My Experience

I was in the ER and had just been diagnosed with meningitis. The doctors ordered a CT scan on my head using iodine as a contrasting agent to better evaluate what was contributing to my headaches and vomiting.

I had been wheeled into the CT room with the CT scan X-ray machine and table sticking out of it. The X-ray machine looked like a giant white donut. I had just received a CT scan of my head and the person doing the scan came back in with a syringe of iodine-based contrast agent that he injected into my IV portal. He told me I would taste a metallic taste at the back of my mouth, experience a warm flush throughout my body and then it would feel like I was peeing, but not to worry because I wouldn’t be peeing.

I didn’t taste metal or feel much of a flush but it did feel like I was peeing for about 10 seconds. The man left the room, and soon the table moved my entire body backwards, the machine began to whirl. It lasted for about 30 seconds, and then the machine stopped, the table came back out of the donut and I was finished.