Should i take a sedative before an mri

If you receive one of these or any other sedative to help you tolerate the procedure, you will have to refrain from driving while under its influence and arrange for a safe ride home from your exam. Benzodiazepines are often prescribed for anxiety and appear to work by enhancing the effects of the neurotransmitter GABA, which suppresses nerve activity.

Common side effects of benzodiazepines include dizziness, drowsiness, weakness, and loss of equilibrium. Other reported effects include sleep disturbance, depression, disorientation, confusion, headache, and aggression. If you experience more severe claustrophobia-related symptoms, your doctor may instead recommend intravenous sedation. It's common to use a combination of Versed a benzodiazepine and Fentanyl, an opioid medication commonly prescribed for pain and sedation.

You must have a physical and medical history within 30 days prior to your MRI in order to ensure the safety of these medications. Make sure to tell your doctor about all of your current medications and existing medical conditions. Because Versed can amplify the effects of alcohol, avoid alcohol for the remainder of the day after receiving the medication.

Grapefruit and grapefruit juice can also have harmful interactions with this drug. While under IV sedation, your vital signs will be carefully monitored so that any adverse reactions you may experience can be promptly treated. At Iowa Radiology, we use wide-bore MRI to reduce the feeling of confinement that patients feel during the procedure. We also strive to give you the information you need to make the best health care choices for yourself and your family.

For more information about MRI, click the link below to download our free eBook guide, which has information about uses of the procedure, contraindications , risks, preparation, and more. Having a physician onsite allows us to consider all of your medications when we administer the complimentary IV valium sedation. Will you put me to sleep completely? Not intentionally. Many of our examinations require your cooperation and ability to follow commands to hold your breath to produce the images required to make a diagnosis.

For those examinations, we will not allow you to fall asleep. However, there are many other types of MRI examinations that do not require you to follow commands. For those examinations, our efforts to make our patients comfortable may cause them to nap through their exam.

Rest assured that even if you do nap briefly, we will be monitoring you very closely to insure your safety. Will I be able to drive home? You will need someone to drive you home. The effects of the valium last for several hours which is why we recommend that you go home and relax. We do not recommend that you drive, use sharp objects, power tools, or return to work. What if I drive myself there and find that I am unexpectedly claustrophobic and need IV valium?

We will assist you in finding a family member or friend who can come to pick you up and help you get home. You must have someone who can insure your safe return to your home and observe you for several hours while the valium leaves your system. We will be happy to reschedule your appointment for no additional charge for a date and time when you can arrange for someone to be with you. We do all we can to make that you have a pleasant experience.

We want you to be happy and extremely satisfied with our service and commitment to you. If you require sedation, please arrive one hour prior to your appointment. We will ask you to remove any metal-containing items, such as jewelry including body piercings , hairpins, hearing aids, glasses, wigs with metal clips and some nonpermanent dentures.

We may take an X-ray beforehand if we have any concern about metal objects in your body. Your referring physician may request injection of an IV material called gadolinium that helps the radiologist read your exam results. This contrast dye contains no iodine and is generally very safe and well tolerated. Please be advised that our image information gathering process is not as simple as an ordinary X-ray.

You will need to lie very still for periods of time while we acquire the images. Each image set may take from 5 seconds up to several minutes. We will make every effort to make you as comfortable as possible while you are being imaged.