Weird Reaction During MRI?

This is going to sound crazy but please, bear with me. I had my first brain MRI yesterday and the experience was something that I have had a hard time explaining. As you know, with each set of pictures taken, there are different pitches of hums and whirs. Well, initially, I noticed that I could almost feel certain areas of my brain being "targeted" by the sounds. As the MRI progressed, certain sounds became almost painful to various areas of my brain. Now, before I continue, I would like to say, I was wearing earplugs. I could hear the sounds (obviously) but they did NOT hurt my ears).

Although I was uncomfortable, I was also intrigued by the way my brain was reacting to the scan. In order to pass the time, I focused on the sounds of the machine and the areas of my brain that seemed to be reacting. Those areas changed with each sound. Toward the end of the MRI, things got a little scary. In the third from last set of pictures, my body started getting very warm, starting at my uterus (oddly enough). I felt almost a flattening and pulling-type feeling around the temples. It also felt like the right side of my face was being dragged downward. When I closed my eyes and tried to breathe through it, I immediately felt like I was turned onto my left side.

That lasted for about 3 minutes. The next set of pictures were ok, reverting back to how the rest of the scan felt, with only a specific area being targeted.

The last set of pictures truly scared me. Almost immediately, it felt like my frontal lobe was rolling, temple to temple: left to right and back again, repeatedly, and with increasing speed. Almost like a kneading motion. My eyes widened and became hyper-focused; I couldn't blink. My jaw tightened, my tongue pressed to the roof of my mouth, my fingers flexed, and my vision alternated between clear and blurry. I was very much aware of what was happening but had no control. This did not last for the entire duration of the last set of pictures. I was able to force myself to blink about 30 seconds before the MRI was completed. Once I blinked, I was able to regain control of everything else fairly quickly.

I'm sure all of this sounds pretty crazy but I have been researching since leaving the MRI yesterday morning and have been unable to find any information on experiences like mine. I had no sedation and am not claustrophobic. Today I have been unnaturally exhausted and have caught myself randomly falling asleep sitting up which is unusual for me. Please, have you heard of reactions like mine?

1 like, 61 replies