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How can I be less anxious about my MRI with contrast?
Ear, Nose & Throat (ENT) | Last Active: Feb 8, 2022 | Replies (63)Comment receiving replies
I still have difficulty facing my fears. Only thing l can say is as fearful as l get about medical procedures l can say l face my fears by getting whatever tests l need. I feel it's better to get answers then have constant fear of not knowing.
Today l got my mri results and thank God all came back good. Other thing that showed was mild aging small vessel white matter. Doctor said it comes with age. So l felt that fear of not knowing disappear. I told her l believe my balance issue is not only from slight ear issue but from my DDD of the neck. Now l have to decide whether to keep my neurologist appt for my neck. I've gone to orthopedic who diagnosed my DDD. Any suggestions?
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@cookiepic
I agree that knowledge is power, and understanding an issue helps eliminate the fear of not knowing. I researched and learned a lot about spine surgery and different spine problems before I had surgery and I knew what choices I could have for surgery and recovery. I had a compressed spinal cord, and the only fix for that is surgery if it is advanced enough to start causing a functional problem, so I began my journey with that fear because I knew I would have to face major surgery. There actually was a lot to my pattern of fearing medical events throughout my life and I addressed them all and figured out where the fears came from and how it was still affecting me with the same reactive pattern, and even though I was grown up, but not fully aware of that connection. Deprogramming all of that set me free. You do have a choice in how you react to fear. If you try to avoid it, you never do escape it, so it's best to figure out why it has a grip on you. This was life changing and I am a much more confident person in all of my life now.
What is the reason that you would cancel an appointment with a neurologist? Are you experiencing pain from an unknown source? Is this part of diagnosing a potential spine issue? I can tell you that everyone has changes to their spine with aging, and just because a doctor tells you there are degenerating discs doesn't automatically mean that you need surgery. Spine surgery is meant to prevent further damage and maintain function. It is something to check out because an advanced spine problem can also cause disability or paralysis.
A neurologist will look for nerves that don't function properly. The speed of conducting electrical impulses may be slowed because of pressure on the nerve, or there may be no signal conducted at all if there has been an injury. They will also rule out other diseases that can affect nerves to help in diagnosing a problem as a physical issue involving the mechanics of the spine instead of a disease like MS which affects nerve function. Nerve conduction tests can be a bit painful and I needed to have a mental strategy to get through them, but I did get through them, and then had surgery that gave me my life back, so it was all worth it in the end.
Did your orthopedic surgeon give you any specific diagnosis other than DDD? What was the reason they referred you to a neurologist? Will you take your MRI for the neurologist to discuss with you?