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MRI Scan tomorrow

Location
London
heyy,

just wondering if anybody can tell me wat exactly happens, i know you just lie there buttt i've been told to get there an hour early to take some laxatives or something? and im not sure why id need to take them.

help ples!
 
Hi,

I had this done a few months ago. Be prepared to be there for a few hrs! Take a magazine or book to read between scans. You will get some lovely flavoured juice to drink too!!

Think the laxatives are to just speed thinks up a bit but I found them fairly mild and was back to normal next day. Good luck!
 
its probably not a laxative you will receive, more likely it is a drink with contents that are visible to the mri to assist with the examination (it wil light up the intestines and help reveal the intestinal lining as it goes through). Like Barrium or something similar. It is a bit chalky, not the best tasting. You drink it and then wait so that it goes down through the intestines before they scan you. Just my guess anway.
 

rygon

Moderator
I had a laxative to drink (1ltr moviprep) as they wanted my small bowels clear before the scan. They may give a muscle relaxant as well which made me very sleepy every min or so, lasting for 5secs (like when ur nodding off) althought was fine after 20mins so could drive home fine.

This might help show what its like and what it sounds like (very loud but you wear ear defenders)
[youtube]8m_RUVrxhew[/youtube]
 
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For my MRI I had 3 bottles of a watery barium solution to drink, one every 15 minutes, which helps them see the intestines better. It doesn’t taste too bad (colonoscopy preps are way worse). After that I had an IV put in, drank a large glass of water, laid on the table and into the machine I went. You have to hold still and will hear lots of loud noises and a few times they asked me to hold my breath. I was given an injection of glucagon in my IV to slow down my digestive system and towards the end they added contrast solution in my IV. The drink did have a little laxative effect but nothing extreme. In my opinion this is one of the easiest tests I've had to go through.
 
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