MRI with Gadolinium

[ABC100]

Hi,

I have been having pain, soreness, discomfort on the left side inside of my mouth and throat area for nearly a year. I have been to ENT. The doctor after checking with her hands and looking down through my nose couldn't find anything. Also I have been referred to Oral-Maxiofacillar department at the hospital. After checking with her hands again this doctor couldn't find anything either. She said if it will give you peace of mind I'll refer you for a head MRI with Gadolinium but I don't think anything will be there. Following this I have been to an Osteopath where I have been told that on the right side of my face the muscles around the jaw and face are pulling the left side hence this was causing me the pain and soreness. After the osteopath worked on the area I felt better. I talked to the Maxiofacillar doctor who referred me to MRI about this development. She was happy not to send me to MRI and she asked me to cancel the MRI and suggested she reviews my health in a few months time, but in the mean time advised me to carry on with osteopathy. Rolling forward the time, I have been feeling good and not so good since then. I am going to go back to the osteopath again shortly and my maxiofacillar review is coming up this Tuesday. Here I am again with pain and soreness in the left side of my mouth, a bit like as if I had been keeping an ice cube there and after removing it the area is left with a kind of icey, cold burning soreness. I am scared. I have been trying to sort this out without getting MRI with Gadolinium (contrast agent). I have read things about Gadolinium which is scaring me; that it may not leave the body following MRI and is sometimes found in the brain of patients a long time afterwards, etc. After observing myself over this time I am coming to the conclusion that it is probably some kind of muscle issue to be worked on, but on the otherhand any work around neck area is not making me comfortable either. Also, at back of my mind I am thinking, what if there is something else there that the MRI could bring out. Then there is the fear from the Gadolinium. In addition to this problem, a few months ago I was diagnosed with thyroid nodules in my neck. Two on the left side and one on the right side. I will be having FNA's within the next few weeks (hopefully). I am not sure whether these are contributing to my pain and soreness around throat and left side of my mouth. The whole thing is overwhelming me.

I apologise for giving you a bit of headache with my ramblings, but if you could help me in some way in my dilemma and fear. Perhaps you might have had an experience of Gadolinium or experienced this kind of pain.

I would appreciate very much hearing from you. Thanking you in anticipation.

[Flower3]

I'm sorry you're not feeling well. What you describe could be a muscle or maybe a nerve? I've known people who had really bad pains because they clenched their jaws at night while sleeping, this is a muscle pain and with daily massaging the jaw muscles this will go away.

I can understand your concern, if I were you I would go for the MRI because this can literally look inside and see what is going on.

I had a brain MRI with this contrast you mention a couple of weeks ago, didn't really have a choice and was very nervous because of the contrast. You read really scary things on the internet about it. Of course every body is different but I really didn't notice it. I only got a strange taste in my mouth for not longer than a minute, felt really cold and that was it. You need to drink much water the rest of the day so you flush it all out. I didn't experience any problems later on. And, on my MRI they did find something and that is so important because then you've got a diagnosis and they can treat you.

So, I would go for it. Maybe they find something, see what the problem is and you can get the right treatment. And don't look to much on the internet for experiences.

[ABC100 in reply to Flower3]

Flower3, thank you for your reply and telling me about your own experience. I don't know what tomorrow's appointment will be like. With the tension and stress too high just to get away from it little, I started to clean my kitchen copboards. One good thing is already coming out of this that I will have clean organised kitchen cupboards and hopefully other good results will follow.

With my best wishes to you.

[ChrisCh]

ABC100 You never said if you were on thyroid meds. I have a muscle issue from my neck to my shoulder blade that I had before taking Armour and again since diminishing my dose. It goes on for weeks at a time, perhaps it is something similar.

Good luck.

[ABC100 in reply to ChrisCh]

Thank you ChrisCh. Much appreciated.

[Jaybrooke]

Hi abc , the fact that you have thyroid nodules points to a thyroid problem, I take it you have had a thyroid ultrasound and found nodules , blood tests and been diagnosed with hypothyroidism ???? I feel you may possibly have hashimoto disease . the pain and discomfort you describe is a symptom of hashimotos, I am afraid GP s doctors and even endocrinologists do not know this fact and will tell you this pain and discomfort is not connected to your gland and there must be something else causing it , I know this from bitter experience and a lot of research ( re dr John Lowe and dr Gordon skinner) here is an excerpt " Normally hyperthyroid or hypothyroid disease does not cause localized pain in the throat neck jaw or referred pain to the face or dental structure. One exception that occasionally occurs is the pain that arises from hashimoto thyroiditis which is an autoimmune inflamatory disease of the thyroid gland . It can cause painful or tender enlargement of the thyroid gland and in a small percentage of cases pain can be referred into the mandible or other submandibular sites. : Note, the mandible is the lower jaw , submandibular is the area beneath the lower jaw." Does this sound like you ? Have you got other symptoms?? I would expect so if you have ths disease . I had test at ENT nothing found also deep X-rays at dental hospital nothing found ( luckily no cancer) but doctors all said well it's not connected to your thyroid , there is nothing wrong , it's all in your head, you're imagining things and your just depressed !!! It took a long time for me to be diagnosed with hashi proving them all wrong!!! Hope this helps put your mind at rest ,show your doctor this and ask for antibodies tests , peroxidase and antithyroglobulin , a thyroid scan might be a good idea as would probably show inflamation but you may have had one recently,I am sorry if this turns out not to be the case but certainly worth looking into . Best wishes jay