I was stuck in an MRI machine once for over 45 minutes with no human contact.
Not stuck exactly, but they saw something on the MRI that concerned them and so the technician went to find a doctor so they could get the right pictures of what would be diagnosed as my cancerous tumor. So he just said he had to check something then went away.
At first I was ok but after a while it occurred to me that they brace they had holding my head and chest in place was pressing on me pretty hard, making it a little difficult to breathe. Then I noticed how tight the space was, I could barely lift my hands, and due to the brace holding me in place I couldn't even shift my position at all. My legs below the knees were outside the machine, but my knees were just inside it, so every time I bent my legs just a little my knees hit the walls of the tube.
After maybe 15 minutes I started calling out to see if someone was there, with no response. What I figured was about a half hour into it, I was starting to go into a full-on panic.
I had no way to get out, I know I tried.
I couldn't maneuver my hands to get to the levers that held the brace in place pressing on my forehead and chest. There was no way to pull myself out with the brace in place, and since my knees were inside the machine I couldn't get any leverage from the outside to try to force myself out. 5 minutes later or so I was in full on panic mode, screaming out for someone to help me.
Finally the technician came back over the intercom thing to me, and apologized for being away for so long. I told him I had to get out of there, but he wanted me to stay in the same position so the radiologist could tell him what more pictures they needed of the mass. I screamed "NO! GET ME THE **** OUT OF HERE RIGHT NOW GODDAMNIT! NOW NOW NOW!!!" So at that point he realized it was a bad situation, and he came in the room and pulled the trolley I was on out of the machine.
He wanted me to stay laying there but I had to get the pressure off my chest. I couldn't breathe and felt like the room was closing in around me. Strangely, despite the fact that I felt like I couldn't breathe, I was hyperventilating. I felt my vision closing off like I was going to pass out and the strange taste of saliva right before you puke. I got up and walked around a bit, left the room, went to the waiting room, and had to sit there for a good 15 minutes before I could go back.
I was able to get back in the machine so they could finish, but ever since then I cannot go in an MRI machine without being fully sedated, and although I was never claustrophobic before and actually do not consider myself to be now, there are some things I just cannot or could not ever do because of it. For example, I had a flashback when I had to crawl into a McDonald's playland structure to retrieve the 2 year old that just would not come out. I almost got stuck in there and couldn't move but finally flew out in a panic.
