The Health Hunt: Real Healing Journeys, Everyday Wellness & Expert Tips

Ep 19 - Full Body MRI Anxiety: Our Honest Conversation Before Our Prenuvo Scans

• Sandi Magder and Daniel Schuman • Episode 19

Share episode

Use Left/Right to seek, Home/End to jump to start or end. Hold shift to jump forward or backward.

0:00 | 35:53

Before getting a Prenuvo full body MRI, we had to face something bigger than the scan itself: health anxiety, claustrophobia, and the fear of what preventive screening might uncover. 

In this episode, we talk openly about the “what if” spiral, the tension between early detection and fearing a diagnosis, and the emotional weight of choosing proactive imaging when your nervous system isn’t entirely on board. This is a raw and honest conversation where we share our thoughts just BEFORE undergoing our scans including that part of us that isn’t 100% sure we want to know the results

This is not a sponsored ad or polished testimonial. This is an honest conversation about:

  • What a full body MRI is
  • How preventative screening works
  • The fear of finding something serious (brain tumor, cancer, no
  • Health anxiety and catastrophizing before medical tests
  • Claustrophobia inside an MRI machine
  • “Ignorance is bliss” vs. “knowledge is power”
  • When health optimization becomes obsession

What Is a Prenuvo Full Body MRI?

Prenuvo offers a full body MRI for preventative screening. Unlike traditional MRIs ordered after symptoms develop, this proactive imaging provides a broad snapshot to surface abnormalities that might otherwise go undetected

These scans aren’t diagnostic on their own but they can highlight areas that may need further evaluation and that’s where the psychology kicks in

This episode dives into questions many people carry before testing:

  • What if they find something?
  • How will I handle waiting for results?
  • Does early detection reduce anxiety or increase it?
  • Could a minor finding send me down a rabbit hole?

We also discuss health headlines, biomarker testing and how catastrophizing affects the nervous system

Sandi shares her intense MRI claustrophobia and fear of being inside the machine. Dan shares his history with prior MRIs and why he scheduled this one weeks in advance

Why This Conversation Matters

Preventative health decisions, whether it’s a full body MRI, blood work, or cancer screening carry emotional weight, especially for those prone to health anxiety or mind-body symptom cycles

We’re not here to tell you whether you should get a Prenuvo scan. We’re here to model honest conversation about medical uncertainty, fear of diagnosis, and the fine line between proactive health and over-testing.

This is Part 1 of our Prenuvo series

In upcoming episodes, we’ll share what the full body MRI experience was actually like and a conversation with Prenuvo’s Chief of Staff about what these scans can and cannot tell you.

Text us your thoughts, questions, or takeaways. We read every message.

All views, opinions, and commentary expressed on The Health Hunt Podcast are solely those of the hosts. They are shared in a personal capacity and do not represent the views, policies, or positions of any current or former employer, including any organizations with which the hosts may be professionally affiliated.

Connect with the Health Hunt

Sandi Magder

Welcome back to the Health Hunt, a human, humble, and often humorous exploration of how to better understand your health. Today's episode's a little bit different because we're standing on the edge of something that feels both exciting and slightly terrifying. In about one week from the date of this recording, Dan and I will be undergoing full-body MRI scans at Prenovo. It's a type of preventative imaging designed to detect potential issues before symptoms ever appear. But before we get there, we wanted to talk about something far more universal than the technology itself. The psychology of doing something like this. The anticipation, the anxiety, the what-ifs, and for me, the very real fear of being inside an MRI machine. This episode is not about results. It's about being human before the data exists. And in true health on fashion, we're letting our listeners in on a real and raw conversation that Dan and I had regarding our feelings about the scans. But first, a quick disclaimer. And because I think it's Dan's dream in life, I'm gonna relinquish the reins to him on this one.

Dan Schuman

This is great. This is exciting for me. I'm ready for this disclaimer. It's been episodes in the waiting. So here we go. The Health Hunt Podcast is for informational and entertainment purposes only. We're not medical professionals, and nothing shared should be considered medical advice. Always consult your healthcare provider before making changes to your health. Period.

Sandi Magder

You nailed that. Good job.

Dan Schuman

I did.

Sandi Magder

Okay, let's get into this discussion. So the first thing we want to share here is how did this even come about? Why are we getting these full body scans? Were they on our radar? And how are we thinking about it?

