hi ladies,

ok, my dr. has suggested taking a CT scan, just to be SURE, you know. Well, I've never done that, and it makes me nervous.
I was talking to his nurse/receptionist who called me with the info. as far as the date and time and all....and she mentioned to me about using a "contrast", or in orther words DYE! So, I told her to tell my dr. to call me, or set me up with an appt. with him BEFORE the CT scan (which is april 13th) to talk this over with him, because I DON'T feel comfortable with that, not at all!
I don't think that's a good idea, injecting DYE into your bloodstream and having it mainline right to your brain! So, she says to me, oh MOST people have no trouble with it, and she herself has had 3 (wow!) and she wasn't affected by the DYE at all,,,oh, and that it's supposedly iodine in the DYE, and as long as your not allergic to seafood, you won't have an allergic reaction to this either...ok, well, it's MY body, and if there IS a reaction I'M THE ONE that'll be hurt by it, not them. I understand what she's saying, but when people try to tell me that MOST people have no problem with it, well, I MAY NOT BE most people. See, they're not even suggesting doing a test ahead of time to see if I might be allergic to the dye, or iodine,....can I eat seafood, yes I love it, but that goes into your stomach first and then is digested, it isn't MAINLINED to your brain, full strength! so, yeah, I do think that's a very valid concern, especially since I do have a heart arythmia, and since Feb. 1996, every 4-5 Februarys, I seem to have some kind of "thing" happen to my brain, I don't know what it is, it might be an ischemic thing, but it seems like it. It always happens in Feb. for some reason, the first one was in 1996, and it was BAD, i fell onto my bed, as if my legs gave out, and I sat on my bed shaking, with my brain "vibrating" (that's how it felt) and these "tires" around my eyes, like I was going to black out...well, this went on for about 20-30 seconds, and it was over. I didn't black out, I fought hard to stay "there" , when it was over, I felt totally weird, shaken, wow! I didnt have any paralysis, speech problems, or whatever.....but thatwas really something. It scared the living daylights out of me. Well, after that, I've had similar things happen in my head, in Feb. (like I said, it happens every few years.)

So, my point is, I don't think DYE being injected into my brain is a good idea! If anyone here has had a CT scan, and did it with the dye, or without the dye, please tell me about it. I told her to tell the dr. that I'd rather do it without the dye,,,he'll call me.
I asked her what the diff. really is, I mean, if it's not that much of a diff., then I'll go without the dye.

I'm going to look that up on teh internet now, but I'd rather have actual experiences to go by.......

thanks ladies!! sincerely, MyDarling

hi again ladies,..I just wanted to add someting here, I just read a site on CT scanning, and they said that the only real risk is to the DYE, so tha's what I'm concerned about. This is all due to me telling my dr. about the temple pressure and squeezing, and sine he did a bloodtest for Giant Cell Arteritis, and it came back negative, he thought maybe a CT scan ... but how long does it take them to get the results back to the dr.? He said he wants to see me a WEEK later, so that gave me the impression he isn't to worried, I mean, I'd assume that if he really thought there was a brain tumor, he'd get those results quickly and want to see me pretty fast, does that sound right?

Mydarling,
pressure and squeezing are mostly hormonal, brain tumor ( god forbid) will have different symptoms. Brain MRI are better than CT scan, but it is done with contrast too, and indeed is nasty stuff. Mostly it may affect your kidneys, or if you take certain medications like metformin, you shoudl stop for few days before.
I bet it is nothing more than migranes, typical signs. Brain tumor produces head aches, nausea ans vomiting, seizures, vision and/or hearing problems, weakness of arms and legs, strange feeling in your face, impared balance : falling, dropping objects, behavioral modifications: doing and saying something that is not appropriate. The chances are - it is nothing, but for your piece of mind, may be you can get MRI or brain scan. Many ppl deal with contrast, you just need to drink lots of water to flash this stuff afterwards.
HTH and good luck.
I.

I have had more CT scans and MRIs than I can even remember, some with dye, some not.

I am allergic to one of the types of dye that is used - I had trouble breathing afterwards - so now they either use a different type or none at all. They get a much better image with the dye than without, though.

CT scans are no big deal. You lie there and the machine rotates around you while you are very still. If you move, it messes up the image.

