Can atone tell me about an MRI?

mommy06 · December 2011

Our dd has an MRI scheduled for jan. 4. Can anyone give me the process? Any advice? I am a nervous wreck!

Thanks

Florak8 · December 2011

The child gets an IV for the sleep medicine and then they go in for the MRI which is like a bed which slides into the machine to take a picture of the body. It is loud, but the child is sleeping so they are not scared. Beyond the IV insertion, it is not painful. They may feel a little groggy, nauseous or crabby the rest of the day.

You may want to take your own bottle/sippy cup so that your child has that to drink from afterwards, in case your child tends to do better with a certain spout/nipple.

I try to make sure the scheduler knows that DS is little and it will be very difficult for him to not eat or drink all day. They are usually good about scheduling the little ones early in the day. If your LO takes thickener in her beverages, they can't have beverages before hand. (It counts as "food".)

It's really not that bad, and I find that kids take a cue from the mood/attitude of adults. So my best suggestion is to keep the mood light, bring some toys and books, and act like it is a cool adventure. Not an adventure we want to take our kids on, but attitude is everything.

Hope the MRI helps you get the information the docs are looking for. Good luck!

Jinsy80 · December 2011

The IV was the worst part of the whole procedure. They wouldn't give her anything beforehand, so she was fully aware of everything. Once it was in though, she was quickly groggy (and silly). She was super pissed when she woke up because her bottle wasn't warm enough (they wanted her to drink water or juice afterwards, but she just wants milk). A little sleepy throughout the rest of the day, and completely normal the next. GL!

kyethra · December 2011

I have had multiple. no big deal. if it is one with contrast then something might be injected or drunk, i don't remember exactly. They are noisy but with headphones if sleepy enough one can sleep through. it is important to hold still.

ToastieSimons · December 2011

kyethra:
I have had multiple. no big deal. if it is one with contrast then something might be injected or drunk, i don't remember exactly. They are noisy but with headphones if sleepy enough one can sleep through. it is important to hold still.

very few children can just lie still through them. They sedate them which is a serious process.

We use two different hospitals. Our children's hospital always starts an IV and administers Propofol (the sleepy stuff) and Versed (an anti-anxiety med that makes the muscles relax). They're great for MRI's because they have a short half life. about 20 minutes after stopping the IV they're fully worn off. DS ate about 3 oz afterword (he was only 3-5 months old) and was cranky. He napped the whole way home (about 30-40 minutes) and was back to himself. He also was allowed to have formula up until 6 hours before, breastmilk/pedialyte/water until 4 hours before. It really helped with the hunger issues. They put monitors on DS to watch his o2 saturation and respiratory rate because they DO NOT put a breathing tube in. They sedate just enough to put them to sleep. They do put a small tube of oxygen on their chest just to blow fresh o2 across their face in the MRI tube itself. DS was really little so maybe it had a little bit more to do with rebreathing of the carbon dioxide versus needing oxygen.

Other hospitals use gas to put the child to sleep first making the IV placement easier. For us this is worse. DS does not react well to it and vomited and screamed for about 24 hours following it. The other hospital we use has this as standard procedure so we don't use it for sedation purposes. Not every child will react this way. For this hospital he couldn't eat past midnight and our procedure was at 8am. He was 4 months old. After DS came out he could only have clear liquids until they made sure the child wasn't vomiting.

The MRI itself was quick and easy, our hospital allows you to stay in the room while they sedate them and get them set up. After that you can choose to sit in the office area and watch the MRI, in the waiting room or go to the cafeteria and they page you. Ours took about 20 minutes, although one time did go longer because he needed an extra dose of versed because he decided to suck his hand halfway through.

realisticdreams · December 2011

kyethra:
I have had multiple. no big deal. if it is one with contrast then something might be injected or drunk, i don't remember exactly. They are noisy but with headphones if sleepy enough one can sleep through. it is important to hold still.

uhm, ok?

This is in reference to pediatrics, in which you have to sign a waiver, that a risk to the anesthesia they use is death.

Death is kind of a big deal, eh?

Anyways, like PP's stated it is very hospital based on the procedure used. We have had multiple MRI's at 3 different hospitals and the procedure was different. However, the seemingly normal protocol if the child can have gases, is to have the gas before the IV, that way they don't feel the IV, etc.

It seems everytime P goes under, the harder it is for her to wake up so I don't know if that's a direct correlation or just on what they used/how much for that specific test.

At Children's in DC we stayed with her while they gassed her (which was kinda scary because she just went limp, and I was like she has no heart monitors on!) Then they got her all hooked up and rolled her away.

At the other hospitals they took her from me and then did everything, behind closed doors.

Your LO will go to a recovery area as well, which is again dependent upon the hospital, our local hospital sends us to the PACU and takes very good care of babies (they are top priority coming out of sedation) I can't tell you how many Dr's Peyton had.

Since this is the first time, you won't really know how your LO will act afterwards, for example, I know that if I'm not there when P first starts to come out, those people are going to need to restrain her because she flips but she's still out of it and falls all over the place.

GL

ppants · December 2011

You don't say which DD, but my 5 yr old DS had an MRI of his brain for headaches and vomiting. He was not sedated, did not need an IV, and was able to hold still to have it done. GL

REOM · December 2011

The only thing that I want to add to what PPs already said, is that the sedation was really awful for me and DH the first time.

