Aa
X-Ray computed tomography + very anxious about the contrast product they use
Hi !
This week I have a X-ray computed tomography for the abdominal pelvic part of my body and i'm a lot anxious because they use iodinated contrast agents and I canno't chose to have a low osmolality iodinated agents with less adverses effects!!!
They use one of the older product cause of the low cost and I read that it can give a lot of side-effects, mainly cardiovascular side-effects... vagal reaction who can lead to low blood pressure and syncope...since I have some heart problems, weak blood pressure (very high and low) and tachycardia (supraventricular tachycardia) and since i'm a lot overstress, I don't know what to do and how I will react?
I call them today to have more informations about the product they use and how they proceed and they explain to me that they canno't give drugs to make the person sleep while they will do the test, who will be the perfect solution for me...
My heart beat can jump from 80 to 200 in less than 1 second, so I can't imagine what will happen while they will shoot the product in my vein!!!
Someone here can explain to me exactly what will happen? I'm very anxious about that test!
Thanks!
This week I have a X-ray computed tomography for the abdominal pelvic part of my body and i'm a lot anxious because they use iodinated contrast agents and I canno't chose to have a low osmolality iodinated agents with less adverses effects!!!
They use one of the older product cause of the low cost and I read that it can give a lot of side-effects, mainly cardiovascular side-effects... vagal reaction who can lead to low blood pressure and syncope...since I have some heart problems, weak blood pressure (very high and low) and tachycardia (supraventricular tachycardia) and since i'm a lot overstress, I don't know what to do and how I will react?
I call them today to have more informations about the product they use and how they proceed and they explain to me that they canno't give drugs to make the person sleep while they will do the test, who will be the perfect solution for me...
My heart beat can jump from 80 to 200 in less than 1 second, so I can't imagine what will happen while they will shoot the product in my vein!!!
Someone here can explain to me exactly what will happen? I'm very anxious about that test!
Thanks!
Thanks nursegirl6572!!!
Yeay, it was gastrografin, very awful taste, I still have an upset stomach today and some pain in the belly as well...
I don't know if it's because I push myself very hard yesterday but today my anxiety is very high, mainly heart concern again, my chest hurt a lot, my hands and feet are cover of sweat, my heart rate is high (135 and above), my head hurt a lot and I had nightmares all the night... feel like a piece of crap today...
Will hope that my energy will be back tomorrow and that my anxiety will decrease...
For the results, I hope the Surgeon will not see something wrong... she don't look for adrenal glands problem since she's not an endocrinologist, she do mainly the gastric by-pass surgery to loose weight, so she will look closer to problems with my intestine, stomach, liver, and things like that... BUT I think I can ask her to send the X-ray to my Family Doc who will maybe send them to another specialist Doc...
Anyway, thanks for your support!
Vincent ;-)
Yeay, it was gastrografin, very awful taste, I still have an upset stomach today and some pain in the belly as well...
I don't know if it's because I push myself very hard yesterday but today my anxiety is very high, mainly heart concern again, my chest hurt a lot, my hands and feet are cover of sweat, my heart rate is high (135 and above), my head hurt a lot and I had nightmares all the night... feel like a piece of crap today...
Will hope that my energy will be back tomorrow and that my anxiety will decrease...
For the results, I hope the Surgeon will not see something wrong... she don't look for adrenal glands problem since she's not an endocrinologist, she do mainly the gastric by-pass surgery to loose weight, so she will look closer to problems with my intestine, stomach, liver, and things like that... BUT I think I can ask her to send the X-ray to my Family Doc who will maybe send them to another specialist Doc...
Anyway, thanks for your support!
Vincent ;-)
Congrats for pushing yourself and getting it done! That's a wonderful accomplishment! The liquid they gave you to drink was probably gastrograffin, which is basically an oral contrast, very safe. It can cause some mild GI upset in some people, so don't worry!
Way to go! I hope your results are good!
Way to go! I hope your results are good!
Hi!
Sorry about the anxiety you have/had... is it in control now?
Well, the CT scan wasn't painful, BUT I was so anxious that I didn't sleep at all last night, had to double my dosage of Inderal and took 20 mg before bedtime to decrease the fast heart beat I had, I also double my Xanax dose... but I wasn't able to sleep... I was able to go to the hospital by car without stoping anywhere and without focusing on my pulse rate who was incredible high, even with the extra 20 mg of Inderal that I took 1 hour before I leave the house...