It may well take up to a week for the radiologist to read the films, send the report to your doctor and the doctor's staff to get it to you.

Mydarling,
I am laughing right now because you and i are so much alike i could have written every one of your posts myself. my husband just read this last one and chuckled too ,but feels sorry for you like he does me. Our life seems to revolve around fear doesnt it? Its so very hatd and stressful. I am sterting therapy next week to try to learn how to stop these thinking patterns. I will share what i learn with you if i learn something that helps or works.
I have had ct scans done on my head and my abdomin and i had an MRI done on my leg. My dr also wanted to use the contrast for my head scan but i flipped out about it and he did it without. lol. I know and feel your fear. the scan itself isnt painful at all and is very quick, mine took about 3 minutes. Its no more painful than an x-ray. let us know how it goes.

Just wanted to add that if the radiologist does see something that concerns him ( and he will read it the same day) he will notify your dr that same day and he/she will call you too. at least thats how it works here. If there isnt anything there to worry about , then you wont get a call right away. i called my dr and asked that she call me right away even if there wasnt anything to worry about , just for my peace of mind.i actually called the radiologist first and asked him to call her right away. lol. i didnt want to wait at all. but thats just the way i am and they know it and didnt get upset about it.

I've had a CT scan without dye and it was nothing...I could have taken a nap while they did it. I haven't had one with the dye. I did have a hysteropalpingiogram with dye and it didn't bother me. If the doctor can get decent results without it, I'd opt out of the dye, if only for your own peace of mind. If it's not absolutely necessary, it just doesn't make sense to me! Try not to worry too much (easier said than done, I know)...chances are the temple pain is hormone-related. I hope you feel better soon...do let us know how it goes!!! Take care & God bless, IrishLass

I've had CT's and I've had MRIs...all done with dye.

CTs, IMHO, are so much easier than MRIs. The machine is open, they don't take as long, and they don't make so much noise or give you a claustrophobic feeling.

Now as far as the dye...they usually used gadolinium for the MRIs (at least the ones I've had) and the only problem I've ever had with that is one time they tech blew a vein while injecting and the stuff stung my skin...but that only happened once, and I've had a lot of MRIs.

The CT dye is iodine based and if you don't have shellfish allergies, it shouldn't give you any problem. It does give you a warm, flushing sensation. Sort of like a hot flash, but it goes away quicker. They tell you it will cause this, and they tell you when they're injecting it, so you're prepared for the flushing.

Hi-
I'm hoping this may give you some comfort. I'm unsure of the specific differences between a CT scan and a MRI (magnetic resonatng image) but, I've had frequent (almost annual) MRIs with contrast since 1995 to determine if the developement of my MS (multiple sclerosis) plaques have progressed.
In my situation, I go through a round of images on my spinal cord and brain and then the technician injects contrast into my vein and does another series of images. (the whole process usually takes about four hours in the actual MRI machine)
The first time I had contrast, I was concerned because of the potential for allergic reactions. I kept telling myself that I was surrounded by folks who deal with these issues all the time and they could handle it if I did have trouble.
The contrast iteself will feel cold as it enters your body-and, then you don't even know it's there. It's filtered out through your urine. The only problems I've had are from technicians who overshot or punctured the vein and the contrast actually got deposited into my arm. It does burn badly if it isn't placed within the vein.

I look at it this way- they can get pretty good pics from a scan wthout contrast- but, with the contrast there's no doubt what's going on within my brain and spinal cord.

Try not to read too much online from unsubstantiated websites- they'll just scare you and increase your anxiety. Consider searching on the Natiional Institute of Health website...(NIH). I would trust ther findings concerning possible risks from dye reaction.

If you want to ask me more questioins about my experiences, please feel free.

Take care!

Georgia

Sorry for the multiple posts....I thought of a couple more hints and tried to add them. Somehow, I managed to repost the body of the first post.

Ooops!

