molly123

Hi,

I just had a MRI done this morning on my left breast. I too was very worried about being claustrophobic but it's not that bad. I laid on my stomach with my breasts through these holes. My feet was in first so that means it's in the inside of the machine and my head was towards the outside so I'm facing into the room. I found tilting my head a little to the side with a pillow helped - otherwise, you're neck gets tired. You wear a gown and they gave me a pair of cotton elastic pants to wear too. Have to take off any jewelry, no cell phones, no metals.

The machine is huge - looks like a huge space capsule or the end of a dump truck! LOL! When they are doing the MRI, they tell you not to move and since it's the breast area, you basically can't move from your shoulders down. There is a lot of loud noise going on - hammering, jackhammering, knocking, banging sounds! The tech gave me earplugs but I could still hear it all and can hear her talking to me. She never told me I had to hold my breath - just not reminded me to not move around. She did have this IV thing in me where she later injected some kind of saline solution - said it allows them to read some of the scans with it and without it. The whole laying down lasted about 1/2 hour only.

I usually try to get the very first appointment so I'm not home waiting for my appt. to come plus being the first gets you in and out quicker.

Hope this helps,
molly