Dan Schuman

Right. So several years ago, I started hearing like trickles started coming in through my network that people were doing these full body MRIs. And I kind of just heard buzzwords. I didn't really process what it was, but I knew it was something interesting. And I was on this journey, uh, the health journey that I was on. And so as I heard it more, full body MRI, full body MRI, I started to do more research and I came across pre-nuvo, and I realized that literally it's, you know, a full-body MRI that looks at everything in your body and provides you a report on the state of affairs in your body. And I thought that this is the ultimate test for me to understand what's behind the scenes. Where's my, you know, do I need an oil change? Like where, how's the engine doing in the car? Like, where are we? And, you know, I'm in my late 40s and I don't golf, but I'll use, I use this a lot. I'm hitting the back nine and we're getting there. We're on the ninth, tenth hole, uh, and your late 40s, you're turning. And it's a great time to understand the state of affairs, as I said, of your health. And so I I think this is a really good reflection for me of all the things I've done prior to this. I was doing this anyways. And so, but I'm thrilled to now be able to do it with Sandy uh on the podcast, the Health on Podcast, and to let people know our experience.

Sandi Magder

Yeah, I mean, it's kind of a big deal. And I hadn't known about these scans. I think actually I went to a networking event and somebody represented another company that was doing them. It was a little bit different uh in terms of the scope, but kind of maybe when it was first on my radar. But I didn't have this on my hit list of things to do. I am turning a big age number this year, which we're again, we're not gonna talk about because I don't want to cry on the podcast, but it's certainly a good time for me to do something like this. And so what Dan mentioned, it's gonna kind of tell you like all the things. And so that's kind of what we're gonna talk about today, because that can be overwhelming. And especially for someone like me, we'll get into this more that understands that a diagnosis can really trigger my own health anxiety. You know, how we're gonna manage something like this. So before we jump in, we just want to share one important piece of context. As Dan mentioned, you know, this was on his radar, and he probably would have gotten one of these scans regardless of this podcast. But Preenovo has generously provided these scans to us at this time. They are not reviewing this episode, and this is not a paid advertisement. We're just sharing this experience because preventative imaging is something we're genuinely curious about, and because the emotional side of a decision like this, as I mentioned, the fear, the uncertainty, the psychology is something many people relate to. So when it was offered to us, we really jumped on the opportunity so we can take you all along on this ride. And as you know, we're just a couple of curious humans, so it makes sense that we're curious about all of the things going on inside our bodies.

Dan Schuman

We mentioned it briefly, but let's more formally talk about what a PRNO scan is. For anyone unfamiliar, PRNOVA is a company that offers full body MRI scans and are designed for preventative screening. Unlike traditional imaging, which is typically ordered after symptoms appear, these scans are intended to look for potential issues before you otherwise know something is happening. So early detection, as I was talking about. Instead of waiting for something to go wrong, the scans attempt to be a broad internal snapshot of the body, looking for things that might warrant further investigation. It's not a diagnosis tool by itself, but rather a way of surfacing information that otherwise might remain invisible. We've heard many stories where the information obtained through scans has had life-saving results.

Sandi Magder

Yeah, and that's amazing, and that's where the terror comes in. Prenuvo has a lot of information about people that have been saved because they've detected something early. But that's the part we kind of don't want to think about. So in this part of the podcast, we're gonna share our initial thoughts.

Dan Schuman

Yeah. Um so going into this, we schedule these um MRI, full body MRIs, I think in early January, and we'll be taking them at the end of February. And so it's been about eight weeks. I've been reading things before then, as I mentioned, but in the last eight weeks, I kind of had to tamper down the amount of stories or how the PRNO was advertising, and rightfully so advertising how they've been saving people's lives. So, you know, how they detect something and they find something and um people's lives are changed for bet for the better, but they have to go through that process. And so a lot of that was just kind of stacking up and layering up. And so I kind of just turned it off. I get it. I know that this is only probably I think the number is like 5% or less of the people that take these tests have these type of um things they need to look to look into and investigate further. But that's the 5% that Prinel we should be talking about as a business, because that's what at the end of the day is it's important that they're saving lives and delivering results. So I think um again, it goes to the issue of it's it's it's amazing and it's beautiful that they're able to save and people who are preemptive about their health are able to catch things before they get serious. But on the other hand, as you know, Sandy mentioned, it's also terrifying to know that that is something that could be told to us.

