How I conquered my fear of the MRI
As many of you ( http://bit.ly/1g8YZxC ) I too was scared of going through an MRI. But when I tried to understand where did my fear come from, it was simply fear of the unknown. (I knew this intervention was the best thing to find what kind of injury I had on my shoulder but this somehow contrived and claustrophobic experience provoked anxiety and fear.)
So I decided to be prepared for that claustrophobic experience: I started by creating my own MRI mockup at home to experience in a safe environment what it feels like to be inside that medical coffin.
I stayed inside for 20 min a day and/or night (to experience with daily light and no lights), and little by little I got used to that confined space. Once inside I played on the stereo some MRI sounds ( http://bit.ly/1dYG86g ) which allowed me to get used to this loud and annoying noise. I also tried to meditate which I found to be hard because of the distracting noises. So I just followed and counted my breaths from 1 to 10 and then again.
On the day of the MRI, I was calm and relaxed and when they put me inside and raised it so I was 15 cm close to the roof of the MRI, I felt at home! ;-) I was used to it, was relaxed in that small space, wasn’t startled by the noise and was even able to breath calmly in a kind of meditative state thanks to all that funny preparation.
Please try it and let me know how was your experience and if you have any other tips.