At the hospital, they give to me a bootle of a clear liquid to drink at 7:30 AM, the taste was horrible, I don'T know if the side-effects I had was comming from my anxiety BUT 15 minutes after I drank the liquid I start feeling bad, had stomach pain, nausea and was a lot dizzy... no blood pressure increasement or no tachycardia, byt I wasn't feeling very well... at 8:45 the nurse call my name and I enter in a room where she put a catheter in my vein... she explain to me that they use only non-ionic contrast product and that even if I was A LOT anxious, the product they use is very safe (I still don't know why when I call monday they told me they was using old dye product...?)... anyway, she install the catheter in my vein and took my blood pressure and send me to the CT scan room... I lay down on the table and the guy there explain to me that he will be there when he will shoot the dye product and say to me to relax... he took one x-ray without the dye contrast and then shoot the product in my vein and wait 50 seconds and took the x-ray...
I have to admit that I was so anxious that when he shoot the iodine product I felt very bad... I don't faint or don't feel anything in my chest like fast or irregular heart beat BUT I do feel that very warm feeling all over my body and I hated that!!!
After the x-ray they send me into a room and they took my blood pressure again, wait 15 minutes, the time that some saline water clean my vein and they told me to drink a lot of water today to eleminate the product from my blood...
I go eat something just after... We are now 6 hours later and I have some muscles pain and my belly hurt when I touch it or move, so I guess it's the liquid that I drank at 7:30 who do that...
So now that I know what it is, I Can have another x-ray without any problem!!! lol
That's crazy how we can have high level of aprehensions and fears for stupid things...
I think that overall, the most thing who make me more anxious in all that story is the car ride...
I hope the results will be negative, I mean that I hope that they will not find something wrong with my intestine, stomach or adrenal glands...
Anyway, thanks again!!! Will sleep better next night!!!
Sorry about the anxiety you have/had... is it in control now?
Well, the CT scan wasn't painful, BUT I was so anxious that I didn't sleep at all last night, had to double my dosage of Inderal and took 20 mg before bedtime to decrease the fast heart beat I had, I also double my Xanax dose... but I wasn't able to sleep... I was able to go to the hospital by car without stoping anywhere and without focusing on my pulse rate who was incredible high, even with the extra 20 mg of Inderal that I took 1 hour before I leave the house...
At the hospital, they give to me a bootle of a clear liquid to drink at 7:30 AM, the taste was horrible, I don'T know if the side-effects I had was comming from my anxiety BUT 15 minutes after I drank the liquid I start feeling bad, had stomach pain, nausea and was a lot dizzy... no blood pressure increasement or no tachycardia, byt I wasn't feeling very well... at 8:45 the nurse call my name and I enter in a room where she put a catheter in my vein... she explain to me that they use only non-ionic contrast product and that even if I was A LOT anxious, the product they use is very safe (I still don't know why when I call monday they told me they was using old dye product...?)... anyway, she install the catheter in my vein and took my blood pressure and send me to the CT scan room... I lay down on the table and the guy there explain to me that he will be there when he will shoot the dye product and say to me to relax... he took one x-ray without the dye contrast and then shoot the product in my vein and wait 50 seconds and took the x-ray...
I have to admit that I was so anxious that when he shoot the iodine product I felt very bad... I don't faint or don't feel anything in my chest like fast or irregular heart beat BUT I do feel that very warm feeling all over my body and I hated that!!!
After the x-ray they send me into a room and they took my blood pressure again, wait 15 minutes, the time that some saline water clean my vein and they told me to drink a lot of water today to eleminate the product from my blood...
I go eat something just after... We are now 6 hours later and I have some muscles pain and my belly hurt when I touch it or move, so I guess it's the liquid that I drank at 7:30 who do that...
So now that I know what it is, I Can have another x-ray without any problem!!! lol
That's crazy how we can have high level of aprehensions and fears for stupid things...
I think that overall, the most thing who make me more anxious in all that story is the car ride...
I hope the results will be negative, I mean that I hope that they will not find something wrong with my intestine, stomach or adrenal glands...
Anyway, thanks again!!! Will sleep better next night!!!
Hi ;-)
Thanks for your support... yeah, searching on the internet can lead to worse anxiety, fears and apprehensions... I agree with that since i'm a way overstress since 1 week cause I look everywhere on the internet and read a lot of bad stuff about the dye iv product!!!
