I went for another MRI scan today. Noooo... nothing wrong with me (well, there is, but that's another story); I was participating in a neuropsychology study. They make you do tasks while inside a MRI machine, and they take brain scans. It's pretty neat, really.
This was the second study I was participating in, and I freaked out a little half way through.
See, the scanner's really loud, and it's a little unnerving being in there. I get a little claustrophobic sometimes - if something goes wrong, and I want to get free and can't, I start to panic. Sometimes when D pins me down and I can't get free, I panic. I got a little upset this time. First my eyes got uncomfortably dry. (It's probably time to swap contact lenses again.) Then I wanted desperately to swallow, although I was instructed not to. Then again, it was probably
because I was instructed not to. It's the pink elephant thing, you know. But think about it! No swallowing for 6 minutes while you're lying on your back and the spit's pooling in the back of your mouth! Practically impossible.
Then my arm started itching. Then the other arm. I tried to scratch in between runs, but I couldn't get a good scratch in. I realized exactly how much of my body was in the scanner, and exactly how constricted I was. Then I started to panic, in a very controlled fashion... When they asked me how I felt at the end of the run, I said I needed out. It was kind of embarrassing, actually, even though intellectually I know that many people must have problems being in there too. I just felt like I was making so much of a fuss over nothing. Then there's the fact that if you're claustrophobic you probably don't make a very good test subject for a study that involves being put into a MRI scanner. :) Fortunately they were perfectly nice about it and I managed to stay in the scanner for the last 3 runs without too much (overt) discomfort.
Strange. I paid almost a thousand dollars earlier in the year for an MRI on my ankles. I've never seen the images. I've participated in 2 studies in the last week and been in the scanner twice, and not only did they give me a little cash for my time, they also emailed me a copy of my brain scans. Some weird imbalance going on here, when you think about it...
