MRIs Make You Dizzy? Here's Why

If you've ever gone for an MRI and been left feeling woozy, new research says you're not just being a wuss: there's an actual physical culprit behind that dizziness.

According to researchers at John's Hopkins University, the magnet in MRI machines can stimulate the inner ear's balance center, causing some patients to feel vertigo while they are inside the machine and in the minute or two after they've left it.

"For a long time, people have felt, 'I'm just nervous' or 'I'm claustrophobic,'" said Dale C. Roberts, M.S., one of the study's co-authors, who likened the sensation to being on a slow merry-go-round.

"Now we know that there's a real physical stimulation of the balance centers that cause you to feel vertigo," he added, explaining that the "why" behind said dizziness has been a mystery since stronger magnets were introduced in machines some 20 years ago. (MRIs rely on a computer, a magnet and radiofrequencies to produce images of the body's internal structures.)

To solve the MRI vertigo puzzle, Roberts and his fellow researchers in the lab of John's Hopkin's neurologist Dr. David Zee put 12 volunteers -- 10 with healthy inner ear balance centers and 2 without -- in MRI scanners, tracking what they reported feeling and simultaneously monitoring any involuntary eye movements that indicate the brain is registering motion.

According to Roberts, the biggest consequence of their discovery that magnetic fields put pressure on the fluids in the inner ear could come in the research world. Machines with stronger magnets, such as those often used in experiments to track metabolic changes in the brain, caused faster eye movements, meaning the machines could be causing brain activity and thus could potentially be skewing results.

Roberts said magnets' effects are a minimal issue in the clinical settings in which MRI machines with lower-strength magnets are typically used, though his colleague Zee added that in certain procedures, doctors rely on functional imaging to make sure they're not working in parts of the brain critical for speech or movement. In those cases, the MRI's impact on the brain's balance organ is something to be aware of.

But even more broadly?

Roberts said the new discovery could help with a minor, but not uncommon, safety concern: Some people jump off the machine too quickly and can be caught off-balance.

"Now when a patient complains, we know why this is happening," he said. "A doctor can explain why, and can tell them what to be aware of."

Comments

[Tamer81]

12:49 AM on 09/28/2011

Dizziness truly a side effect which can be linked to many clinical cases
http://medical-information-for-dummies.blogspot.com/2011/09/dizziness-vertigo-and-menieres-syndrome.html

[RVU]

05:11 AM on 09/25/2011

There is one poster of HPost who continually smears MRI contrast imaging. Her unbalanced rants are posted on this thread below, and are full of imbalanced conspiracies that makes her into a one-person diatribe.

The implementation of MR imaging has been the of the biggest advances in medicine in the last quarter century. I has changed the management for the better of all cancer as well as chronic diseases that physicians had to gander something of an educated guess before the development of MR (such as Multiple sclerosis, and cerebral vascular disease).

Contrast MR imaging has been proven safe through the test of time. Unless you have severe kidney disease, which is now screened universall­y before every contrast enhanced MRI injection, there is NO danger or risk posed by Gadolinium contrast.

http://www­.ajronline­.org/cgi/c­ontent/ful­l/196/2/W1­38

http://www­.cardiovas­cularbusin­ess.com/in­dex.php?op­tion=com_a­rticles&vi­ew=article­&id=26396&­division=c­vb

An enormous population set, 159,000 patients, were examined in the American Journal of Radiology study. Gadolinium contrast was concluded by this study and the FDA to be 'very safe', being that there was an adverse reaction rate of less than one per million of contrast dose administra­tion.

The poster Sharon Hanson below is promoting non-factua­l fear and bizarrе personal bias in this post. And, like the irrational fear mongеring about immunizati­ons, this slandеr against Gadolinium contrast will continued to be effectively nipped in the bud.

[Sharon Hanson]

04:00 PM on 09/25/2011

Bull! Look at the links I posted. Read the articles and read the FDA updated black box warning. You are the fool that is promoting injection a toxic heavy metal into the veins of health individuals and expecting it to have no consequences. Just like mercury amalgam filling it the medical industrial complex doesn't want you to know that you only get 1% better detection of breast cancer when compared to mammograms and breast ultrasounds combined and it is a lot cheaper. We are only beginning to realize the damage that over 300 million doses of this toxic heavy metal has done to those injected. I ask all that read this post to review what I have posted and make your own decision about these MRIs with contrast. All of the GBCAs are on the updated black box warning. It is posted below.

[DakkonA]

04:30 AM on 09/27/2011

MRI for brain activity or general structure doesn't require heavy metal injections. Some specific applications do, depending on what they are trying to visualize.

[Sharon Hanson]

04:29 PM on 09/25/2011

By the way your links don't work but here are a few more for you.

Gadolinium and nephrogenic systemic fibrosis: The evidence of things not seen
http://www.ccjm.org/content/75/2/112.full

Gadolinium-Induced Nephrogenic Systemic Fibrosis Is Associated with
Insoluble Gd Deposits in Tissues: In Vivo Transmetallation Confirmed by Microanalysis

http://www.asdp.org/scriptcontent/Journal_CME/12_09_1.pdf

[Denisehh3]

08:03 PM on 09/24/2011

I've had a few MRI's and noticed that I had somehow become more apt to be zapped by any metallic surface I touched for months after.......

