CT Myleogram

[WPKat]

My experience with CT Myleogram:

One of the members of this forum suggested that I take my pain medication prior to the CT Myleogram, which was an excellent ideal! I took a Valium as well, which I normally do not take during the day because it makes me sleepy, but I was definitely anxious about the procedure and glad I had taken it once I got there.

In my case, I was lucky to have a pleasant team of technicians who took care of me and a well seasoned doctor who inserted the dye into my spine. He numbed the area first and the needle with the dye going in did not hurt at all. Because of my previous laminectomy at L3/L4 and L4/L5, he aimed for that area and had no trouble at all finding a good location for inserting the needle.

I thought, "hey, this is a piece of cake!," however, just a few seconds later both my legs felt on fire. I was not expecting this reaction, but the doctor assured me it was normal.



They had me roll 360 degrees more than once on the table so that the dye would move around in my spine. Although my legs were still on fire, rolling around did not make it any worse so that was not a big deal.

Where things became dicey for me was when they started to elevate the table because they wanted to take x-rays while the dye was in my spine. As it rose, I held on to the table for dear life because I was afraid to bear weight on my painful legs. Like it or not, the table was rising and I was forced into standing upright, which was quite unpleasant indeed.

They asked me to turn on my right side, which meant I had to let go of my death grip on the table. It seems funny now, but at the time I was afraid I was going to fall on the hard floor because my leg pain was still pretty rough and I felt quite unsteady. At this point though, one of the technicians came forward and asked that I grab onto to her hands for support. You would have thought I was a 1,000 feet in the air as I was definitely afraid to let go of the table.



But after I grabbed onto her arms, I was able to do as they asked for the x-rays. They lowered the table and I rolled again onto a gurney to be moved to the CT room. No sooner had I arrived in the room, my leg pain subsided. What a relief!

The CT technician had trouble seeing the images because the dye had not moved enough. Not only did I need to roll around again, but this time I had to lay on my stomach and stick my behind in the air. The first time around I didn't do it right and he jokenly said that I was "killing him ... do it again and this time keep your shoulders on the table." My goodness, I guess I need to learn how to stick my behind up in the air properly.



Once the dye move around enough so the technician could take good images, the CT scan was a piece of cake and before I knew it I was done.

I did as they instructed afterwards ... bed rest for 24 hours keeping my head elevated. I lucked out and did not get the headache that some folks suffer from afterwards.

I have had far worse experiences test wise so I felt I got off pretty easy this time around.



The test results are another matter, which I will talk about in another post.

K

[Justin]

Hi Kathleen,

Congratulations on getting through the CT / Myelogram! It sounds like you handled everything--even the butt in the air--like a pro. Thank you for sharing your detailed account of your experience; this will help many Spine Patients that are facing a CT / Myelogram as part of their work-up.

I'm anxious to read the results in another thread. Please keep us posted on how you are feeling. Be well.