MRI BURNS AND EF SIDE EFFECTS

 Hi Julie. I'm very sorry about your situation and I am going through basically the same thing.  I had an MRI on August 7  to see if I had had a stroke. About 10 minutes into the procedure I felt like I was in an oven. I squeezed the emergency stop ball and told me technician to get me out of this thing right now.

" just before I went into the machine the technician said I hope I can complete the test because the MRI has been malfunctioning".  There was also another person in the room who heard what she said. I had been awake  for almost 36 hours  any just wanted to get this thing over with.  It was also import to note  that my arms and hands touched the walls inside the MRI machine. 

They took me back to the emergency room where I came from and I was shaking all over and couldn't stop.  I called for  my nurse and she could see that I was shaking.   She also noticed that there were two  electrode patches on either side of my chest so she pulled them off. I also talked to a physician who knew me  and for the very first time I really did not think he cared and/or he was being very evasive,  so I asked to be discharged,  signed my paperwork and went home via taxi cab. 

 Skin blotches are starting to appear on my back, chest,  arms and scalp,  and my pain level has increased to the point where I may have to go to the hospital tonight. 

 I am seeking legal representation and hope that I find a good attorney who will immediately send me to a dermatologist, neurologist  and ophthalmologist.

 As you well now the worst could be yet to come. 

 I am at especially concerned about any damage my eyes have suffered. 

 I'm very glad I had the opportunity to share our mutual problem,  so let's keep in touch. 

Tony

I just had mri on 9/19/17, my arm was burning so I called back up to the place they say they never heard of this happening do I have metal in meor skin red. NO metal or redness you can feel the lump and soreness. I put ice pack on it; I couldn't believe it held heat so long. So tonight I decided to look into this cause it sore and I'm not going crazy.

 You are not crazy by any means.  MRI's use radio frequency waves,  just like your microwave oven.  If the MRI was performed in a hospital, I strongly recommend that you go to another hospital not associated with that hospital for an evaluation.   Keep us posted on your progress.

Hi, have just red your story, I had an IRM, two days ago, It lasted about 30 min.

I immediately noticed some reddishness on the face and a feeling of sunburn on the legs and arms.

In the evening my face was very red and my nose swollen, the skin was puffy.

I even saw brown spots that I did not notice, like if my skin had suddenly aged.

After 3 days I still feel like a sunburn on the arms, legs torso and back.

I did not cross, my legs or arms during the IRM as someone suggested that it could be the cause of the sun burns like reaction.

There is definitely some side effects with the IRM, it seems that the IRM as acted as a microwave oven and as created an over heating on my body.

plus the NHS use private company to do this kind of test, and I wonder if the staffs are properly trained and the machine properly calibrated.

I come out of this experience with a lot of doubt with the NHS an the company they uses to cut the costs.

The world that comes to my mind is :" Danger"

I have read your text to the burn skin on MRI. My mother got a MRI burn 3 years ago (Tesla 3, C-spin, L-spin) and I had a MRI burn 3 weeks ago. We have the same problems, I can´t believe.

It was the 4th time in MRI for me; the last time on the 26. January 2018, Tesla 1,5, C-spin + brain. The machine was a little bit older. 3 times before I had no problems. Now, about 2 hours after the 4th MRI I felt burning my whole body (neck, arms, back, decolletage, buttocks, legs, calves) and my face (cheeks, forehead, nose, chin, lips and eyes). My face is the worst, my eyes are dry, I have to use the drops. I also feel dry air passages. On my skin you can see nothing, I only have a little bit red face. After the MRI I had 4 days low fever (37,3 °C). Today, it is the 21st day after the MRI, and my problems are not much better. My skin is burning, in the afternoon it is the worst. The intensity and locality of the burning is moving during the day. I can´t stand warm temperatures – when I am waering a sweater and my body is getting warmer, when we turn on the heating, when I take a warm shower, when I have a stress). Now I have a hip and buttocks aches, it feels such a contusion. My mother had the same problems.

The doctors don´t know it and they don´t connect my problems with the MRI examination. I should take Prednison (corticoids) and apply slaves.

My mother still  feels burning on her face (it means three years later). She can´t stand warm, stress, the sun. Her face and eyes is burning then.

My asks:

Had the pacients from your study the same problems?

Why it came so? Who has made a mistake? I have no tattoo, no metal, no implant. Only zircon caps.

