Had my MRI earlier tonight and it got me thinking while I was in there.

Wondering if anyone has had one done while they were having an attack. I know, sounds impossible, especially when being couped up in one of these machines. I'm a pretty big guy and my shoulders rub on the machine when they slide me in. I was so worried about being claustrophobic that I forced myself to think about other things. That's what gave me the idea. I was laying there thinking.....yeah, this is going to do a lot of good since my cycle is over (knock on wood).....why couldn't we find a way to get an MRI while I was having an attack? From what I've read here, I'm far from being the worst off of the group and think that I could live through it. They did give me a panic button....... I suppose that the only challenge would be scheduling.

Perhaps this has been discussed before. Just thought I'd throw it out there.

BTW....I go next Thursday for an MRA  >:(

Gene1720 wrote on Dec 4^th, 2009 at 2:53am:

That's what gave me the idea. I was laying there thinking.....yeah, this is going to do a lot of good since my cycle is over (knock on wood).....why couldn't we find a way to get an MRI while I was having an attack?

Depending on the bare building intensity, lying still as required during an attack would be challenging.


These rule out other possible problem sources that may be noticeable.  Even if out of cycle, if there was another cause, it's traceable form may become apparent. 

In cycle, while not being hit, pretty much nothing shows, usually ruling out another concern.  Having a scan done helps more than saying it looks like and quacks like.  I believe an enlarged grey area has been shown in the hypothalamus while being hit lending to a something going on there.

A clean scan could lead a headache specialist to concentrating on cluster possibilities, a sooner dx'ing, and starting effective treatment options.  Otherwise, if something shows, there may be a completely different route to go.

I don't know much about scans, but they seem a good precautionary measure with such pain emanating from a head.

It has been done with a PET scan (Positron Emission Tomography) which helped identify the Hypothalamus as being involved.

The pioneering work was done by Dr. Goadsby of course.

What the Doctors are looking for is something that stands out when you're not having an attack. To rule out other problems that may cause similar headaches.

For CH sufferers these scans almost always come back negative. If by chance you had an attack during the scan it may show something, but a follow up scan with no attack would not.

Don

I pondered while you guys spoke about laying still with a CH attack and I recalled reading huge international neuro report on headaches and neuro-diseases that had some pages, about weird research that Japanese patients with CH can remain laying even through most of their Cluster Attacks, they had droppy eyelid, red eye runny nose and one-sides pain located around an eye, the thing is all of them could remain sat or laid down during most attacks without being anxious and running, which leads to question, How does Japanese differ from American or European for example? (Apart that they got different size and outter appearance and language :P )

And yes they could do so when not on meds, they still experienced pain when asked, they felt pain but did not 'anxiously suffer' it.

I will seek for the PDF I had these reports stored, and upload it then link when I have time because I think it is most interesting.

I had an MRI yesterday and I was very shadowy during the scan (Kip 3-4 ) . Made me feel very dizzy and disorientated for a half hour afterwards . They say I will get the results in two weeks so it will be interesting to see if they come up with any thing. I'll let you know what happens.

Ok so it was a little more than two weeks but I finally saw a nuero to day who had my results which he said were normal.
That surprised my wife  ;D
Any way sorry nothing to report .

Nigel

Nigel, that's a good report!

Nothing more sinister going on.

All the best :)

I was very shadowy (kips 3-4) when I had my MRA at the first of December.  I mentioned something to the lab-tech after my MRA about being shadowy, and hoping that it would show up on my scans.  She said that migraines and CH don't normally show up on the MRA, even if active.  The MRA is to rule out other possibilities (bulging/weakened vessels, cysts, tumors, etc.). 

My MRA was normal, just had "congenial small blood vessels".  My neuro put me on Indomethacin as another maintenance med.  Seems to have finally broke my 5 month cycle (after 6 weeks and getting up to the right dosage.)  [smiley=bow.gif]

That's my story.  Best of luck with your MRA!

I also had an MRI two days ago- get the results today- and was very shadowy at the time. Interestingly enough the pain actually got less during the scans , though I was light headed when I went to get up. I'll let you know what they say.

MRI's/MRA's trigger an attack for Gary - every time.  Something about the pitch of the machine tuning. Thankfully we found a high res machine where they'll do the slices in ranges of 3 to 8 minutes and let him freak out inbetween.  The high res machines are MUCH faster than the old lower resolution machines.

I had a facial nerve MRI 16 months ago that was done by the neurosurgeon who actually diagnosed my CH. And the scan showed that I do have a vessel putting pressure on my trigeminal nerve on my left side (where my attacks are).

Results from my MRI didn't show anything in my head again- just that my neck is even more screwed up than it was 5 years ago.