept telling myself I was ok that it is:
   • Not going into space
   • Not flying through the air
   • Not invasive
   • Not gonna hurt me
   • Not gonna heat up and get hot – I was comfy
   • Plenty of air
   • Restful. I could rest or sleep if I wanted (I do that for 8 hours so what’s 20 min?)
   • Immediate access out if needed
2. Prayer. I prayed and Jesus brought Daddy to the scene. Daddy said he was sorry he went on about his MRI not realizing his kids would need to have one. And they both said it was ok and they were there with me. Jesus said He had special permission from God to bring Daddy over to me for a few minutes. lol
3. Imagery. I imagined that I was at the beach, but it was sounding like a JackHammer at that moment so I switched to a walk in New York City.
4. Amusement. I was astounded – mostly amused by the types of noises in an MRI. The sounds were all over the place. Let’s recall:
   • Knocking
   • Chirping
   • Jackhammer
   • Spaceship
   • Siren kindof thing
   • Truck backing up
   • Computer Noise
   • Pink Floyd lol
5. Deep breaths. Whenever my mind started to “go there” to the thoughts of I can’t do this anymore, I would take a deep breath.
6. Telling myself “You can do this, it’s not really that long – 20 min is nothing”.
7. Thinking about things.
   • Family
   • Work
   • The video channel
   • Brunch (lol)
8. Having a reward for afterward: Chic Fil A
9. Reminding myself this was necessary.

So I was in this thing for about 40 min total. But I had three sessions. The first one was 20 minutes. The next session was two back to back sessions of my brain. One with contrast and one without. So she put an IV in and put the contrast in for the last thing. You could not tell the contrast was there. I was very happy when it was over.

So now we wait. And I’ll be honest. I’m a little nervous. Prayers please. If I have something, please let me be able to live a positive and quality life. Or let it be that I’m just overly tired. But let them find it if anything is wrong that needs fixing! I want to know if I have some auto immune thing going on.

I gotta go. WordPress is being slow and won’t let me type.