Sandi Magder

Yeah, and I'm gonna call you out on something, share something. And when when the the scans first got booked, you had handled the booking. And so you told me it was at the end of February. And my first thought was, wow, they're so busy. We couldn't get an appointment for two months. But it turned out that that wasn't the case. And so do you want to share why we booked them out two months in advance?

Dan Schuman

Well, I mean, I did it. I booked it out two months in advance, and the simple reason is because anything that I've ever done, I've done two brain MRIs, two cervical MRIs, and a couple other MRIs. Anytime I've ever done any of these MRIs, I need to, in my mind, come to grips that I'm doing it. And there's a road that I take on that journey. Um, and you know, it's been not an experienced road, but I've had, you know, when you go in to get a brain MRI, you know, a preventative one, you know, again, it's the same thing. It's just, you know, there's no symptoms, like you feel, you feel okay, but you just never know. And like I am not one to think that I'm invincible. This is a world where, you know, everyone's a human being and you just never know when your numbers called or when it's your time to kind of deal with, you know, uh issues. And so it's taken probably six weeks for me and predictably to come to grips with, you know what? That's it. I just can't worry about this thing anymore. I've worried enough. I've gone past worry into let's just get this done. And so that's a great question, Sandy, and that is why I schedule it eight weeks in advance.

Sandi Magder

Yeah, and I I wanted to have you share that. So thank you for being honest. It was it's mental preparation, which I have for things like traveling. I'm not the kind of person that someone says, Hey, you want to go on a two-week trip tomorrow. I would have an actual nervous breakdown because it sometimes takes me two weeks to pack so I don't miss anything. This is a little bit different for me. I don't know that I had the same kind of anxiety about getting it done. Although I can say, you know, other times when I've had blood work for different things, I'm fine until the waiting period. And I think it's that in my head I mentally prepare it's gonna take X number of days. And so if it passes that time without hearing back from the doctor, I just assume there's a conspiracy theory and something catastrophic is wrong and they just didn't want to tell me. I realize that that's sort of probably goes against all of the HIPAA things, but that's my irrational fear. So I don't know that I'm super nervous about the results going into it, but it might change after we actually have the scans.

Dan Schuman

Yeah, I think, and I think anyone listening to this podcast can identify with what I'm about to say. And and maybe I'll have to say it again later in this podcast just to kind of emphasize it. But after you're done with the scan, in my experiences, like the next 24 hours is super fun because you're not, you know, you're not getting anything back. Like not super fun, but just you're kind of like in like a little bit of a buffer zone. And then after that, I I guess pre novo that currently lists that the results come back within 10, 10 days, which is a while, which is it's that's that's that's a lot. And I wonder if they're just really busy and they're not staffed appropriately, but whatever the case may be, I've thought about, and I'll just say it right now, is do I want to block all of my incoming calls? Do I want to accept calls? Because I get spammed all the time. But all day. All day. And so, you know, you get these calls, and like now I obviously mean no one's calling me about my health, but now that now we've added a variable. Now, after that scan, that's one of the calls I could get. And if you're gonna get a call before you get your report, and it's like within whatever period of time, something could be wrong. And so again, this is just a really real fear of people experience whether they're doing this, another MRI, any type of result, many things in life. So I have to kind of re-up and reconfigure, you know, post-test um just what that will look like for me.

Sandi Magder

Wait, do they call you with results or they send you an email with a report? Do we know?

Dan Schuman

So I'm actually going to inquire with them because I'm not sure how it's delivered. You know, like quests, like it's like, oh, your results, go check. And so you go onto their website, you check. I'm not sure if like Cronova will send uh a message saying, go check your results, or if like it's actually just like a doctor just calls you, or I just don't know. And like I would like to eliminate that uncertainty. So I have an idea of how that works.

Sandi Magder

We for yes, because I just went through this with my dog that passed away when she was in the hospital for a couple days. I was living in terror of getting the call, which sadly I did get that call, but that was like I was living every time my phone made a noise, I was living in a state of high anxiety. So I can imagine it's like this. Actually, I had this experience. I wasn't expecting to get a call, but back I talked about this in the episode where I shared my story. But when I was in university and my hip was really bad and I'd wanted to go on vacation, I'd gone to a new rheumatologist, I'd wanted to get a cortisone shot so I could have kind of a week of relief. And he, because he was a new doctor, he wanted to take x-rays and kind of get more medical information. Not really thinking anything of it, I got a call at nine o'clock at night from this doctor saying, um, there's nothing to inject. You actually need a hip replacement. So I've had that call and I wasn't actually anticipating it. So maybe now I will let's still, yeah, let's let's find out the manner in which we get notified because I same thing. I get spam calls all day. I don't want to live in fear of my phone. And I think like part of me is, I mean, if I have a brain tumor, I would like to know. That raises all kinds of other questions because I'm afraid of things like chemotherapy and all of the things that would wreak havoc on my body in a longer-term scenario. So I'm trying not to sort of overthink those sorts of things. But those fears are real. I think with anybody getting a test, even if it's not a major test, and this is kind of a major test, it shows you all the potential things.

Dan Schuman

You know, it's interesting because I'm not suggesting I'm not one of those people as well, but when people think about what the results could be after a test like this, the one thing that like if you were to play like um what's the game show that where you guessed the the words? Oh god, I can't I can't think of this. What Jeopardy? Not Jeopardy, but um you know the families on each side and like the families guess. Family feud. Sorry, I even said family. He made it easy for me. Someone's like, you get a full bed the family feud of getting a full body MRI scan, like number one fear would be like literally brain tumor. Everyone would say and um you know if you're a if you have no symptoms and you have a brain tumor, I mean, you're probably catching it early. Uh that's the assumption, right? And so there are other things that are as interesting, not interesting, but as I want I don't want to use the word concerning, but there's a whole like thing, a blist of things that could be uncovered. Like, you know, I may have this wrong, but is my understanding that lung cancer is the number one cause of death in the United States, I think, or of the cancers. And so you have to look like through your lungs, and then you have pancreatic, and my dad had stage four pancreatic. And so if you do catch it with pancreatic, you probably catch it because I mean, I don't have any symptoms, but if I, God forbid had it, it'd probably be stage one or it's early. And I know someone whose life was saved that way. And so um there are a whole, it's going through your whole body. So there's a whole list of things that it's looking at. And so, but for me, when I think about big gorilla in the room or the big elephant in the room, it's you know, it's which is what you said. It's like, let's just get past this brain thing because this is just it's number one on the family dude in the um full-body MRI spheres.

Sandi Magder

For sure. And I think the brain that ideally doesn't have a tumor, it's immediately gonna jump to that worst case scenario. And I think that that's that is the worst case scenario. I mean, for me, a lot of my body parts don't function that great. And I always kind of joke, like, at least I think it does. My brain is sort of my highest functioning organ. And so if I don't have that, I don't really know what my life looks like. And so, like, catastrophize, our favorite word. Yeah, catastrophizing is really kind of one of those things that pops in because like you do sort of go to that what if? And you start thinking of all the those scenarios that how would you manage it and what do you do? And so I guess obviously this anxiety about results is normal. But I'm you know, from our perspective, like how do you prepare for something like that?

Dan Schuman

Yeah, I just think as I mentioned with this process of the eight weeks, I just think you kind of just get so burned out by worrying that I don't want to say I'm callous, but it just is what it is. Uh it just you go like you have one life, you go in, and the results are the results, and you just have to push forward, and hopefully that pushing forward is something that is wonderful, or if it's a if it's the biggest challenge of your life, then that's what it is. But that that challenge would present itself either, you know, in two weeks, or it would present itself in a much worse way in two months, two years. You know what I'm saying? So it's a matter of just kind of, you know, there are people that prefer to be ignorant if that are that have symptoms that are like not it's that that have things wrong, like just don't want to go to the doctor because they don't want to know. And then there are people that, you know, like like us who want to uncover the truth and see what's there. And so I think um, I think in a weird way, we're actually lucky and privileged to be doing this. Oh, for sure. Um, I think we're I I know I say and they are both thankful and really appreciative to to Prinova for allowing us to document our experience. And I think at the end of the day, um, win, lose, or draw, it's gonna um be, I don't want to use the word benefit, but it's going to be an important part to transition into the next you know phase of our lives.

