Head Case
I went to the doctor yesterday, and because of some migraine mishegas, I have to get an MRI. I can’t say strongly enough how terrified I am of MRIs. I have pretty bad claustrophobia, and I find the experience unbearable. Sometimes I can get through it, and sometimes I can’t.
I know there are many people who don’t understand phobias, and it seems strange to them. Like, what’s the big deal? Even for those of us who have phobias, other people’s fears can seem odd. For instance, many people have phobias of snakes and rats, whereas I view both as friends. Instead, I have severe and sometimes disabling fear of vomit — in particular, other people throwing up but fear of myself doing it too. Even a fear of the actual stuff. Just writing those sentences makes me feel afraid of my own computer. How bizarre is that?
Yesterday at the doctor I was practically hyperventilating about the MRI, but when they told me I had to get two painful shots, I was completely fine. I have no fear of shots — I even like them a little — but others are utterly phobic about that or having their blood drawn. So it’s all relative, and the most important thing we can do for friends or loved ones who have phobias is to respect their fears and understand that they’re absolutely real for them.
One approach is NLP, or Neurolinguistic Programming. I haven’t tried that yet, but here’s an interesting recent story of someone who did. From Devon24.co.uk:
A SIDMOUTH dog groomer with a deep-seated fear of spiders, has had her life transformed by an Ottery St Mary woman using neuro linguistic programming.
Clipping a Rottweiler’s nails is a doddle for Suzanne Hoare, of Yardelands, but she was so terrified of spiders she couldn’t even watch them on TV or in books, let alone let them in her house.
Her work led her to Vanessa Hudson of St Anthony’s Close, Ottery, who recently qualified as an NLP life coach, using the same techniques as hypnotist Paul McKenna to deal with such issues as marital problems, phobias, obesity and smoking.
Vanessa offered to help Suzanne overcome her phobia after she spoke about it while grooming Vanessa’s 18-year-old collie-cross Max.
Now, six weeks after her first session, Suzanne can look at spiders without coming out in a cold sweat.
[Photo by Liz Spikol, wildlife photographer]
liz | 9:44 AM | Uncategorized
Liz,
I’ve had several MRIs over the years and they certainly are not fun.
However, you can mitigate such a situation in a few ways. One method – the one I wholeheartedly endorse – is to find an open, “stand-up” MRI. There’s one in Malvern that I went to a few months back. You are still in the machine, but it’s not nearly as bad as being in a torpedo-like tube. You’ll be standing during the entire test, and you get to watch a DVD of your choice on a big flat-screen TV. Closed-captioning is even enabled so that you can follow the story if the machine makes too much noise. Plus you receive a $20.00 in cash for having the test there! You really do.
If that is not possible, try to find just an open one. There are many, many around for claustrophobics like us.
In any event, I try to distract myself as much as possible with pleasant thoughts. I always promise myself a tangible reward for getting through the test. That tends to help. And if you can’t make it through the first time, it’s OK. You can always try again. I know several people who have done that successfully.
Please keep us informed, Liz. I know you can do it!
Dennis
I second the open MRI. I ended up having a panic attack in a “normal one”. (hate that phrase) and have been fine in the open ones. I look forward to seeing you speak in Lancaster in Nov. Best wishes and best of luck!
I got an MRI of my head recently and it seems to me that it wasn’t so bad because your head is in the machine but the rest of your body is outside and free, so you’re not entirely enclosed. Also, I took Valium. That helps. I, too, have phobias. Primarily flying–ohmygod, that makes me hyperventilate!
Saw a picture of the inside of a blogging friend’s arm after she’d had blood taken and I nearly keeled over. Getting my blood taken, or seeing anybody else getting their blood taken, is pass-out time for me.
I told my psychiatrist about it and she prescribed Xanax to take shortly before I had to have it done…but that freaks me out as well. Ugh.
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