Yuck- Neurologist visit

[Fredwina]

I've also got deep viens I usually wind up getting poked in both arms .I had to have a blood draw when I still had my arm in the splint from my accident and almost rescheduled it.
Yes, if they can 't do the elbow, they'll stick you in the hand. hurts, but I've been told I have a high pain tolerance

[Deborajen]

Aggie Ama, boy can I relate. I just had my first MRI done yesterday morning. It was of the brain, with and without contrast. I can tell you the machine was noisy and it looked like something from a sci-fi flick. The tech took lots of steps to make me comfortable - put a big pad under the back of my legs, covered me with a nice, warm blanket, gave me ear plugs (which were a BIG help), put pads on each side of my head, etc. Being slid under the magnet was a little intimidating, but I could still see all around the room. It didn't seem like that tight of a squeeze once I was there. I just closed my eyes for most of the test, and it didn't end up being that bad. When she gave me the injection for the contrast, I couldn't see the needle and it was over pretty quickly. I didn't get an IV - just a shot - ?

I came out of the room feeling like I'd listened to a bunch of rock music. I'm glad it's over, but if I had to go through it again I'd be able to handle it.

You'll do fine - and you're not a drama queen! I survived - I'm here - no needle pain - you'll do the same. In other words, just "git 'er done."

Deb

[Dogmama]

Thanks Beth. My mom gave me a swift kick in the butt via phone at lunch. It is now the IV really bugging me,

Be sure that you are well hydrated before your test. That will help with the IV insertion.

[Aggie_Ama]

After all that I am cancelling it for now. My insurance does not cover until I meet my deductible meaning the test is $600 out of pocket. Since my neuro said it was more to "dot the i's and cross the t's" than needed I am going to wait. I have to see him again 1/19 and I will discuss with him what the test will help us with and why they do them for tremors in the first place. The imaging company requires you pay up front, if they would bill us that would be okay but right now my husband and I have chosen to let me see the neuro again before having the MRI. I will likely have it done after 1/19 to give my doctor some insight but not tomorrow.

I need to up my inderol, it is just not enough at 20 mg.

[coyote]

Be sure that you are well hydrated before your test. That will help with the IV insertion.

+1 on that. Drink a lot of water the night before....like a gallon if you can. If you are the least bit dehydrated your viens are harder to find.

I got that tip the first time I tried to donate blood while living in the desert.

[OakLeaf]

+2 - only time they've ever had trouble finding a vein on me is when I needed the IV because of dehydration. That was no fun.


Edit - missed your last post, Aggie. That stinks Can you schedule it for the first week of the year, and have it done through a hospital where they would bill you? That way you wouldn't be "wasting" your 2008 deductible, but the results would still be ready for your neuro appointment on the 19th.

[Aggie_Ama]

I am going to ask my neuro if there is another imaging center to use since it is stupid this one knows it is a hefty fee and want you to pay up front. My insurance renews in July, so our deductibles actually carry over. I really want to discuss the test with my neuro since I went 4.5 years without one. I would like to know what we might learn and go from there. I will probably be on a 3 month schedule with the neurologist until we get my meds in check since it went into remission and then came back. We are trying completely new medicine and I have constant leg tremors now which was not the case in 2004.

I have to call my doctor to adjust the dose of my meds, I will ask them to see if there is another center. Edited: There is but they are going to see if he is okay with me waiting until after the next appointment. I think the one they use will take 1/2 up front instead of the full amount but $300 at Christmas is more than I can really swing this year. I know the imaging center has bills to pay but it is really a lot of money for us "to do the i's and cross the t's".

[Tuckervill]

I see you've canceled, but the IV...here's a tip. If you have any doubts about the person who is doing it, ask for a phlebotomist. I've been in a situation where the person didn't know what they were really doing, and I had to be stuck at least 4 times and and they still didn't get it! They finally called in a phlebotomist (which is the person in the hospital who just does blood draws) and I didn't even feel the darn thing!

Since then, they only get one chance with me, and then they have to swallow their pride and call someone who is better at it!

It really doesn't hurt that much, and it's only a very short time that it hurts. Once it's in, it doesn't hurt. I take a really deep cleansing breath and I don't look, either.

Karen

[Aggie_Ama]

I talked to my co-workers and we have two plans, even the higher ($$$) plan has this issue so at least that is good to know. I only went to the cheaper this year. And my deductible does reset in January even though insurance renews in July. I might as well wait until after the first of the year to get this done and have much of my $1k deductible met for 2009. Insurance can really be a pain. The doctor's office will also give me a list of other offices to do it, maybe one will bill me for it or let me up front pay less.

[snapdragen]

Check to see if your insurance plan has a preferred imaging provider -- that might help with the cost too.

[Miranda]

Hun, I'm sorry you're having to get back in the tube of doom. It is a test that shows a lot of stuff that no other does.

I have been in there serveral times with my neuro junk and other stuff. I am claustrophobia. I need sedation and a driver, though last time I did make it without. Even though the claustrophobia is technically an imagined fear, it causes me emotional upset. Which emotional upset is one of my asthma triggers. Not being able to breath due to an asthma attack, and being stuck in the tube, gets to be a real problem. I think the brain is the worst. They clamp that awful cage over your face in addition the the tube.

