Been away for a while || No more MRIs with contrast??

[greenandchic]

A month ago, my skin started to break out at the injection site of the contrast when I had my MRIs (two back to back; a few weeks apart). I wrongly thought it may have been an adult onset of Eczema - I never had that issue before.

Long story short, my whole body broke out in a "drug eruption" where ever part of my body, we rashy, bloody, itchy, and inflamed weeks later. Everywhere with the exception of my face (thank God!) and my back looked like one of those scary photos from a dermatological textbook. I had to take prednisone to bring down the inflation and a strong round of antibiotics because my skin was days away from probably a nasty infection. My left leg was totally black, split and miserable.

After a skin biopsy and a host of blood tests, the verdict is I had a extreme reaction to the gadolinium contrast. Now its written on the top of all of my charts to never inject my body with that stuff again.

Does anyone with MS never get MRIs? Are there any alternatives? How will I know where my MS is going without MRIs?

[greenandchic]

This is all good to know.  Thank you so much for this info.  I will definitely make sure I'm not given any kind of contrast again.  

[Lulu54]

Hi GC, iits good to see you pop back through.  I heard some neuros speak at a nevent earlier this week - they discssed the next generation of diagnostic imaging being just around the corner.  Don't despair about the MRI, there is new CT techniques coming soon and hopefully will not involve contrast agents.

You experience sounds gruesome - as if you don't have enough to contend with.

Give us an update if you feel like it one of these days,
Lulu

[Heather3418]

This allergy i serious enough to wear a medic ID alert bracelet.

Ess is right.  Contrast dye is only used to see which lesions are active.  If you are already diagnosed with MS, it really isn't a big deal.  If you were to have an MRI at a later date, if you showed more lesions than last time, they would know they are new lesions.  This may come up after a course of one of the DMD's, to see how the drug is working for you.

That was a pretty scary reaction.  I can only imagine how terrified you were and lucky that you recovered.

Take care of yourself and don't worry about future MRI's to look for lesions.  If lesions are there, they WILL show up.

All the Best,
Heather

[essdipity]

There are some MSers who can't have MRIs, for one reason or other. Having a pacemaker, for example, would rule out MRIs. In that case, the neuro would have to revert to the standard practice before MRIs were invented, which if you think about it, isn't all that long ago.

MS is supposed to be a clinical diagnosis. MRIs are supposed to be helpful, as any test results are helpful, but far from the whole enchilada. Any neuro who relies solely on MRIs, and especially if he or she doesn't interpret them but just goes by the radiology report, is a neuro who should be history.

Your situation, though, is different. You can still have MRIs, but you can't have contrast. Not really a big deal at all, and you will be saved a lot of time in that tube. Knowing whether lesions enhance isn't so important. Seeing whether you have lesions that weren't there the last round is very important. That can still be done with you.

So please don't worry. Overall this is a very small issue. You do want to make sure that gad is not used for you in the future, given your terrible reaction, but other than that you're A-OK.

Hope this helps.

ess