Randolph Health MRI Center

Joanne VanderWeide _{on Google}

Oct 26th, 2022

Had an MRI of my knee done today. If you've never had an MRI, here's a few tips you should definitely know:
It's *extremely* loud. It can be frightening. Prepare yourself by taking a sedative before leaving your house. Have someone drive you. You really don't want to be wide awake and alert for this.
Bring ear plugs. The staff will give you headphones for music but they don't work. And the staff knows they don't work, they told me afterwards. So definitely bring heavy duty ear plugs. Because the sounds are like someone banging on a metal trash can over your head for 30 minutes. It's distressing, frightening, and right now it's 2am and I can't sleep because I'm still having anxiety over it from this afternoon. And I don't usually have anxiety.
You may feel claustrophobic. Even if you're not claustrophobic. You may feel anxiety or panic going in to the tube. It happened to me, and apparently it happens to a lot of people.
And, the staff doesn't care if you're distressed or not. They're not soothing or comforting in any way. If you panic, you're on your own. As I was going into the tunnel I reached my hand out to the girl as panic washed over me. She put my hand on my belly and said "don't move".
Again, taking a sedative is probably the best idea.
The staff doesn't inform you what it's like before you go in. They just strap you to the table, slap headphones on you and dash out of the room. I had no idea what was going on from beginning to end.
I had to get needles in my knee and that was less unpleasant than this MRI. I've had root canals and tooth extractions that were less unpleasant. I hope and pray that I never need an MRI again in my lifetime. Bring ear plugs.