I already take 8 mg of Klonopin daily + 1 mg of Xanax, but it's not doing anything for my anxiety now, i'm addicted to both drugs...and that's the main problem, the only one benzo who will work on me is the IV form of the Versed and even the Versed effect don't decrease that much my anxiety before a test...
The main problem is the fast heart rate that I have everyday since 2 1/2 months, I get up in the morning with that fast heart beat of 140 and more and can't rush to get ready for an early appointment at the hospital for a test for example... I also avoid taking my shower now ( I take only bath) because of that fast pulse rate and same when I have to do a bowel movement early in the morning ( I have to wait to do it in the afternoon), I have to wait in the afternoon to be able to do more physical things... that's very annoying...
Also, my appointment is tomorrow morning at 7:30 AM, since I panic all the time in a car as a passenger ( I stop driving since 6 months now), and since the hospital is far away from my home, I have to leave at 6:20 AM with my mom, she will drive... it's a long drive cause we avoid the highways... SO just going to the appointment for the CT scan will be very hard for me, if I add the stress of the CT scan on the top of this, it will be crazy... even if I will do it, and I know it, and I will survive... but that's hard for my body and my head...
I know I can do it, since I have no choice, BUT will take 3-4 days to feel ok...
I ask for some tips from my Psychologist to help me to cope with the extra anxiety, but she said that i'm a hard case to treat, she want to refer me to a second line service... who mean that it's for peoples with very strong anxiety disease treatment resistant... she said that my problem is more serious than a somatization disorder, she said that I have now symptoms of diseases, diseases that I don't have...
Will take some Inderal (beta-blocker) 10-20 mg, 1 1/2 hours before I leave my house tomorrow morning to decrease my heart rate, especially for the car trip, that's what I do last week when I had to go at the same hospital.... even with the Inderal, in the car my heart rate was above 160 and very irregular... Since taking more than 20 mg of Inderal lead to a lot of side-effects on me, I can't double the dose.... Even last week with the Inderal inside me, we had to stop 6 times on the right side of the road cause I had that crazy chest pain with suddent strong migraine, nausea, vomiting, tremors, sweating AND I wasn't in a panic state... don't want to imagine what it will be if I had a panic at the same time, will end at the ER with a heart rate of 241 like it happen in february!!! I hate that!!!
Even if my Cardiologist rull out some tests on me last week (treadmill-stress test and several ECG's), I don't feel less anxious about my heart and say that my chest pain is not related to my heart but more to the fact that when i'm in a situation who give to me a lot of stress, my blood pressure increase and the blood vessels have a kind of vasodilatation effect and that's creating the pain in my chest as well and all the other symptoms...
Anyways, will try to not think about it too much today... I know that the medical staff are there to help me in case of a big problem occur (who will not occur i'm sure... )... but I feel very anxious...
Now that I know that the most common side-effects of the IV shoot is a slight feeling of warmth as the dye is administered, like a very mild, quick hot flash. I feel a little bit less anxious... I guess that I will have an increase of my pulse rate, but it will be related to my anxiety only...
Thanks again for your answer ;-)
Thanks for your support... yeah, searching on the internet can lead to worse anxiety, fears and apprehensions... I agree with that since i'm a way overstress since 1 week cause I look everywhere on the internet and read a lot of bad stuff about the dye iv product!!!
I already take 8 mg of Klonopin daily + 1 mg of Xanax, but it's not doing anything for my anxiety now, i'm addicted to both drugs...and that's the main problem, the only one benzo who will work on me is the IV form of the Versed and even the Versed effect don't decrease that much my anxiety before a test...
The main problem is the fast heart rate that I have everyday since 2 1/2 months, I get up in the morning with that fast heart beat of 140 and more and can't rush to get ready for an early appointment at the hospital for a test for example... I also avoid taking my shower now ( I take only bath) because of that fast pulse rate and same when I have to do a bowel movement early in the morning ( I have to wait to do it in the afternoon), I have to wait in the afternoon to be able to do more physical things... that's very annoying...
Also, my appointment is tomorrow morning at 7:30 AM, since I panic all the time in a car as a passenger ( I stop driving since 6 months now), and since the hospital is far away from my home, I have to leave at 6:20 AM with my mom, she will drive... it's a long drive cause we avoid the highways... SO just going to the appointment for the CT scan will be very hard for me, if I add the stress of the CT scan on the top of this, it will be crazy... even if I will do it, and I know it, and I will survive... but that's hard for my body and my head...
