MRI app. a disaster! | Autism PDD
Sarah needed anesthesia for MRI and the hardest thing was when she woke up and was real groggy, drunk acting for awhile!
His MRI, on the other hand, went fine. He had a liquid anesthesia first (Dormicur/midazolam) and then gas. He was 7 at the time. Here's the full report plus some links at the end:
We had to be there very early, but then waited a long time. Grrr. Our son hadn't eaten or drunk anything since 9 pm the night before, but luckily he
was too busy playing in the playroom to complain about hunger or thirst.
First he got a liquid anesthesia called Dormicur (midazolam) which tasted awful. He needed coaxing and bribing but he got it down. It worked rather quickly, because on the way up to the MRI room (one floor up) he was getting groggy. By the time we lifted him up onto the table he was slurring his words. He was saying "I'm scared." Poor guy.
It was pretty scary with 4-5 nurses bustling around, attaching the heart monitor, checking for metal in his pockets, etc. I just stayed at his side, stroking his hair and reassuring him. Luckily the Dormicur causes amnesia, so he doesn't remember the scary stuff.
Then they gave him a mask with gas anesthesia, and said he was out. His
eyes were still partly open, so I was a little reluctant to leave. They told us
they'd get us when he started to wake up, and I wanted to make sure they knew he has autism (no one else seemed to catch this in his file!). The nurse was like it'll be fine, I'm shutting the door now. We waited about an hour, and I was starting to get uneasy because both Stein and I had gotten the impression from a previous doctor that the anesthesia would only last 15 minutes! (Maybe he actually meant the MRI).
They finally came and got us, but he was not waking up. He was probably just
exhausted. We let him sleep a half hour more, and then started gently waking him. He sat up in bed to look at the pulse monitor, but could barely hold his
head upright. It was a good half hour more before we wheeled him down from recovery back to the children's ward, where he was in an observation room with another kid and a tv/dvd. We finally left around 5 or so, and ate dinner at
McDonalds.
When we got home, after having picked Truls up at Petter's, Espen built his new
Bionicle, one of his many prizes that day.
- We coaxed him out of bed with a "Happy Brain Day" present - the Bionicle.
- We gave him a book after he successfully drank his medicine, and the nurse gave him a Beyblade.
- In recovery, the nurse gave him a diploma, and at McDonalds he got a car happy meal prize.
Given a choice between an ordinary day and a happy brain day, he said he'd choose brain day, so I felt we succeeded in making it a positive experience and keeping him from worrying he was sick.
In retrospect, we regretted not talking to the hospital ahead of time and not having anything written prepared. We felt that it was hard to get the busy nurses and doctors to listen to our concerns. They had zero knowledge of the case, and weren't even aware that autism was the suspected diagnosis. If nothing else, talking to them ahead of time might have helped eliminate the wait, but at least the play room made it tolerable.
Here's an article about Going to the Doctor, by the National Autistic Society in the UK.
http://www.nas.org.uk/nas/jsp/polopoly.jsp?d=1064&a=1144 0
The article included a link to a pamphlet you can hand out to the doctors and nurses taking care of your child. The pamphlet might help them take your concerns more seriously:
www.northshorelij.com/workfiles/autism/YourNextPatient.pdf
Here's another topic on our forum connected with MRI and sedation:
http://www.autism-pdd.net/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=17805&am p;KW=MRI
Good luck with everything.
sorry to hear thatit made me really sad reading this as i had a very truamatic experience
with these when i was little and can certainly relate to how scared the little guy was if i can help you in any way please pm me
i might be able to help you think of ways to keep him calm.
i know how hard this must be for you
youre his mommy and you dont want to scare him but at the same time
seizures are very serious and cant be ignored
if i can help as i said let me know so sorry to hear things went this way
Ah, good idea. I used to volunteer at an MRI clinic, they definately had opinions on the doctors who referred!
My ds just got another EEG Today. It went pretty good, but he fights the medicine and he gets mad when it starts to make him loopy. The MRI with anesthia was nerve wracking, but his little body actually fought going to sleep. He was screaming and stiff as a board with the mask on. I think our kids are more sensitive to it and have a reaction to fight the medication. Good luck with this next one. I know it is stressful. And that stinks that your dr didnt have the paperwork!
Big hugs!!!! Hope it goes better next time!!!!
I PM'd you about Mason's experience with MRI's and anesthesia.
[QUOTE=143hayden]Does anyone here have any experience with anesthesia and MRI? Id like to know what to expect and any side effects. Thanks guys.
[/QUOTE]
Mr. B had an MRI done at the hospital last year under anesthesia. The biggest difficulty we had was keeping him still and the mask in place long enough to put him under. I was able to stay with him and help calm him until he was out. The MRI was done without any problem, and I was permitted to be with him in the recovery room as he came out of sedation. He was cranky, thirsty, and sleepy, but that was really the only issues we had - no long- or short-term side effects.
We're dealing with a 4-day hospital stay and surgery at the end of this week, so I prepared a social story for him that we've been reading over the past few weeks. It includes "The nurse will let Mr. B try on a funny mask at the hospital" and "Mr. B. will take a long nap in the hospital". I used clipart I could find on the internet to illustrate it. You might try writing and using something like that between now and the next appointment... anything to help prepare your son for what will he will experience.
Hayden had an MRI scheduled in Vegas at Nevada Imaging Center on Saturday but when we got there they asked me for his referral. I didnt have it and I didnt think I was supposed to. What happened in the beginning was I asked his Nuero whos in Vegas if I could have his MRI done here in Arizona and they said yes id have to wait for a paper to come in and take there to get it scheduled. The paper never came and I called them and said they were still waiting for it. But then a little later nev. imaging center called me and set up an app. for him thru the doctors so I figured ok whatever well just go over there for it since theyr taking forever to send his paper. I didnt realize I needed that paper anyway. I coluldnt call the nueros office since it was a saturday and they wernt open. But they said theyll do the mri since we traveled a couple hours to get there which I was thankful!
As soon as we got into the sedation room Hayden starts flipping out and we have to physically take him in there. I think he remember the EEG and his unpleasant experience with the sedative last time. So we had to wrestle with him to take it which he didnt and ended up almost thowing up and spitting it out everywhere and getting it all up his nose, screaming bloody murder. They even offered him m&ms his favorite candy if hed take it but he wasnt in a mood to bargain. Sooooo they told us we have to come back on a wednesday because they need to put him under anesthesia! Which sucks because I dont want him under anes. but I guess thats the only way we can get it done. They asked me if hell lay still for them without sedative but I know for a FACT that isnt going to happen because hes a very anxious kid. Im a little scared about that. I asked them if we can just get the upcomming retry in our hometown but the secretary said they have the best equipment in the world thats probably why the doc wanted us to come here so that sold me to comming back.
I am so upset with his nueros office because what if they didnt let us do the MRI and we went there for nothing (even tho we went there for nothing anyway!). Not to mention my son just had a seizure last week and his doctor never even called me back about it! Anyway sorry so long! Does anyone here have any experience with anesthesia and MRI? Id like to know what to expect and any side effects. Thanks guys.
Sorry to hear about your experience. Thank goodness the people at the MRI place were nice. Maybe you can ask them for the name of a good neuro. They probably deal with them all the time.
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