When she was injected with the Propofol (sp?), she went from screaming wildly because she was being held down, to completely passed out in a second. The nurses had to pull her tongue out b/c it started rolling down her throat. I was very calm up until that moment.

I'm not telling you this to scare you, but just so you are prepared. I wish someone had warned me about the quickness of it all.

Good luck to you and your precious DD!

ToastieSimons · December 2011

REOM:

The only thing that I want to add to what PPs already said, is that the sedation was really awful for me and DH the first time.

When she was injected with the Propofol (sp?), she went from screaming wildly because she was being held down, to completely passed out in a second. The nurses had to pull her tongue out b/c it started rolling down her throat. I was very calm up until that moment.

I'm not telling you this to scare you, but just so you are prepared. I wish someone had warned me about the quickness of it all.

Good luck to you and your precious DD!

Wow, that sounds like a large dose! They hooked DS's IV up while in my arms and we put him on the table and he was fussing so I sang to him, it took probably 10-15 minutes for them to give him his full dose and for him to really fall asleep. Maybe because he was so little they go a lot slower?

That must have been so scary! I probably would have freaked out.

REOM · December 2011

ToastieSimons:
REOM:

The only thing that I want to add to what PPs already said, is that the sedation was really awful for me and DH the first time.

When she was injected with the Propofol (sp?), she went from screaming wildly because she was being held down, to completely passed out in a second. The nurses had to pull her tongue out b/c it started rolling down her throat. I was very calm up until that moment.

I'm not telling you this to scare you, but just so you are prepared. I wish someone had warned me about the quickness of it all.

Good luck to you and your precious DD!

Wow, that sounds like a large dose! They hooked DS's IV up while in my arms and we put him on the table and he was fussing so I sang to him, it took probably 10-15 minutes for them to give him his full dose and for him to really fall asleep. Maybe because he was so little they go a lot slower?

That must have been so scary! I probably would have freaked out.

Yes, awful. I didn't know any different, didn't realize some kids went under slowly. She has another scheduled for Feb, I wonder if it will be different since she is a little bigger now.

How is your pregnancy going, toastie?

ToastieSimons · December 2011

REOM:
ToastieSimons:
REOM:

The only thing that I want to add to what PPs already said, is that the sedation was really awful for me and DH the first time.

When she was injected with the Propofol (sp?), she went from screaming wildly because she was being held down, to completely passed out in a second. The nurses had to pull her tongue out b/c it started rolling down her throat. I was very calm up until that moment.

I'm not telling you this to scare you, but just so you are prepared. I wish someone had warned me about the quickness of it all.

Good luck to you and your precious DD!

Wow, that sounds like a large dose! They hooked DS's IV up while in my arms and we put him on the table and he was fussing so I sang to him, it took probably 10-15 minutes for them to give him his full dose and for him to really fall asleep. Maybe because he was so little they go a lot slower?

That must have been so scary! I probably would have freaked out.

Yes, awful. I didn't know any different, didn't realize some kids went under slowly. She has another scheduled for Feb, I wonder if it will be different since she is a little bigger now.

How is your pregnancy going, toastie?

It's going well. I've been feeling a LOT of baby movement already and I'm trying so hard not to get my hopes up that this a girl (who will have a MUCH better chance of not having DS's issues) Hopefully we'll get to find out the sex soon.

Hopefully your LO's sedation goes less traumatic this time. Maybe someone had a twitch or was new and nervous?

REOM · December 2011

Toastie- you should come hang out at my house, alls we have is girls! But 17 weeks, you'll find out soon. Did you have the option of doing an amnio to find out? We opted not to do the amnio b/c the findings would have no effect on pregnancy/delivery. But of course I am nervous...

She had two MRIs like that. Hoping this next one goes better, thanks!

ToastieSimons · December 2011

REOM:

Toastie- you should come hang out at my house, alls we have is girls! But 17 weeks, you'll find out soon. Did you have the option of doing an amnio to find out? We opted not to do the amnio b/c the findings would have no effect on pregnancy/delivery. But of course I am nervous...

She had two MRIs like that. Hoping this next one goes better, thanks!

Yeah we had the option of an Amnio or CVS. We also tried to get some blood test covered but in the end decided against it. This is our "miracle baby" We found out I was pregnant the day before we got DS's diagnosis. Had we not been pregnant we would never have another baby. I'm too scared to do anything to risk this pregnancy just to find out. Eventually this baby will come and we'll find out. Plus there were a couple signs in DS in utero (decreased fetal movement, odd measurments, microcephaly at 36w, etc) so just hopeful.

kyethra · December 2011

I remember I cried myself to sleep when I found out I was having a boy-- we tried to select for gender for a girl to reduce the risk of Autism and other issues that run in my family for this baby and I was just worried sick about him. Then I decided that this baby of mine must have really wanted to be a boy and we will see what happens.

pandabear12178 · December 2011

Our DD had one when she was one month old. They didnt sedate her. We got there early and fed her right before going in. They bundled her up in blankets, and tucked them around her head so it was hard to move. We gave her a nuk and she was fine the whole time. We were able to stand by the machine and watch her from the mirror above her head. I cried of course but thats only because it was hard for me to know what she was dealing with as far as her diagnosis. She was fine, just laid there and looked around.

Can atone tell me about an MRI?

Re: Can atone tell me about an MRI?

Choose Another Board

Search Boards