I've never been so scared in my life

[Bignate603]

Originally posted by: Kalmah
I'm interested in what your results are.
I too have had a headache for.. 8 months now I think?

I had a closed head-injury when I was a 11 which has me very worried. At that time, doctors said I could hit my head slightly anytime in my life and slip into a coma or go braindead at any time.

I don't have insurance and am unemployed right now so I'm sol.

Nah, if you go braindead you could just keep posting here. With the quality of posts we get most days you'd fit right in.

 

[amdhunter]

Didn't that actress that just died start off with a little headache too.

OP 🙁

 

[xchangx]

Originally posted by: silverpig
I took a medical physics class a few years ago. Apparently the first person to see your MRI is a tech who knows how to operate the machine. The next person to see the scan is a medical physicist who will interpret what the image physically means - what's really there, what's an image artifact etc. Then it goes to a radiologist (or whatever the MRI equivalent is) who can come up with a biological/medical assessment of what is there based on what the physicist tells him. Then it goes to your doctor along with the info from the physicist and the radiologist.

I guess if you had a super awesome insurance plan they could have those guys all standing in a row or something and it'd go quickly.

Maybe this isn't accurate, but it's what I was told.

As someone who deals with this everyday, it's primarily up to your physician. At my hospital (granted it's only 130 beds) the tech does the MRI, looks at it to make sure everything looks ok, then sends it to the radiologist. Everything is digital so t's somewhat instantaneous (sp?).

The radiologist will normally read it that day with the preliminary results available for the patient's physician. If it's from the ER then they are read immediately.

 

[slayer202]

they send the mri to india for the dell guys to look at.


jk, about the dell part

 

[Gabornski]

If the tech noticed anything he probably would have expedited it up the chain. The doc saying it will be looked at in a normal time frame probably means everything looked normal to the tech.

 

[Q]

I bet you are nervous, you'll be OK and let us know results

 

[Mark R]

Originally posted by: Cyco
Are the doctors on TV full of shit when the can decipher an MRI in minutes or do they just need to preserve the 60 minute time frame? Not expecting an answer, although it would be nice...just need to vent.

By and large, that's not how it happens.

The scan is performed by technologists. It is then sent to a radiologist for an opinion. The vast majority of doctors are not able to interpret the images from an MRI scan, so the type of discourse that you see on TV programs like House is not normal.

Depending on the complexity of the scan, and whether there are any abnormalities, the scan can take a variable amount of time for the radiologist to interpret.

There are then administrative issues - the scan has to be sent. The radiologist must have time to examine it, and prepare a report. The report has to be typed, then checked and signed before being sent out. 5 days is not an unreasonable estimate for a "non-urgent" scan to ensure that all the paperwork is done appropriately. In practice, the scan result will typically be available much sooner, as the administrators like to build in lots of slack time - as what they don't want to happen is someone to go back to an appointment with their doc, and the scan result not to be ready. That said, there is potentially a backlog in terms of work to be done, as there may be a shortage of radiologists, etc.

In terms of actually interpreting the scan, an expert radiologist would normally be able to interpret a MRI of their specialist area in 5-10 minutes. I'm only a trainee, and the vast majority of MRIs would take me less than 15 minutes to go through.

Unfortunately, backlogs are a major problem - Where I work, there's currently a 10 day backlog for MRI scans to be reported. (Management decided that they would operate the MRI scanners 14 hours per day instead of 10 hours, but just expected the radiologists to do 40% more work in the same time). We're now having to send many of the MRIs off to radiology outsourcing companies because we don't have enough local staff to do them.

 

[imported_Devine]

Come on man, it's the military, hurry up and wait.

 

[Miramonti]

Its probably a backlog but if your condition worsens in the meantime, don't hesitate to go back so they make yours a priority.

 

[Howard]

Originally posted by: quakefiend420

Originally posted by: Howard

Originally posted by: silverpig

Originally posted by: lxskllr
Hopefully it works out for you. TV doctors are about as relevant as TV lawyers. I'd rank them several tiers below Wikipedia for reliable information :^)

You mean it might actually be lupus?

Damn it, Otto, you have lupus.

One of these two just doesn't sound right.

Fantastic.

 

[dman]

:music: The way-ay-ting is the hard est part :music:

Sorry, I'll turn that down a little. 😉 Hope it's nothing serious, just trying to lighten the mood. Try looking into your nutrition, and read up on B12 & Magnesium deficiency while you wait.

 

[IHateMyJob2004]

Heacaches:

1) I get them every Sunday like clockwork due to caffiene withdrawal. I only drink coffee at work.
2) Seeing you went the MRI route already, I'm assuming they already did the test for Lyme disease and other blood work.
3) Sometimes foods will get you. My doctor said wine gets some people (white or red) due to some chemical in it. I think he asked about seafood also. In short, start keeping a log of foods you eat (EVERYTHING) and mark down when you get your headaches.

It could be anything ....

I've started thinking about what I've eaten recently whenever I get a headache. I'm starting to realize that peperoni can get me. Might be due to the grease. Pepperoni on pizza is OK, but plain pepperoni sometimes nails me.

 

[Cyco]

Well, it turns out, to quote Arnie..."It's not a too-mah"
I suppose I should be thankful for that, but still having the headaches. Next appointment is on the first, who's the fool? Anyway, thanks for all your support and laughs. I knew I could count on ATOT!