GDD: don't blame yourself
A common wistful observation I have heard from many GDD sufferers: "why did I accept getting a GBCA injection, when I was concerned and thought I didn't want it".
Self-blame is common for many tragic occurrences, however it doesn't help anything, so you have to let that go. If you have the disease you have enough worries, that you don't need any additional to clog the mental system. Beyond that, unlike other tragedies, such as texting and driving or drinking and driving and terrible accidents, this actually you had little control over. In fact in essentially all cases individuals were told by MR technologists or even by radiologists: "don't worry, everything will be fine, the only people who can run into trouble with GBCAs are those with advanced renal failure". Authority figures who you thought would know everything about GBCA told you it was okay.
Like in many situations (probably most) people who we assume are authority figures, actually aren't.
There is nothing you could have done first time through and getting GDD. There is however an age-old saying that applies here: "fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me".
If you think you have GDD never, ever, ever get another GBCA injection again, even if you are Roman Catholic and the Pope tells you to get a GBCA injection.
Otherwise, first time injection that causes GDD, you are blameless... at some level so are the MR technologists: they don't know better. Arguably they should, because I have written enough, also in the peer-review literature. Nonetheless even for some of them (MR technologists) one also has to think, in order to come to peace:
Forgive them, they know not what they are doing.
Richard Semelka MD Consulting Stay tuned on the latest advancements: