{{{sj}}}

I know it doesn't help with the actual anxiety about the procedure itself, but please don't worry about the embarrassment: it's way common for people to get freaked by the noise and claustrophobia (at least according to what I hear from friends in health care), and MRI techs have seen it all as a result.

I'm supposed to go back in 2 more weeks for another one, and I don't know how I am going to manage it.

Can you ask your doctor for a mild sedative to take beforehand?

I know it doesn't help with the actual anxiety about the procedure itself, but please don't worry about the embarrassment: it's way common for people to get freaked by the noise and claustrophobia (at least according to what I hear from friends in health care), and MRI techs have seen it all as a result.

I know. Mom said the same thing.

Can you ask your doctor for a mild sedative to take beforehand?

I see my PCP tomorrow, so I'll talk to her about it.

There's nothing cheeky about asking for ~ma for wee sister Jay. I would certainly want to sent my best thoughts for her and you. May it be nothing or something easy to deal with.

sj, as amych said, whatever your meltdown was, the techs have seen much, much worse. Can you have headphones or anything to dull the noise? I feel fortunate that my main reactions to the various scans are excruciating boredom and the need to scratch my nose.

sj, last time I had an MRI I was still freaked after 2 ativan. They had to put me in the machine feet-first. Is there an open MRI you can go to.

sj, as amych said, whatever your meltdown was, the techs have seen much, much worse. Can you have headphones or anything to dull the noise? I feel fortunate that my main reactions to the various scans are excruciating boredom and the need to scratch my nose.

I had earbuds on to dull the noise, and my own CD, but it really didn't help at all. I seem to remember last time (10 or 12 years ago) I had on the big old fashioned head phones, which were probably also noise canceling. I need to call the MRI place and see if there were other options. The only other thing they said today was to ask for earplugs instead of the ear buds, but I don't really see that being enough.

sj, last time I had an MRI I was still freaked after 2 ativan. They had to put me in the machine feet-first. Is there an open MRI you can go to.

I took two doses of ativan as well. Which were .25 milligrams each. Which is what I am prescribed to take.

Calling Teppy. Would it be safe to take a whole milligram next time?

I think being nearly out would be my best bet.

My mom is claustro and she HAS to do open MRI.

Ask your doc for something stronger, maybe a Valium? I hate needles and when I had to have a bump taken off my arm to be biopsied, under local, I told my doc I was ok with the scalpel but the local would freak my shit, and she wrote a script for 2 Valium.

Worked!

Much nothing -ma to Fay's sister!

Calling Teppy. Would it be safe to take a whole milligram next time?

What other drugs do you take? (Feel free to e-mail me with this if you don't want to talk about your meds in public.)

I might not answer right away, because we just had a BADASS storm roll through, and one kitty is AWOL and we need to find her.

I was walking the dog when the tornado siren went off (I hadn't heard the news and didn't know it was imminent), and I got in the door literally (I know this because I was looking at the clock to see when Tim would get home) 1 minute before the wind kicked up to I AM BADASS level. Tim came *running* (again, literally) through the front door about 30 seconds after the actual storm hit, and he didn't even stop running, but yelled, "BASMENT! NOW!"

That freaked my shit out, because he's the one who's always blase about storms, while I usually assemble the crisis provisions and head for the basement at the first sign of rain.

We're up now and the storm is through, but Toke is nowhere to be found. I'm sure she's in a hidey-hole, but it's a little worrying.

Yikes, Steph. I think Minneapolis and Joplin have people on edge.

Open a can of tuna?

We have no tuna, but it was time to feed them anyway, so we did that, and have been walking around shaking bags of treats. Tim is worried she's in the walls (from the basement, it's possible for a motivated cat to get into the walls and make its way up to the attic) and will get stuck there. I think she found a hidey hole and is asleep.