what is it that you are actually afraid of with the contrast being used? the things that AZ mentioned are very true. BUT, the only people other than what she mentioned who should have any real concerns are those who have kidney disease or impairment of renal function. the dye, but ONLY in the people i mentioned can and does impact the overall kidney function in some with impaired function. this would show up with a simple kidney panel run, or as per protocal with most people even recieving any contrast medium, their creatinine and the potassium should always be checked out just to make certain that the kidneys can pass the dye out with no impact on the kidneys themselves.
but what i mentioned about the contrast and kidney is ONLY for those with confirmed renal impairment of some kind. other people with normal kidney fiunction really should have no problems at all getting that contrast out very safely. just drink alot of water post MRI or whatever type of test you are having that uses the contrast.
and if by some insane chance you do find that some function of the kidney is impaired? you can STILL have the contrast but before the test is done, starting the day before, the day of and the morning after, there IS a really wonderful med you can take that actually encapsulates that contrast and very safely passes it right thru the kidneys without it even BEING filtered thru them. its called 'mucomyst'. i have had to use this MANY many times espescially for the very heavily contrasted angiograms they do? i have a kidney disease but developed an actual brain aneurysm on top of all the other crap i have going on and had to have five seperate angios plus the aneurysm coiling itself which also uses alot more contrast too. when i took the muco as rxed before, i had absolutly NO changes in any of my kidney labs and also felt just fine after each test.
so there ARE some options here no matter what any labs would say too. but like i and AZ up there mentioned, for the majority of people, contrast is NOT any real problem.
just what type of testing are you going to have that uses contrast? it does matter since some tests simply require more than others. but if i were you, i really don;t think you have anything really to worry about using it, as long as everything is healthy overall. just get those kidney labs i mentioned done first as a precaution. they 'should" be just ordered automatically by the referring doc when using contrast anyways. Marcia