Sandi Magder

Yeah, and I'm I'm excited to have this chance to talk about it and to sort of have this real and wrong conversation about our anxieties and fears about it because I'm sure other people go through the same thing. So if this helps anybody to kind of realize, first of all, this is our theme, that they're not alone. And secondly, maybe to reframe how they think about it, I'm grateful that we get to have this conversation and these experiences. Let's talk about the part that I'm very much not excited about. So I also talked about in previous episodes, probably a few of them, my pretty intense claustrophobia. And so I have had an MRI. This was years ago, I want to say 2013, maybe. Um, it was on my lower back. And so I didn't really go in thinking about what an MRI was. And when they put me in the machine, you know, and slid me in, I made the mistake of opening my eyes. And that is when I felt like I was in a coffin, you know, and I could hear people throwing dirt on me. And I panicked and I made them pull me out. And so eventually we got back in and they pushed me all the way back. And I don't know why, maybe I'm sure you know these scans are a little bit different now and the devices are different, but for whatever reason, for my back, I was all the way in. And so what they did was they kind of pushed me back enough so that I could tilt my head up and see the ceiling, which helped a little bit, and I got through it, but I always said to myself, I would never do that again. And so the MRI component is what is scaring me the most. Like I just am debating if I need to be drugged, what drug do I need? I'm not super excited about that because I don't want to be groggy and asleep through the whole process. And but that's probably that's my bigger anxiety than finding a brain tumor.

Dan Schuman

Just an FYI to anyone listening right now is that Sandy and I are doing these MRIs together at the same time. So um it's part of the process we've decided to embark on. But I am not in this category. I am not fearful of the MRI. I've taken enough of them. I will say that I know this is I have to, I'm gonna say this stuff, and I know that like it's really actually hard for Sandy to hear me talk about it because it gives her it brings emotions. I know that she's had that in the past. We've talked about it and it's just kind of like triggering. But yeah, you I put um these things over my eyes, which I think they have, I forgot what I call it, they're like goggles or something like that. And then I put actually a towel over my eyes so that if my eyes did open and I the towel is the second layer that I couldn't see that, you know, obviously there is something like within inches of my eyes that's you know, I'm looking at. And so uh I my eyes actually hurt after MRIs because they're closed so shut they're closed shut so tightly. But I think it just is what it is for me. And I think um Sandy, I think you mentioned prenouble has your head out for some portion of it. I think you you you had to Yeah.

Sandi Magder

I I read I I mean I read I I I probably will you had suggest this, but I haven't done it yet. Call them. I mean, because they do ask you this, and I actually think I still have to complete some of my medical information. I already put in the part, you know, they needed to know if I had any metal, and yes, I have a hip and knee replacement, so lots of metal. I think they I think there's things they do differently so that it doesn't skew what's around it, because I think it can, I know, I don't know how that works exactly, but I know that they said you can watch Netflix during it, but I assume it's also, again, for the brain tumor side of it, that there is a component where your brain has to be in. And so I uh I definitely want to get a little bit more information and decide if medication is something I need. But again, I don't know if there's a medication that would actually help because something like a Xanax, which I took maybe once before, makes me very groggy, but also a little nauseous. So I don't want to be in a confined space nauseous because that that also triggers my fear of like throwing up, but I'm stuck inside this capsule. And it's funny, what you're mentioning about the goggles and the towel, that makes me feel feel claustrophobic. The thought of like the sensory deprivation and just having something on me, that already is triggering. So we have to see. You know, ideally, I don't freak out and we get this done.

Dan Schuman

There's two things I want to mention that you you mentioned one, and I'll one's a little bit off topic, but the medical intake form that you just mentioned, I had done that. It took about 45 minutes. And the one thing they don't do is they don't allow you to uh intentionally upload prior MRIs. Like I have two brain, I have two cervical, I have a colonoscopy that they could see. Um they ask about that on the intakes. Um I have one that shows nodules. Nodules are little bumps that are naturally occurring in your body. So Some of those will show up on your MRI for for sure, um, not to be concerned unless you know they're larger and then there's a conversation to be had. But they don't want to know any of that. I mean, they want to know information, but they don't want to know results. And I think that I because I messaged them and asked them why I couldn't do that. And I think it's just the case that they want these doctors to just really just not compare, they're not doing comps, which I mean comps are important, but they're just looking at what the information they have in front of them is. And that's to the extent that that is how they want to proceed, that's what they're doing, which I get. And so that's the medical intakes side of it. I forgot the second point I was just gonna make. I'll get back to it when I think of it.

