Topic: Anyone experienced a breast MRI (with intravenous dye)?

Jul 27, 2020 04:04PM moth wrote:

long and boring.

In my facility they have you lie face down and your breasts kind of dangle in a gap in the bed. Your shoulders and head are supported and there's a cutout for your face so you're not suffocating. They took a long time positioning me. Make sure you speak up if you want more pillows for your legs or arms or want a slight shift because small bit of discomfort will be a lot of discomfort when you have to lie still for 30+ minutes. MRI is loud and the noise is random which annoys my brain which tries to find a pattern. They give earplugs and music headphones but the noise is so loud you can still hear it.

Jul 27, 2020 07:07PM ctmbsikia wrote:

Hi. I have had several. Face down (prone) boobs hanging down. The magnets or whatever they are holding your boobs are not painful at all. Agree please speak up if your chest bone -forehead-shoulders or legs are un comfortable. Let them re position you. Arms are by your side usually. I’m always afraid they will fall asleep but better there than over your head. I use the ear plugs , music, and yes it is noisey! I also follow the pattern of 3 different sounds. Then the contrast goes in, same pattern of noise and done. You will have a sqeezey thing in your hand to squeeze if you need anything they will stop and pull you out. I so far have not had to. I keep my eyes closed the entire time and try to go someplace else. Like remember when I first heard that song? Once you get used to the noise it isan opportune time to take a nap! Good luck to you!

Jul 27, 2020 08:27PM KBL wrote:

I had a different MRI a few weeks ago, and just to let you know, they piped in the music to the room because they weren’t giving headphones during the pandemic. I did have ear plugs, though. Just wanted to let you know just in case your facility does that.

Jul 28, 2020 09:05AM renbird wrote:

Oh my gosh! Wow!

Thank you all so much. This helps a lot. : )

One last question: does the dye feel creepy when it goes in?

Thank you! -Renbird

Jul 28, 2020 09:32AM Mangosan99 wrote:

My tech was really good at letting me know what to expect. For my scan, she said she would let me know when she was going to inject the dye (done remotely) and said then it would be 9 more minutes until the scan was over. I tasted a slight metallic taste in my mouth which is also a known side effect. The dye and the machine made me a little warm though.

She also warned me that I might feel dizzy right after entering the machine. Later she asked me if that happened and when I said it did she explained that is because the magnets are lining up the cells in your body. I thought that was interesting because I assumed the dizziness was just from the motion of being moved.

Later in the day, I still had trouble regulating my own body temp; it took me longer to cool off from my dog walk. And, I was still clearly a little fuzzy or 'off' the next day but back to normal the second day after but I'm sensitive to most medications/treatments.

Jul 29, 2020 07:56AM beach2beach wrote:

id agree., long and boring. Trying to lay still face down just doesnt work well for me. When they injected dye I just felt the rushing sensation right straight through to the groin. Otherwise,,,uneventful.

Jul 29, 2020 10:42AM edj3 wrote:

I fell asleep three or four times during my MRI yesterday. Those magnets are hypnotic to me.

Jul 29, 2020 09:20PM Jettie wrote:

EDJ3, I feel alseep in mine last week too even with all that noise, but its is kinda rythmic :D

Renbird, depending on what type of MRI machine it is, i think the extra wide one I went in feet first, and the normal head first, I must admit i preferred the extra wide.

Jul 29, 2020 10:32PM renbird wrote:

Hi Jettie -

Thanks for your post... huh, I guess I can look at it as a chance to catch a few winks... : ) I tend to be a bit anxious about these things. You have a far better attitude! : ) -Renbird

Jul 30, 2020 04:37AM edj3 wrote:

I had concerns about long term side effects from tamoxifen (which was indicated for me because turns out I have osteoporosis). But I did give it a try.

I'm an avid runner and within 10 days of starting tamoxifen, I experienced dangerously high heart rates within about 30 seconds of starting my runs (over 180 bpm). I've run all my life and so I know what my heart rate does on all sorts of runs, and those numbers were not at all normal for me, not to mention unsafe.

Everyone is different though. As someone on the care team told me, others might also have that same side effect but not be runners so not have that be a showstopping side effect. I urge to you to carefully consider all your options and at least give your doctor's recommendation a try. You can always stop if you do have any issues.

I'm good with my decision, and should a recurrence happen I will not beat myself up with shoulds and oughts. I did try it, it greatly interfered with things that make my life very enjoyable and I made the conscious decision to stop.

Aug 14, 2020 11:16AM wallycat wrote:

I've had two and my twin sister has had several. Just as described. For my sister, she had painful positioning/sternum pain. For me, I had zero issues. THe machine broke down and had to be repaired while I was in it so I spent an extra 40 minutes tacked on to the procedure. Slept through all of it mostly.

I will say that I worked at GE when they were first building MRI machines and I often volunteered to be a guinea pig for scans (no dye with those) and even then, I slept through it all (great way to get paid!).

I had no reaction to the dye.
Best to you.