I know I can do it, since I have no choice, BUT will take 3-4 days to feel ok...
I ask for some tips from my Psychologist to help me to cope with the extra anxiety, but she said that i'm a hard case to treat, she want to refer me to a second line service... who mean that it's for peoples with very strong anxiety disease treatment resistant... she said that my problem is more serious than a somatization disorder, she said that I have now symptoms of diseases, diseases that I don't have...
Will take some Inderal (beta-blocker) 10-20 mg, 1 1/2 hours before I leave my house tomorrow morning to decrease my heart rate, especially for the car trip, that's what I do last week when I had to go at the same hospital.... even with the Inderal, in the car my heart rate was above 160 and very irregular... Since taking more than 20 mg of Inderal lead to a lot of side-effects on me, I can't double the dose.... Even last week with the Inderal inside me, we had to stop 6 times on the right side of the road cause I had that crazy chest pain with suddent strong migraine, nausea, vomiting, tremors, sweating AND I wasn't in a panic state... don't want to imagine what it will be if I had a panic at the same time, will end at the ER with a heart rate of 241 like it happen in february!!! I hate that!!!
Even if my Cardiologist rull out some tests on me last week (treadmill-stress test and several ECG's), I don't feel less anxious about my heart and say that my chest pain is not related to my heart but more to the fact that when i'm in a situation who give to me a lot of stress, my blood pressure increase and the blood vessels have a kind of vasodilatation effect and that's creating the pain in my chest as well and all the other symptoms...
Anyways, will try to not think about it too much today... I know that the medical staff are there to help me in case of a big problem occur (who will not occur i'm sure... )... but I feel very anxious...
Now that I know that the most common side-effects of the IV shoot is a slight feeling of warmth as the dye is administered, like a very mild, quick hot flash. I feel a little bit less anxious... I guess that I will have an increase of my pulse rate, but it will be related to my anxiety only...
Thanks again for your answer ;-)
Welcome to the forum. Often times our anticipatory anxiety about a situation is WAY worse than the situation itself, like cj said.
That being said, IV contrast dye usually is administered with very little adverse effects for most people. Of course, there is the occasional person who has a reaction to it, but you have to remember that the medical team knows what they're doing, and knows what to look for in those circumstances. In the off chance that you WOULD have an adverse reaction, again, the medical staff knows what to do and how to handle it. Those situations are usually resolved very quickly with no long term effects to the patient.
Your doctor is well aware of your history, including your cardiac issues, therefore, they will be extra vigilant in watching you for possible problems. You have every right to express your worry to the doctor and nurses, and I wish that instead of somehwat "dismissing" your concerns, that they did a bit more to reassure you. That doesn't mean that they are careless or will alllow something bad to happen to you, all it means is they could use a better bedside manner.
Keep communicating with them about your anxiety. Ask your doctor if you can be premedicated with an anti-anxiety med before the procedure. That's different from being sedated, but it is certainly an option for you, and will probably help you get over the anxiety a bit. It's a very reasonable option.
The most common description from patients about IV contrast is that there is a slight feeling of warmth as the dye is administered. I've had these procedures done and can tell you that it felt like a very mild, very QUICK hot flash. As quick as it came, it was gone. Most other people report absolutely nothing, with the exception of some irritation at the IV site.
Try to avoid searching the internet like mad about this, all it will do is serve to increase your anxiety. Not only are the horror stories galore about this kind of stuff on the web, but there is also a lot of misinformation out there. You have to trust that your doctor (despite not being a great "hand holder") of course has your best interests at heart and will not purposely allow anything bad to happen to you. These tests are performed routinely on all kinds of people, with all kinds of conditions (cardiac and otherwise) every day. You will be in an environment where you are safe with a medical team who is equipped to handle anything that would come up, which is highly unlikely.
Trying to minimize your anxiety on that day will help you tremedously. Again, this is why asking about premedication with an anti-anxiety med is a great idea. If you already take something (Ativan, Xanax, etc), ask your doctor if you can take a one time higher dose about 30-60 min before your arrival for the test. If you don't take anything, ask for a one-time dose. Of course, be sure to have someone drive you back and forth to/from the test, which you should really do anyway.
Best of luck, let us know how it goes!
