contrast mri

Finding out why they give an IV for MRI turns out to take more research than most medical questions I'm faced with. (Which means I had to use my reporting skills to probe farther than the first couple of Google results.) But what I gather is this: the thing they stuck in my veins was a heavy metal, safely bound up in a bigger molecule. Since an MRI is all about the M (magnetic), this stuff shows up different. The important fact is that it doesn't cross the blood-brain barrier, so you only see it in places with blood supply. Such as [fanfare] tumors. I suppose aneurysms would also show up better in a picture with the blood vessels highlighted.

Like I said, I seriously doubt that I have anything interesting at all. I've been learning a lot about headaches recently at work and I'm guessing we're talking about some plain old boring tension headaches. And part of diagnosing headaches, as many of you apparently know, is ruling out interesting things. So if only I could get rid of this darn stress....