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Original poster

Have you ever 'felt' an MRI?

20 replies

MyNameForToday1980 · 08/10/2020 20:18

I had an MRI today. It was fine. But as I was lying there it seemed like I could actually feel the cross sections that the magnets were taking - like I knew which part of my abdomen they were imaging.

Was I over thinking it (bored and a bit stressed lying still with an itch on my leg in a tube), or is this a random and useless superpower?

OP posts:

anotherwinkywinkybumbum · 08/10/2020 20:52

I can definitely feel an MRI, despite being told it's impossible. I find them a little painful. I suppose for me it could just be that I'm sensitive to the vibrations.

OperationallySound · 08/10/2020 20:54

No, had lots and never felt anything other than the machine clunking away.

Thelnebriati · 08/10/2020 20:57

I can tell if a battery is recently charged by how 'heavy' it feels. I can't carry batteries in my pocket, they get red hot, so I was curious about what an MRI would feel like - but when I had one it was just incredibly noisy and stressful.

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Original poster

MyNameForToday1980 · 08/10/2020 21:44

@anotherwinkywinkybumbum I found it a bit uncomfortable, like the slightly vibrational, churning, feeling you get if you're about to have an upset stomach. Just mildly.

The @thelnebrati - maybe it was just too much magnetism, so much you 'became one' with it ;-)

@operationallysound it was SO clunky... Even through ear plugs and ear defenders (if anything the ear plugs and defenders were the worst bit, I hated feeling shut off from the world, in a tube).

OP posts:

Parkandride · 08/10/2020 22:04

Ooh no I always fall asleep, it's like white noise

LittleBipper · 08/10/2020 22:06

I had one of my head and I reckon I could feel it, sort of a heavy feeling

SamanthaJayne4 · 08/10/2020 22:47

I felt movement in one leg. They said you do sometimes feel something and it's quite normal. It was an open scanner so I was quite relaxed.

maras2 · 09/10/2020 04:13

After a half hour shoulder MRI, I was ready to confess to anything.
Those flipping noises could be used by the Security Forces.
Didn't feel the magnetic pull though, too fecking traumatised by the noise.

KoalaRabbit · 09/10/2020 04:50

Yes I could feel like burning with it after about 20 minutes, they went on / off with it then as was fine but could feel it. And the noise was like a road drill in each ear.

Romemarie · 09/10/2020 07:12

I don’t believe it your imagination, I had one a year ago and I definitely felt something not sure what, felt heavy like pressure.
But I will confess the noise made me cry my eyes out. I laid there at one point thinking I was in a middling of a war zone as it sounded like to me a automatic weapon going off in my ears lol

MrsJBaptiste · 09/10/2020 08:18

Never felt anything and I've had a fair few MRI scans!

I don't particularly like them so get the headphones on and try and zone out which is difficult as the noises are so loud! If I thought about it too much I'd probably panic so just lie there still and wait for it all to finish.

megletthesecond · 09/10/2020 08:45

No. I've only had one and just found it incredibly relaxing.

KenAdams · 09/10/2020 08:55

Never felt it but I've been concentrating on the noise that sounds like someone's taking a sledgehammer to my skull instead.

Original poster

MyNameForToday1980 · 09/10/2020 12:19

It's funny how we seem to split into people who find the noise calming, mildly annoying and utterly infuriating.

Like @Romemarie @SamanthaJayne4 and @LittleBipper - it felt like a heavy feeling for me too - almost like my guts were being stirred, but not painful. Just pressure. Similar to a c-section, I could 'feel stuff' going on, but it didn't hurt.

OP posts:

DoctorYang · 09/10/2020 12:20

No, but I do feel the contrast dye flood through my body and can smell an overwhelming metallic odour.

DoctorYang · 09/10/2020 12:32

The noise sends me to sleep!

Elieza · 09/10/2020 13:02

I didn’t like the noise but didn’t feel anything at first when it started at the bottom of my torso, but as the thing moved up my body I could feel it pulling my heart like it was pulling it up out of my chest.

I called it a day at that point and was told I had had a panic attack. That was patronising bullshit as I was comfortable but not enjoying it until the weird heart pulling sensation. I used to have panic attacks and I know what they feel like. I did not have a panic attack as such, I panicked because I thought the thing was hurting my heart, the thing keeping me alive, and that was what freaked me out. If I hadn’t felt that pulling sensation I would not have been concerned. That’s what set me off. Not a panic attack as I was feeling stressed causing the heart feeling.

I think it just depends how in time someone is with their body.

lunar1 · 09/10/2020 13:14

I can feel them, it's like a tugging sensation mostly around my abdomen. All my MRI scans have been brain/spine.

I automatically push my hands onto my stomach as if to keep everything in place.

Potionqueen · 09/10/2020 13:49

I also felt something in my abdomen when having a MRI. Was worried it might have dislodged my sterilisation clips!!! (Only joking).

MotherOfCrocodiles · 09/10/2020 13:57

Well, it should be impossible to feel a normal medical sequence unless you have embedded metal in your body or your clothing. In terms of metal impanted in your body, the radiographer should definitely have checked it is MR safe.

I work in MR development and some experimental sequences actually do cause muscle twitches but pretty sure that should not have happened to you in a medical scan.

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