That being said, IV contrast dye usually is administered with very little adverse effects for most people. Of course, there is the occasional person who has a reaction to it, but you have to remember that the medical team knows what they're doing, and knows what to look for in those circumstances. In the off chance that you WOULD have an adverse reaction, again, the medical staff knows what to do and how to handle it. Those situations are usually resolved very quickly with no long term effects to the patient.
Your doctor is well aware of your history, including your cardiac issues, therefore, they will be extra vigilant in watching you for possible problems. You have every right to express your worry to the doctor and nurses, and I wish that instead of somehwat "dismissing" your concerns, that they did a bit more to reassure you. That doesn't mean that they are careless or will alllow something bad to happen to you, all it means is they could use a better bedside manner.
Keep communicating with them about your anxiety. Ask your doctor if you can be premedicated with an anti-anxiety med before the procedure. That's different from being sedated, but it is certainly an option for you, and will probably help you get over the anxiety a bit. It's a very reasonable option.
The most common description from patients about IV contrast is that there is a slight feeling of warmth as the dye is administered. I've had these procedures done and can tell you that it felt like a very mild, very QUICK hot flash. As quick as it came, it was gone. Most other people report absolutely nothing, with the exception of some irritation at the IV site.
Try to avoid searching the internet like mad about this, all it will do is serve to increase your anxiety. Not only are the horror stories galore about this kind of stuff on the web, but there is also a lot of misinformation out there. You have to trust that your doctor (despite not being a great "hand holder") of course has your best interests at heart and will not purposely allow anything bad to happen to you. These tests are performed routinely on all kinds of people, with all kinds of conditions (cardiac and otherwise) every day. You will be in an environment where you are safe with a medical team who is equipped to handle anything that would come up, which is highly unlikely.
Trying to minimize your anxiety on that day will help you tremedously. Again, this is why asking about premedication with an anti-anxiety med is a great idea. If you already take something (Ativan, Xanax, etc), ask your doctor if you can take a one time higher dose about 30-60 min before your arrival for the test. If you don't take anything, ask for a one-time dose. Of course, be sure to have someone drive you back and forth to/from the test, which you should really do anyway.
Best of luck, let us know how it goes!
Thanks for your answer ;-)
Can I ask you if you have an anxiety disorder like me?
If I ask about the contrast product it's because even when I didn't had the panic disorder and the tachycardia problem, I react strongly to some IV meds like the Venofer (itravenous iron treatment) as well as Infufer (intramuscular iron shoot)... I know they are completly different meds, but both of them lead to very low blood pressure with very fast pulse rate lasting for several hours after the shoots... had to lay down for several hours under the care of a nurse at the hospital...
I guess the anxiety will be more a problem than the contrast product shoot itself, like you experienced...
Thanks again !
Can I ask you if you have an anxiety disorder like me?
If I ask about the contrast product it's because even when I didn't had the panic disorder and the tachycardia problem, I react strongly to some IV meds like the Venofer (itravenous iron treatment) as well as Infufer (intramuscular iron shoot)... I know they are completly different meds, but both of them lead to very low blood pressure with very fast pulse rate lasting for several hours after the shoots... had to lay down for several hours under the care of a nurse at the hospital...
I guess the anxiety will be more a problem than the contrast product shoot itself, like you experienced...
Thanks again !
For the vast majority of people, these contrast agents don't have any adverse effects at all. Furthermore, a doctor has to order one of these and he/she knows what they are doing. I have had a couple of CT Scans with contrast with no complications. My anxiety before it was much more bothersome than the test itself.
They just hook you up to an iv and a machine usually administers it to you...it is a very quick and painless scan...the worst part for me was that the room was a little cold.
Keep us posted!
They just hook you up to an iv and a machine usually administers it to you...it is a very quick and painless scan...the worst part for me was that the room was a little cold.
Keep us posted!
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In my opinion, the problem with the internet is you can link any symptom to any problem you think you have no matter how remote it is. Filtering through the information objectively is also impossible if we want to self diagnose ourselves in my experience. Just because there is more information out there, it doesn't make us smarter...in fact I believe the opposite can be true sometimes.
So there are risks for anything we do. I would venture to say you have more of a chance of getting hurt walking around your house than you do getting this scan.
I agree with nursegirl here....the scans are safe and painless and there are trained technicians that do this everyday and your doctor knows your history.
Let us know how it goes!