For me... eyes closed, washcloth over my eyes, the tech wraps me up in a blanket tight, no music--talk to me instead... asthma meds before, happy drugs. Plus, I go scope the place out before the test. If I don't like the faciltiy, I shop another one. See the room. Meet the tech. "Hello... I'm Miranda and I think I may die on your watch, can we make a plan for that not to happen? I know you don't want to use your cpr skills...". It's amazing how nice people can be when you ask them "right" . Actually, I have my own techs memorized by name now and check when they are working. How high maintenance drama is that?

On the DH, well, I'm married to his brother and then some. I've had my 80yr half-blind mother take me before, kids screaming in the parking lot w/g-ma, and drive us all home with me laid out on drugs. Sounds safe, eh? Actually, my other thought at times was to employ an aid from a home health agency as a driver. Or take a taxi. I know that sounds a bit cold, but really you just need reliable wheels at a minimum. I know such services exists. Maybe the docs office, or MRI center might have a tip?

Mom in her age and wisdom says, where there's a will, there's a way... women are very resourceful creatures. Spirits of positive wishes will be with you from your cyber sisters when the test time comes.

EDIT: IVs... did you know there is also a topical numbing cream they can apply before the stick to take care of the pain of the needle? If you are getting sedated and have to be there ahead of test time anyways is no big deal. Just check ahead to make sure they have it on hand. It's like a thick white skin lotion. Btw, the lab I used to work at did some major university sports teams... the football linebackers were the ones that always fainted the hardest at the sight of a needle.

[Duck on Wheels]

I learned this from one of my PhD students' field notes (She was observing doctors' meetings at a neurology dept.): MRIs are pretty much a standard test nowadays for anything neurological. When they can't figure something out, they tend to say "Hmm. Have we done an MRI yet?" The MRI shows lots of interesting stuff. The results look like an x-ray, but where an x-ray mostly shows bone vs. soft tissue, the MRI differentiates between all kinds of tissues with varying densities and water content. So an MRI can differentiate between bone, muscle, nerves, veins, and so on. That makes it like a "shotgun" exam -- it "hits" just about anything in front of it. Tumor, yes, but also stuff as banal as a pinched nerve or a bruise. Depending, of course, on how close together they take the images, which are like "slices" that they can then patch together for a 3D-view. Close together they're more likely to catch even teensy stuff, further apart and they might miss that pinched nerve.

They can also retune the whole machine to show physiochemical processes, like lactic acid accumulating as you work a muscle. But that does take re-setting the machine, so it's either the tissue differentiation view or the physiochemical view in any given exam.

The magnet is noisy, kind of like a car backfiring. The machine is also kinda clanky as it revs up. But with ear plugs, and maybe some Xanax, the noise shouldn't be a problem. The machine looks like a big tube with a gurney that slides through it. You lie on the gurney, as comfey as they can make it (but it is narrow and confining, so they can never get it to the level of a 5* hotel bed). They slide the gurney stepwise through the machine, taking image after image "slice" by "slice" (metaphorically, of course. there are no sharp edges to this thing, so no actual slicing). Then they slide you out and it's over. Each image can take a few seconds, and they don't want you to move, so they tell you when to expect the noisy bits that you have to lie still for and when you have a wriggle break.

The physics of it all are pretty fascinating too. I'm sure there are actual physicists on the board who can tell me I've got this wrong, but I think it has to do with hydrogen atoms, the way they spin and the way the line up all parallel to one another under the influence of certain combinations of magnetism and radio waves. Somehow, the machine can tell whether they're lined up or relaxed and whether they're spinning one direction or another. It can also tell how long it takes them to line up and relax as the radio waves (or is it the magnet?) are switched on and off, and the difference in these times has to do with the density of the tissue. So where an x-ray machine is sending radioactive particles through you at a film, the MRI is only using magnetic and radio frequency waves. In other words, it's safer than the more familiar (and therefore less scary?) x-ray machine.

[Aggie_Ama]

Duck- THe science behind it is fascinating. I am going to have it done after the first of the year I reckon. Then it counts for my 2009 deductible and if something crappy happens and we end up in the ER or hospital we can write it off. I hope not but having it done this year still wouldn't get me anywhere near write off level.

[Mistie]

I have had an MRI of my head. My mother was diagnosed with MS about 10 years ago. I started to have numbness in my right hand (along the pinkie finger). Doc thought it best to do an MRI which would be a baseline if nothing was there. Negative for lesions and the numbness was actually due to a ganglion cyst that was growing on a tendon. Ask for a washcloth as the lights can be strange. There will be a loud banging noise all around you. It bangs at points as the machine goes around your body. It lasted 10-15 minutes, maybe? I can't remember how long. No moving during the process though. It wasn't scary, just weird.

[alleyoop]

Amanda, I am so sorry you are going through this. I just read this thread! If you are having the test in Jan, I might be able to help with the transportation. Just email me! If it is a MWF morning, I should be able to help! I live next to your work, so I am SURE we can figure something out! Please, don't hesitate to ask. After 2 c-sections and an appendectomy this last spring, I have the self-advocate thing down pat!

-Heather