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Gadolinium and MRI

I had never had an MRI and wentin Friday where they did it with and without contrast. As far as I know I have nver had kidney problems but after the fact I was a little put back to learn that Gadolinium can cause damage in those with kidney and liver damage. They asked me about my kidneys but I suspected it was normal questioning. Is it rare for anything to happen?
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Avatar universal
I have normal kidney function and I have been itching for over a month after having gadolinium dye during my MRI. I have rare allergies to dental materials too. The itching mainly comes after eating - especially if it's food with high suger content. I have not been to a doctor about this. I doubt any doc would know anything about it anyway.
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How soon after your MRI did your itching start? I seem to have it too... Mine started not even an hour after my MRI finished, mainly where my joints are. When did it stop itching?
Avatar universal
Gadolinium affects people with normal kidney functions.  It is NOT something to use unless you have no choice.  I am sitting here with a gado level through the roof and with perfect kidney function. Now I will have to start chelation therapy.  It's a bunch of hooey the way they stick their head in the sand.
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Did you ever get better?  Did they find out what was causing it?  I have burning in my legs, a small spot on my eye and high blood pressure after my MRI with contrast, I am FREAKED out!
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I am a 43yr old female, who developed weird headaches, head pains, w/dizziness, had an MRI, refused the  gad, when they said my head looked fine, but, incidently found a mediastinal cyst (caught at the bottom of my c-spine), it extended into the thoracic spine area
they now wanted to rule out bad things about the cyst....so resch me for a t-spine MRI with contrast. they said they couldnt tell what it was, without contrast.
I had a routine serum kidney/liver panel done in Jan 08...my doctor checked everything was Ok.
By now, my weird headaches and pains, that had lasted 9 months, had simmered down to practically no pains. I took no medication. It just passed. Unexplainable.
I had every blood test done in the world.
We ruled out arthritis, no systemic inflammation, no lyme, no syphilis, no nothing, no allergies, hormones all a-ok. no anything that you could detect.
I had put off the cyst, until I started getting BACK pain, something I never had....and guess where it was, THORACIC. After three months, I began to worry, naturally, I felt the cyst and the pain were connected,
The radiologist said the only way he could put my mind at ease and really rule out alot of things, was with the gad.
All my friends were like DO IT....you'll be fine.
Nov 1st 2008 I was scheduled for the MRI w/gad
I really didnt want the gad. I asked alot of questions, esp to the tech. He said they used ProHance, or MultiHance....depending on kidneys functions. He said he would check my functions before we got going. He came out and said my functions were good, so I would get Prohance, asked me my weight, and I said I would get normal dosage.
I had started drinking alot a few days before.....to be sure I was hydrated
30 seconds after injection, I could feel the vessels in my head, starting to spasm
Within 2 minutes I had the worst headache of my life. I throught I was having a stroke.
Dizzy, out of it, I staggered out of the cylinder and told the tech, who said "Headaches are NOT a side effect, have a nice day!"
Three days later, after urinating and drinking night and day, it felt like I developed a bladder infection. I go get a urinalysis...clear, normal. I told him I had an MRI w/gad 3 days earlier, my head, and the story. He said that ALOT of people get cystitis from gad.
He sees it alot. They inject gad when they do cystographys..It irritates the bladder epithelium. huh, dont read much about THAT in the internet now do we?
He said to give it a few days. I did, and it DID go away.
The radiologist report said the cyst was harmless, benign, I had cervical spondylosis, with some disk bulge...I had some lordosis...The ortho doc who ordered the MRI said everything looked fine to him. Goodbye.

However the headache/severe dizziness, stayed with me for 2 weeks. It had triggered whatever had been wrong with my head a year ago...I was reliving that nightmare.

Mind you, I have to go to work everyday and function as if Im perfectly ok.

5 weeks later,. I wake up and my arms feel like I strained them...my elbows were tender
then, my biceps and triceps were burning, BURNING. my inner thigh start cramping when i bent, i shrugged it off, until the other one did the same.....then what feels like nerve pain under my armpit, then the other. Then, numbness, fingers, arms. Tingling.
Im thinking, ok, here we go....something else.
A few Blood vessels start breaking and I develop little hematomas inside my thighs.


Its been 3 weeks since all this new syndrome developed, and I feel like Im going crazy. I cant tell if its just coincidence and something ELSE is wrong, or if its a result of the gadolinium. I keep waiting to wake up and it will all have stopped hurting. But it hasnt, and the pain moves all day around my joints...and muscles....sometimes aching, cramping, shooting, burning. No redness. No swelling. I know that NSF is hardness and swelling, but maybe thats later?
maybe its totally unrelated.
just like the weird headaches and dizziness...maybe this too shall pass....
I keep drinking.....I even bought bentonite clay, thinking if there is gad left behind, it might pull it out!
but its just damning luck
So Im taking it day by day.....Im not ready to go back to any doctors anytime soon
Its painful, but I can still walk and use my arms....stiffly
If it gets worse....I will have to go
Anyone else experiencing anything like this?
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Avatar universal
Oh, and I'm assuming that I'd know somehow if I was that far along kidney wise?My cardiologisy has probebly done tests regarding my meds and before he tried to put me on a cholesterol med. They took blood.
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Avatar universal
Thanks, you're good folks.!!
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147426 tn?1317265632
The reaction to gad is not at all common, but has occurred in people with severe or end-stage renal failure  (Stages 3 and 4).  It is normal questioning.

Quix
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