Quote:
Originally Posted by wildflowerchild25
I’m trying to psych myself up to get a brain mri. My prolactin is still elevated due to what I thought was haldol. So I figured when I came off of it again it would regulate. But it’s not. I skipped my period again (not pregnant, took a test this this morning to confirm). I still can’t lose weight. I might have a pituitary tumor at this point.
But I am deathly terrified of enclosed spaces. I’ve seen pictures of mri machines and there’s just no way. Unless I was completely sedated. Not even klonopin or Ativan will cut it. But if I’m completely sedated I need someone to drive me home and everyone is working. I’m going to make an appointment for an endocrinologist and see if I can get a brain mri in an open mri instead of a closed one. I did an open mri for my back and it was fine. So hopefully I can because I absolutely cannot get a closed mri.
I know there’s medication that can help too. I’m hoping he’ll just give me that and send me on my merry way. But probably not.
|
Hi wildflowerchild. I've had about four MRIs in my life. I won't lie and say they are "pleasant" experiences, but they need not be THAT bad. They can be loud, unless they've since made them quieter. Sometimes they can give you ear plugs to cut down on the noise and I believe some can pipe in music, upon request. As for a claustrophobic feeling, I find the easiest way to cut down on that is to keep your eyes closed the entire time. If your eyes are closed, it could seem as if you're not in there. Well, you know, but you kinda sorta don't know. Just don't open your eyes. Imagine you are on a beach or somewhere else that is nice. I would play my favorite songs in my head. Every other aspect is pretty easy. They may or may not put in an IV for contrast. That's really no big deal, unless you dislike needles, but I imagine you've had an IV before. It's not much worse than getting a blood draw, for say Lithium levels. Actually, not even as bad as blood draws, since they can get the IV in pretty quickly.
My only concern about those "open MRIs" is that they may not always yield as detailed/reliable results as the others. You wouldn't want to get an open MRI only to have them recommend you get the regular, soon after. I would see the open MRIs only being mandatory for people that truly utterly have claustrophobia, and would have extreme panic attacks otherwise. Just a thought.
I had a very high prolactin level from the medication Invega, and a pituitary microadenoma (micro not macro). When I was taken off that medication, my prolactin level did normalize within not too many months, unlike falcon's friend's. Also, over about a 6 to 8 month period, the tumor also miraculously disappeared. That did sort of surprise the endocrinologist, but it is known that sometimes tumors do just disappear. I had yet another MRI (for a different reason) even after the one that showed the disappearance. That last one also showed no signs of any pituitary tumor return. All it showed was that I had sinusitis, which was sort of funny and not exactly news to me. I'm glad my pituitary microadenoma was discovered early on, so I was taken off Invega when I was. I'm not sure what issues I might have had, if it hadn't been.