Sandi Magder

So that, but you actually brought up a point that we should discuss because this is like you you wouldn't know this unless you looked into it. And we're actually gonna have someone from Pre Nouveau come on in a future podcast after the scans are done. So I think we should talk a little bit about like what results you get. It's not just that the machine's gonna populate some results and AI is gonna tell you you've got something here or there. There's actual medical professionals, right, that that look over it. And I believe, and again, this is something we'll have them discuss, to the extent that there is something that's actually concerning, I believe that they have a team of medical professionals across different areas of medicine that will help you address it. Not that they become your doctor for that, but I think that they will then steer you in the direction you need to go. Is that your understanding as well?

Dan Schuman

I think so. I think um I'm a little bit in the dark about how far that works. I mean, like, do they just, you know, do they refer you out to, you know, another specialist if there's like an issue, or do they just kind of let you know and then, you know, you're off to the to the races with on your own. I I don't know how far that extends. So I think we'll learn a lot um, just in the sense of like what services are offered or how information is disseminated um through our our lived experience. And also then these are all questions for the chief medical officer as well.

Sandi Magder

Yeah. And I think that that's important, right? Because ideally it's not that they just send you a result and go, you've got a brain tumor. Good luck. I I think that this is a little bit more sophisticated than that, that there is more hand holding or more support than just you get results, even though they're not a medical facility. I think that there's more resources that they provide. So, you know, again, this will be an interesting conversation and I think potentially help people through the anxiety of these results, right? Because it's scary to think you're gonna get some kind of result. I mean, the thing that that scares me about the results, and it's not the result in itself, it's that I have historically been a hypochondriac. So if someone is, you know, on the same airplane as me and they sneeze for sure, I'm gonna get that cold or whatever it may be, whatever is near me, you know, somebody mentions a symptom, I'm gonna get that symptom. I'm concerned about, and this is also in line with some of the mind body work. And I've talked about how a diagnosis can be a blessing and a curse, but if it finds something, how do you A not cling to that and then maybe start to experience symptoms because of the maybe even placebo effect, right? It may you might be a nodule or some kind of bump or something that's benign, but you immediately go to worst-case scenario. And then what's kind of next steps? How do you know how far you should go, right? I mean, if it sees some kind of a bump, I don't know that it knows it's cancerous. So how far do you dig into it? Is it a matter of you wait and see? I mean, that these are again more questions for the chief medical officer, but these are things that concern me knowing how I am. That's where a little bit of the ignorance is bliss, I think, is potentially healthier for me because there's a bump somewhere. Waiting and seeing is not my favorite activity.

Dan Schuman

Right. I think uh that is the I don't want to say weakness to this, maybe the kryptonite. Well, I guess kryptonite to the all this is that you know something could be found, and there could then be, you know, I need a CT scan, you need a deeper, you know, deeper um you know, procedures to determine you need a biopsy, uh whatever you need, you know, and it could be nothing. And so you're starting to, and then again, we're backing right into. So I talked to a doctor, a close friend of mine, who has seen a lot of these results and had patients that have taken these the prenova tests, and he said, you know, basically, and he's got a really great bedside manner. I just love how he um talks you through things. He was my doctor for my primary care physician for a while. Um, and his quote was um basically, we find things when we look for them. And that's what we're doing here. We're we're literally exploring. We're going through like an exploratory exam. And that's when you find things. And you could find things that are not harmful at all, and you can obviously find things that you know are concerning. And so you have to kind of put everything into context that you're going to do this because you're looking. You're looking for things. And when you look for things, sometimes you find them, as again, I as I just said, and so you can't let that create extra anxiety because you should we know what we're doing. We're going into this knowing that. And so that's um where I keep thinking about this, and that's where I've kind of settled in that it's just it just is what it is. Yeah, it's gonna, it's gonna, I'm gonna be better for it on the other side just because it's it's an important thing to do.

Sandi Magder

Yeah, and I just I know I I'm in the same boat, except that I know how I am. And again, because of this mind body work, and I I'm actually we're talking to someone, a mind body coach is gonna come on and talk about the brain science and sort of all of that interesting stuff about it. But I'm not going into this looking to solve my chronic conditions, first of all. But I but I know I remember, um, and this is like back before I I knew better, but I remember when I was diagnosed with this severe spinal stenosis, until very recently I almost pictured in my body. And so that in itself can cause pain. And so I'm I'm just, you know, concerned again about the, you know, the way in which I'll my brain will interpret results and what it'll do. And so it's I knowing this, I can be mindful of it and I can talk myself off the ledge and I can do kind of the work that I need to do, but I just know that this is a potential trigger for me. I mean, they might come back and tell me that I need seven of my joints replaced.

unknown

Right.