Hi Mydarling,
I know the fear of the unknown, but you'll be fine. I had a CT done in October when I had one of trips the the ER. They sent me to have the CT, but never told me they weree injecting dye until I got there. I freaked!! I almost didn't do it. I have a ridiculous fear of medical situations, even going to have my blood pressure taken I end up in an uncontrollable panic. Anyway, I just couldn't decide whether to let them do it or not. The CT specialist suggested I go back and ask them to give me some ativan to relax me so I wouldn't be so freaked out. So that's what I did, and a bit later I was brave enough to go back and do it. I felt like a complete idiot because it was really nothing, so simple. I did have a tiny bit of a warm sensation for a few seconds, but I've had hot flashes much worse than that, LOL. They gave me ativan through the IV, so it really helped. I would suggest asking for something like that to calm you so it's not so scary, and so you can just go and get it over with so your mind will be put to rest when you see you don't have a brain tumor. If you eat seafood, then I really wouldn't worry about a reaction. Even if you did have a reaction, they are there and prepared, so try not to worry. It really wasn't bad at all!!!!!
Good luck and let us now how it goes.
God Bless,
Faith

hi ladies,

thank you all for your replies! ok, now I've decided to go ahead with it, as long as he goes along with NO DYE...if not, I'm not doing it. My husb. and I both agree on that. To me, if he really cared about me, he'd go along with that, because it's better to have something rather than nothing,.even if it's just for MY peace of mind. But, I bet he won't, he's that type, I'll hear from him on monday.

Now, today, there's very little pressure or squeezing on my temple, same yesterday. Although, since that eye exam on Wed., my left eye still feels "weird", hard to describe. It just feels "off", and when I open my eyes in the morning, sometimes it feels lke there's some "mucus" in there, thats the only feeling I can describe it as....so that when you open your eyes, it's as if the left eye, sees a little white stuff in front of your eye, so I have to close my eye and rub it, and then it mostly goes away. Plus, today I seem to be dealing with my right arm being very shakey! So, yu just know, that naturally, I start thinking BRAIN TUMOR, geez! I also feel very whoozie today, lightheaded, not here, very detached and a little off balance .... so my anxiety gets going and I think I most likely have abrain tumor or some deadly disease, because i start assuming that the reason I have a shakey RIGHT hand, is because the "tumor" is on the left side...the prob. side already! TA DA!!!!!! OH BOY! My husb. says "it's your hormones"..lol...m best friend agrees wit hhim, and she adds, it's your sinuses!!! LOL WEll, that could be true, becuase i have sinus problems, I've never had an infection but lots of sinus headaches. I live in FLA. and this year the pollen count is out of this world, so maybe that's it. I also find myself, almost tripping over my own words when I speak. What that means is that I'm talking so darn fast, that I end up stuttering, or saying the word wrongly. I think it's anxiety...my second oldest son said he has that sometimes too.
Then, to top it off....I've noticed that since the other day, I seem to be doing the same thing when Im typing, as when I'm speaking, like tripping over the keypad...meaning that, as I'm typing (I'm a fast typer) that I seem to be spelling the words wrongly (only once and a while) and then I backspace, and try it again, and do it wrong again....and it's bec. I'm typing so darn fast!!!!! But again, I've never had that prob. before either! Only since the other day, when the dr. told me he thought I had that Giant Cell arteritis thing! I think it's nerves.............what do you all think?


ok girls, thank you all agaiin......Sincerely, MyDarling

I have all your symptoms, had the ct scan with and without contract and a mri. If only I knew what I knew now I would had skip it, but the symtpoms are so scary. So I know how worry you are! My vision is also off, even tho I had my vision recheck last week and the doctor said my vision is good and my eyes are healthy.
I'm so tired today I can barely move! But there's nothing left to be scan in my body! Not sure there even a specialist left I haven't seen!
I feel my problems lie with the fact I'm not sleeping, (night sweats)!
Did you read the post Dearest wrote back 2001?
Like Dearest wrote> I feel menopause is killing me!
I mean I really do!

Hi,

I agree with Faith. I have had a Ct scan twice. Each time they first put me in without the dye. And then with. They only sensation was a warming sensation in the chest area for me, and it was really nothing to be afraid of. I of course was, though. But in retrospect, I would want both ways done because it truly is the only way they can do the most thorough test, and you want to have all of your fears resolved don't you?. If you don't do the test the way it was designed then even if it comes up good, you're going to still wonder if they really know for sure, for sure. I know you're scared but from the biggest chicken in California, I've done it twice and I recommend it be done the complete way. Good luck, Mary