Having an MRI tomorrow

[left-of-center2012]

I’m get my MRI tomorrow afternoon for the back/spine pain I’ve had since last November.

The pain isn’t constant but affects me about 3 times each week and is so bad I have to use narcotic pain pills and muscle relaxers when it hits. Even with the pills it sometimes lasts six hours or longer and the pills just make me really dizzy and unsteady on my feet.

I chose to have an ‘upright MRI’ instead of the more common ‘tube’ type where they slide you into what feels like (to me) a coffin. See photos below.

After this MRI, I intend to switch ‘spine specialists’ as the doctor who ordered this MRI is the most incompetent doctor I’ve encountered in my 73 years. I already have a highly rated team lined up, at another hospital, and they accept my insurance.

The MRI will take 45 minutes, during which I can watch TV.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

1. Best of luck with your upright MRI and your new MD!

I have never heard of an upright MRI and this looks amazing!

[underpants]

2. Good luck.

[irisblue]

3. As a retired Radiologic Technologist, I liked weight bearing images

Cause you could see "real life" of a spine. Do you already have lying down images for the radiologist to compare to?

[left-of-center2012]

5. No

i had the 'tube' type of MRI years ago for a rotator cuff tear and it was like being in a coffin.
Can't do that again.

[irisblue]

6. I've had a couple, I know how small the tube is

Good luck

[mitch96]

7. Small world.. I'm a retired CT/MRI tech... Yes the "sit down" MRI would show compression and

bulging better. The MRI lying down is done feet first and depending on the size of the magnet your head might be outside the tube.
After dragging beached whales across xray/ct/mri tables for 40 years I had developed spine problems. The BEST thing I have found is the use of an inversion table. You see the guy hawking the "Teeter" inversion table.. For my condition it works a treat. It's basically traction for your spine When I feel the ache or pain shooting in my butt or leg I just get on the inversion table and hang like a bat for about ½ hr. I listen to music or a pod cast..
If you think about it, if it's a pooching out disk putting pressure on the nerve If you stretch the vertebrae apart, you also relieve the pressure on the nerve by sucking the disk back into place and the pain reduces.. You have to break the cycle of pressure, inflammation of the nerve and swelling. Drugs do it by relaxing the muscles and reducing the inflammation so the disk can go back to where it's suppose to go. The inversion table and 2 Aleve do the same thing for me..
Now this is how I do it and it works for my herniated disk.
I don't know about other spine problems YMMV
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[KT2000]

8. is that the herniated disc?

[mitch96]

10. Yes it is. See, it's not rocket science. The one below it is bulging but not herniated.

The ones above it are normal... You can see that traction will pull the vertebra away from the disk and suck the disk back into place.. All the nerves run thru the spinal canal. if you put pressure on the nerves from the disk you have pain. So the pain in your butt or legs is not there it's from the pressure on the nerves in your back..
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[Lulu KC]

12. I love the inversion table! n/t

[SWBTATTReg]

4. Neat. I hope that they pinpoint your ailment(s) and hopefully will derive a successful strategy to

deal w/ it. Back issues is one thing that never seems to go away.

Best wishes to you.

[LiberalArkie]

9. I found out how to fight my ruptured discs.

I never knew about valium but I had to go to the emergency room from extreme pain that would also paralyze me in different places below my waist and keep me there for 5 - 15 minutes.

Doctor prescribed Valium and Hydrocodone. Naturally not possible at work, but I found a solution.

Every Saturday I would take a valium and (Now) tramadol when I was NOT having pain as nothing helped when I would pinch a nerve and a back muscle would pull on my spine. But by taking the meds before the muscle tightened up I prevented it from happening.

I still get a back pain, but not a spasm that would make me collapse in the cross walk at work.

I mentioned it to on the my MD's when I was in the hospital (operation during a pandemic). And he smiled and said, I am going to try that this weekend. Nothing ever worked for him either.

Good luck.

[mitch96]

11. "Valium and Hydrocodone"

Valium was originally uses as a muscle relaxant. And the Hydrocodone is the pain killer. Reduce the pain and reduce the muscle spasm and the inflammation goes down.. everybody is happy..
Nerve wise I mean...
m

[live love laugh]

13. Both are highly addictive but if they're necessary...

[mitch96]

14. YES ! short term use only... Just to break the pain/swelling/inflammation cycle..

I remember when doc's would hand out valium and oxy like candy... All under the auspices of "aggressive pain management" Did not go as planned and a lot of people got addicted..
m