Chest X ray tomorrow

[ElizabethJane]

Well it looks as if no one has had a chest X ray before so is unable to share experiences. I'm hyper scared. I think that I have had one before but I remember standing alone cold in my bra and pants. It seemed to go on for ages. I had to lie and stand in various positions. I'm to miss work for a while plus finding somewhere at the hospital to park the car. All to make me anxious and that is before the results. Help!

[nomorepanic]

There are loads of posts on here about x-rays lol - how did you look for them and did you look at the similar threads below?

I have had about 5 this year - everytime I go to hospital they give me one for some reason!

The most annoying things is having to take my necklace off cos I can never do it back up

[Stripyanimal]

I've had a couple of chest X-rays before, and they were fine. Just a bit of hassle getting undressed, but apart from that, there was no problem.

I don't know your details, but my x-rays seemed to take hardly any time - hopefully it will be the same for you too.

Good luck! I'm sure it'll be fine.

[ElizabethJane]

Hi Nicola and stripyanimal I had read some of the old posts but they seemed to be people who thought they needed a chest X ray rather than those who had actually had one. I'm nervous about taking my clothes off but I'll let you know how I get on. I have had X rays in the past but I can only remember negative feelings about the chest X ray. I think that I would rather have ultrasound and that can be far more invasive. I hope that you are feeling better Nicola.

[nomorepanic]

They give you a gown to wear and you get changed in a cubicle.

You only have to take your bra off if it is underwired and you can keep your bottom half of clothes on as well.

I am still not 100% but thanks for asking anyway.

[ElizabethJane]

Thanks. I'll post tomorrow. I'll try to remember not to wear an underwired bra.

[ladybird64]

Hiya.

I didn't notice your post before as I don't usually frequent this part of the forum!
As an asthmatic I have had more chest X-rays that I can remember. It's a simple process, no lying down involved..
As Nic says, you take your top half clothing off, bra included as the metal hooks show up on Xray.
The X-ray is taken while you are standing in front of a metal board type thingy, you put your hands on your waist and bring your elbows as far forward as you can..almost as if you're trying to impersonate a chicken.
They ask you to breathe in as deeply as you can, you normally have to hold the breath for a count of 3 and then that's it, all over.
Not particularly invasive, very quick. I would advise taking a cardi to pop around your shoulders if you do have to wait for any length of time as the waiting area is often a shared space..even though you have a gown on I always find a cardi makes me feel less "exposed"!

I hope this helps a little

[ElizabethJane]

Right well I had the chest Xray done at lunch time. I only had to remove my top clothing. The hospital is old where I had to to go and I didn't wait for long. The only problem I found was having to put my hands tightly behind my back. This caused some pain on my left side. They told me to relax my shoulders which was hard. The only problem I had was being unsure which were the soiled and which was the clean gown to put on. Nobody was around to tell me what to put on. All in all it went smoothly albeit in shabby surroundings. The staff were pleasant enough although the assistant forgot my name! Now I have to wait for the results.

[Stripyanimal]

Right well I had the chest Xray done at lunch time. I only had to remove my top clothing. The hospital is old where I had to to go and I didn't wait for long. The only problem I found was having to put my hands tightly behind my back. This caused some pain on my left side. They told me to relax my shoulders which was hard. The only problem I had was being unsure which were the soiled and which was the clean gown to put on. Nobody was around to tell me what to put on. All in all it went smoothly albeit in shabby surroundings. The staff were pleasant enough although the assistant forgot my name! Now I have to wait for the results.

Ah, glad you have got the x-ray over with! I'm sorry you were in pain with the position you had to get into though. (And I hope you didn't have to touch any soiled gowns, lol).

Good luck with the results. We are all thinking of you here.

[lonely]

i had one today for first time, had to remove all clothing including bra, but not underwear, then wear a gown, stood by a machine and put arms round the back of it, must say to me on the x-ray shown my spine looks very curved at the bottom, i must be wonky i was abit worried to but only took few seconds
then i had one done on bottom end near abdomen