Why I Refuse Gadolinium MRI

[vesta]

Having canceled a trans-Atlantic flight for health reasons, the travel insurance company demanded an MRI of the brain prior to reimbursement of my air ticket. I wasn’t averse to this idea because I had had only one MRI in my life in 1990. Being a study of the brain, I wanted to see the upper spine as well since my first big MS attack hit the upper spine. (At the time of my first big attack, April 1980, the MRI wasn’t available.) I was disappointed to learn that the local MRI apparatus wasn’t long enough to accomodate both the head and the spine at the same time which meant 2 separate MRIs. And then « violin » warned me about the ill effects of the Gadolinium contrast agent. What was I thinking ? (I was under the weather for about 6 weeks after the 1990 MRI. I always assumed the magnetic radiation undermined my energy balance without thinking about a contrast agent.)

So I canceled the MRIs, saying I was allergic to the Gadolinium. Also that I would welcome a FONAR cinematic upright MRI which unfortunately was unavailable in France. This probably made the French look behind the times. Anyway, my air ticket was re-imbursed.

At about this time a series of enlightening comments about Gadolinium were posted on ThisisMS.com.

But before reading further, do read Michelle Llama’s May 14, 2019 article under Drugwatch and ask yourself why you should EVER allow yourself to be exposed to the Gadolinium contrast agent for ANY reason whatsoever.

https://www.drugwatch.com/gadolinium/side-effects/ › gadolinium › side-effects
Gadolinium Side Effects: Toxicity & Nephrogenic Systemic ...
"Gadolinium used in MRI contrast agents can cause side effects ranging from nausea to fatal thickening and scarring of connective tissue. The most common reactions occur almost immediately after injection and include headache and dizziness."
www.guysandstthomas.nhs.uk › radiology › gadoli...

Or consider the following :
https://gadoliniumtoxicity.com/tag/gado ... n-disease/

The 6 main clinical criteria for Gadolinium Deposition Disease, as described by Dr. Semelka are:

"1. Intense burning of the skin and skin substrate. Arising in early stage (early on after GBCA): This can be an all over feeling in the body, but often may be localized to the trunk region or distal extremities.
2. Intense boring pain in bones or joints. Arising in early stage (early on after GBCA): This can be any bones or any joints. Often the joints may be peripheral but can also be large joints like the knee or hip. Any bones can have severe point pain, but rib pain is quite distinctive for the disease.
3. Brain fog. Arising in early stage (early on after GBCA): Many terms have been used for this: mental confusion sounds more scientific, but brain fog gets the point across well and succinctly. Brain fog is also a prominent feature of lead toxicity, which is another heavy metal toxicity.
4. Muscle vibrations (muscle fasciculations) and skin pins and needles/tingling (early on after GBCA). These symptoms may represent part of the same process that is causing brain fog. Muscle vibrations/twitching and pins and needles skin sensations generally reflect nerve disease (neuropathy).
5. Head pain (early on after GBCA). Headache is both a very common occurrence and shows tremendous variability. GDD sufferers describe it as a head pain, and unlike any other type of head-ache they have previously experienced. These two properties provide differentiating features for this entity. Some describe it as a burning pain and as an extreme tightness feeling (like a tight bathing cap on their head).
6. Distal arm and leg skin/skin substrate thickening, discoloration, and pain. Arising in the subacute stage (2 weeks +): This is very much like the principal features of NSF, but generally less severe. Instead of woodiness, doughiness; instead of redness, pinkness; instead of extreme joint contractures, stiffness of joints and decreased range of motion. Skin tightness is a feature of GDD as well. This symptom complex should be expected.(more…)"

Enigmas again./ Yikes! Recent research has shown that one doesn’t need a contrast agent for follow-up MS MRIs after initial diagnosis. https://www.everydayhealth.com/multiple ... e-with-ms/

​Going further, one may not even need the MRI at all.

Consider
Posted by ElliotB on viewtopic.php?p=258681#p258681
"Mon Oct 07, 2019 4:10 pm
MRIs are a good tool for diagnosis but are of limited usefulness otherwise - some people have lots of lesions and minimal or no symptoms and others have few or no lesions and lots of symptoms. Lesions also come and go regularly so depending on when you have an MRI, they may be present or not. You may find this time lapse MRI interesting:

http://www.msdiscovery.org/news/news_sy ... -meets-eye"

Enigmas again: Keep in mind one doesn’t really know what MS is nor how the treat it. The MRI reveals immune system activity, that’s all.

In fact, we have the bizarre situation where MS is defined in the negative. If the various « MS » symptoms are found to be caused by a known disease, hopefully treatable, then that means it’s NOT MS. So what IS MS ? We don’t know but that doesn’t prevent torturing MSers with MRI scans and various toxic drugs.

Anyway, back to the Gadolinium poison. NHE had this to say about it.

« After 20 years with this crap, I think I'm done with gadolinium enhanced MRIs.

NHE wrote:The test was done using the protocol from Doctor's Data. It utilized the chelation agent 2,3-dimercaptosuccinic acid (DMSA). It's one of the few FDA approved chelation agents.
The one interesting result from the test was that the DMSA pulled out gadolinium even though it had been 10 years since my last MRI with gadolinium contrast. During a more recent MRI, the tech said that all forms of gadolinium dechelate to some extent and get sequestered into the body's tissues. Indeed, there have been published reports of what looked like enhancing lesions, but which were detected even without the use of contrast.

Here are some links with relevant discussion and references.
Gadolinium deposition disease.
viewtopic.php?p=244505#p244505
Gadolinium accumulates in the brain. viewtopic.php?p=234351#p234351
My experience, gadolinium can stick around in the body for at least 10 years, perhaps longer.
See: viewtopic.php?p=219759#p219759

Me again : And then we have 1Eye’s unfortunate testimony. He regrets having entered a drug trial. He believes repeated Gadolinium enhanced MRIs may have badly injured him while leaving long term toxicity behind.

Post by 1eye » Thu Nov 10, 2016 7:56 am See: viewtopic.php?p=244512#p244512
"I have had the skin thickening in my toes for a long time. The gadolinium probably settles there because it is a metal, and is heavier than blood. I suspect part of my MS symptoms, and perhaps my conversion to SPMS, has been caused by the contrast. If that is true we may never know whether some things work or not (such as the MBP that I was part of a trial of), because the MRI scans being done in the trial, actually make the MS worse. I had gadolinium every time I three months on that trial. The end of the trial for me was a heart attack. I was on placebo. I think if it were studied, the placebo group in that trial might be found to have gotten worse at a greater rate than untreated MS patients. That may have been the gadolinium. They were regularly given 9-hole, walking, and PASAT tests. The data might be useful. The vendor is probably going to keep it secret. Science triumphs again. »

Conclusion: In the future, I will refuse Gadolinium. Period.

The only MRI I will undergo is a FONAR upright cinematic MRI (no contrast agent needed) to see how the Central Nervous System fluids are circulating. I will agree to another MRI (without contrast agent) once any fluid obstructions are corrected. However, it may well be that renewed fluid circulation will put an end to the MS symptoms.

At that point the MRI question will have become moot.

Previously published on my site MSCureEnigmas.net with quotes from ThisisMS.com
https://www.mscureenigmas.net/
https://www.thisisms.com/