Shall the problems disappear the wohle? After which time?

What has been damaged? Skin? Nerves? Thermoregulation? Could the MRI damaged the inner organes?

Isn´t the MRI burn connected with cancer later?

What has helped the pacients the most? What has helped make the recovery faster? Pills against allergy? Food supplements? Corticoids? Salves?

Can I have a next MRI examination in the futer?

Best regards,

Martina

Hi Julie

I totally believe you. About 3 years ago I had a thoracic mri scan. I started feeling a heated soreness burning near my lower rib cage. I thought at first

it was just my imagination so I just finished the scan.

I did however ask the technician after the scan if other people reported burning soreness and he said "sometimes" I went home and had burning soreness like it had fried me. This lasted for at least a year or more and thought it was all in my head.

Now my Dr wants me to have another full body mri and NO WAY. I told him I was in so much pain from the last one worse than my already nerve pain (the reason I had it in the first place) It seemed to cook my already injured area (left side thoracic area) I wonder if the th injured area was more susceptible to the Tessa 3T radio frequencies. Felt like I was Cooked from the inside out. Like a microwave oven?

Hi,

In case this is useful for other people who have recently had an MRI burn and are struggling to get anyone to believe them, here are 2 articles which I found helpful and after sharing them with a few medical professionals this helped them believe me over the last month. Doctors tend to only want to see reliable, reputable sources, and both the doctors I sent this to, said these articles and the fact I explained in detail calmly why I thought I had this incredibly rare burn (ans wasnt just some crazy woman) helped them think that yes, I had indeed been burned.

1. Google these words "mri burn gilk radiology today" - interview with a top US expert in MRI safety, Tobias Gilk, on Radiology Today website from Nov 2014. He talks about the different ways you can get burned, and also how they present themselves (some immediately, others over time).

2. Google the words "MHRA MRI safety guidelines 2015 PDF" - this is a UK government document, and you can do a word search in the PDF for "burns" and it comes up 27 times in the 86 page document. It explains that burns are the most common adverse incident, and explains how to avoid them.

In my case, I was lucky to have private health insurance, and after a very frightening week managed to eventually convince my GP to write me a referral letter to see a burns specialist (without insurance it would have cost approx £300 for the appointment which I realise is out of reach of many people, but worth it if you can somehow afford it). The burns specialist was aware of MRI burns but had never seen one before, and kindly researched the topic before my appointment. She said that although no diagnostic test is possible to definitely confirm it was caused by an MRI, she said that the history I explained of what happened with my symptoms (and the fact that my arms were in contact with the scanner during my scan - one of the known causes of these MRI burns) led her to believe it "had the presentation of an MRI burn". I now have a letter from her to this effect. In my case I seem to have been luckier than many on this forum - mine did not blister, and although I am still in some pain 6 weeks on, the pain is reducing each week, and the burns specialist believes that after 6 weeks, max 3 months I will recover. I will have to take care in sun for 12 months, and she said I would notice pain more if it is very cold or very hot, and moving from one temperature climate to another.

I am still angry that the private imaging centre (when I emailed and called them the next morning in a real panic) told me that they did everything safely and they believed the red hot skin on the photos I sent them must be the result of something else, not the scan, and that they would not investigate unless my GP confirmed it was a burn. As my GP said to me, they being radiographers and radiologists would be the best to confirm this, as he said that he knew as much about MRI burns from my internet research as he did! My GP was actually very good, and the burns specialist said I was very lucky he was concerned enough to refer me. But the radiographers knew that by telling me to go to my GP or A&E, they were sending me to people who would be unlikely to be able to diagnose it. I had a horrific 7 days of first calling 911, passed by phone to paramedic, then GP, who then phoned my local A&E for advice; A radiography department denying it was them, 2 trips to my GP, 1 visit to urgent care, having to do masses of research whilst feeling ill and scared, eventually getting my referral after a week and after crying hysterically to GP receptionist, and then having to find a burns specialist myself.

In time I will do a MHRA yellow card report, and also make an official complaint to the MRI imaging centre. For now, I am due another MRI scan in coming weeks, and worried about how to reduce liklihood that it will inflame the existing burn. I have tried to join the facebook group 2 weeks ago, but not yet been allowed into the group by the administrators who have my application. Anyone know how I can contact them as I want to post the full links to the above articles in case they help others, and I also want advice on how to manage my upcoming scan. Sorry for long post!!