Xanax before a CT SCAN-will it help?????

[nicole80]

I am scheduled for a CT SCAN tomorrow and am being prescribed Xanax to take beforehand.  I am hoping this will help relax me after the severe panic attack I had Tuesday after trying to have an MRI done.  After my MRI experience, I am so nervous for tomorrow...I feel like my body is in a constant state of anxiety over this.  Will the Xanax help me to settle down so I can get through this test?

[29sillygirl]

The xanax will definitely help.  Take it and your CT scan should go smoothly.

I have had quite a few of these tests following anal cancer diagnosis.  The MRIs are scarier in my opinion as they clank and keep you enclosed for what seems like ages.

A CT scan is really not that bad.  I suffer from anxiety and am on clonazapam.  Have only once fainted BEFORE a CTscan; anxiety about tech messing up a bit and leaving me alone in a small room. So anxiety had to do with unexpected stuff and being left on my own..  Suspect if I'd taken a bit of clonazapam beforehand wouldn't have had the spell.

Do you have someone to accompany you?  My sis was usually with me, but the time I fainted , for some reason , tech swept me away before she could catch up.  You can have someone with you until you actually go in room with equipment, and techs are very nice, experienced with anxious patients.  Remember they put a warm blanket over me and I calmed right down.

Take your xanax.  The test doesn't take long, and techs explain everything along the way.  You will not be enclosed in clanking tube like with MRI.  The machine does talk to you! A hoot I thought.  Good luck.  Keep in  touch.

[nicole80]

I THINK I might have been ok in there, but my heart started racing so bad I thought I was having a heart attack!  When I get anxious my heart races so bad, so I hoping this will help settle it down so to speak!

[mammo]

Yes, it will help you to relax.  I'm sure they've had to do this before, and I do hope you do much better this time.  Please let us know.  Take care...