[woodcrestmac]

05:27 PM on 09/25/2011

Executioner ( Danny DuBois )

[spunkyphd]

06:30 PM on 09/24/2011

How is this statisticaly valid? 12 people.

[66readerwriter]

06:27 PM on 09/24/2011

I've had my share of MRIs over the years. I often joke that I spent so much time in them that I ought to pay rent for taking up the space. But I never experienced vertigo....just claustraphobia.

[f1nesse101]

11:04 PM on 09/22/2011

I have had MRIs and afterwards my friends said I looked like a was a glow stick. Hmmm, is that really true, or not?

[Sharon Hanson]

09:26 PM on 09/22/2011

OMG! MRIs with gadolinium based contrasting agents (GBCAs) are causing more than dizziness it is causing a new man-made disease called gadolinium associated systemic fibrosis or nephrogenic systemic fibrosis. You seriously can't be writing about MRIs and not mentioning that millions have been poisoned by this toxic heavy metal? Over 300 million doses have been administered worldwide and at least 1% of each bolus dose, a known carcinogen, stays in the body and according to an expert, Dr. Abraham, millions will need to be followed by a plethora of doctors due to its toxicity. I was dizzy after one of these MRIs with GBCAs but it had nothing to do with the magnet it was due to the poison being injected into my veins. Now I have four autoimmune diseases and still counting. And the gadolinium is everywhere in my tissues, all my organs and my skin, causing problems with my heart, lungs, liver and kidneys. I can barely walk anymore.

This article is spinning the truth and seeks to minimize the very serious consequences of having an MRI with a GBCA. Please do more research and come back and write an article that matters and doesn’t minimize the toxic effects of these MRIs.

[GOODDOC1]

09:35 PM on 09/22/2011

I'm sorry that you've had problems, but I've had countless MRIs, both with and without Gadolinium, and have had no problems whatsoever. In fact, I wouldn't have lived without them as long as I have. No Physician has ever suggested I needed to be followed because of the Gadolinium. I've never heard of that from any other physician, Radiologist ot otherwise. Good luck in the future.

[Sharon Hanson]

11:36 PM on 09/22/2011

Here's the link to the interview and it took me ten years to figure out why I was sick. They are saying an inflammatory event will trigger the disease. But you are wrong. How can you tout the safety of these GBCAs when even the FDA has issued a black box warning and then updated the warning to include an additional statement on AKI and with it a risk of developing NSF. And then there is the fact that these GBCAs are nephrotoxic. Nephrotoxic meaning they cause AKI. You cannot test for AKI because it can happen after you leave the facility.

With GE's product, Omniscan, they knew it was unstable and knew that it broke away from the chelate in the vial. It's the reason for the excess ligand. This stuff is toxic and never should have been approved for injection into humans or animals. How can you say injecting a toxic heavy metal into the human body is okay?

http://www.hemodialysis.com/author_interview_gd_deposition_in_pt_with_nsf.html

[paulthamec]

06:12 PM on 09/24/2011

Same here..i have had 12 head mri's for a acoustic nueroma left side before and after surgery with Gadolimium and have had no problems it has been 10 years since i have had a mri..

[clusins]

10:31 PM on 09/22/2011

Understand your feeling about Gad. But this article is about movement of hydrogen protons in our inner ear being affected by magnetic field. Its says nothing about NSF or dangers of Gad. Its like a car review and someone commenting about the paint color. I have been a MRI tech for 12 yrs and have administered hundreds of contrast without 1 patient ever reporting NSF or any other symptoms except maybe being a little nauseous. Just saying. You may be one in 500,000. What MRI has done for the medical field is nothing short of a miracle. Sorry about your troubles. But, this isn't the article that you are looking for..

[Sharon Hanson]

11:50 PM on 09/22/2011

Well how would a tech have any clue as to the effects of a toxic heavy metal being injected into the body and the short and long-term effects? Are you an epidemiologist, an MD, a lawyer, a radiologist? I take documents to doctors that are still ordering these exams and I scare the hell out of them about getting sued. Here's a few links to read and then come back and tell me what you think.

Patients don't have a clue what they are getting themselves into. They are not being told. And radiologists should be worried because now that the FDA has issued a new black box warning the radiologists and doctors that order them will be responsible.

This stuff needs to be pulled off the market in my opinion or used only in life or death situations.

http://www.propublica.org/series/general-electric-omniscan
Judge’s ruling on expert witnesses in the litigation. Talks about free gad and how it is highly toxic.

http://www.propublica.org/documents/item/ohio-judges-ruling-on-ge-omniscan-evidence

This is a good read Robbie Booker vs. GEHC. It’s a Motion for Leave to Add Punitive Damages. GE settled without hesitation after this was filed that is how incriminating the evidence against them was.

http://www.propublica.org/documents/item/robbie-booker-v-general-electric-041510#document/p4/a2

[drfrieder]

08:36 PM on 09/22/2011

Everytime I get an NMR I feel super hot from all the molecules being moved back and forth. I used to service and install them so I know the Physics behind them.