Sandi Magder

Like I believe I've got joint damage again, thinking that could contribute to pain because somebody could have joint damage or spinal stenosis like like I have and not experience pain. And so that's something that I have to be very careful about, how my brain clings to potential results.

Dan Schuman

Right. When I had my cervical MRI in June of last year, so somewhat recently, and they're like, it came back and they're like, Yeah, Dan, you have like severe spinal stenosis in your C6, C7, you have this in the C4 or C3, like just a whole like list of degenerative things going on in my neck. And they're like, Did you have a car accident? Did you have anything acute happen to you? And that's no, I haven't. And I have all these symptoms from it that are just like imbalance and the fatigue and sometimes migraines that are associated with my neck and muscle spasms. My neck's basically lock, my muscles lock my neck to protect my spine, and it causes all havoc. And the one thing that I said to myself is that you know, I read the MRI report. I'm like, you know what? They found nothing in the form of cancer in the neck and this. So you kind of have to put everything into perspective. But again, um we're getting older, and I just kind of I I would like to put things into perspective. I think and people, I this would be really interesting to find out from listeners and community if you know, when we're as we grow, is and it might be the case even that I've read that if you if you like go to the New York Post, if you go to any number of news sources, is it the case that younger people are getting terminal illnesses at a much more alarming rate than normal, or is it just that people know about it more? And so um some doctors you talk to and on podcasts and similar will say that a lot more adults are getting you know colon cancer, and that's why they rate lower the screening from 50 to 45. Uh breast cancer has increased, prostate cancer has, and there's other, all these other, and you know, it's a larger conversation, but you know, environment, food, water, all those things. And so because I kind of read those things, and because I was looking at the pre novo ads, it was a lot of it was it was just a lot coming at me that I had to kind of just walk away from because it's just um it's not useful. I mean, it's good to know it in the beginning and like get an idea, but like at some point it just becomes you cast you you catastrophize, and as we like to say, it just becomes a little bit um it beats you up a little bit.

unknown

Yeah.

Sandi Magder

Yeah. I mean, sometimes like it's too much information too much. And that's that's why we wanted to have these conversations because this is it's applicable to sort of anything whenever you go get tested. You know, even if it's not like all the things, your whole body, there's still this anxiety. Does it help? What are you getting out of the test? Because doctors love to doctors love to order tests, right? Because they want to know. They don't, it's a liability. They don't want to miss things. So I think a lot of the times there is a lot of testing that is ordered, even in the functional medicine space. Like I've had issues with this before, thinking I need to check all of the things. And sometimes that can become somewhat burdensome, not just from a cost perspective, but what do the results say? Is it really what I need to be looking into?

unknown

Right.

Dan Schuman

This could be like just what you said, Sandan. This could be with like biomarkers. Like I do a lot of biomarker testing and you know, I get panels tested, um, probably way too frequently, but um, I'm trying to see if supplements are actually improving my health. And, you know, you get this quest says the results are there, and then you go look, and you know, you always just hope that there's nothing that's outside of the realm of the median range, you know, like a big red thing showing, like, wow, like all of a sudden your liver numbers are off, you know? And then your mind could start racing to like, wow, why is my liver not acting properly? It was defined three months ago, six months ago, nine months ago. Now I have this outlier biomarker. Is there more that needs to be looked into? And so it can again, this is the um is kind of the what is it called? The opt it's the health optimization. Health optimization curse that you get too into it and it becomes psychological and it actually, you know, it does not benefit you any longer.

Sandi Magder

Yeah, and that's in the same sort of line of, like you said, health optimization. If you're always trying to feel better, if your day revolves around taking supplements and doing all of these things, at least within with my case where I actually have chronic pain and other issues like fatigue, the more you think about it and the more you try and fix it, the more you're telling your body that you're actually not healthy. Right. Because if you have to fix something, the assumption is that something is wrong with it. And so there is certainly something in that with going down certain rabbit holes and overanalyzing everything that actually keeps you potentially in a fight or flight situation and keeps you sick. So again, this is like balancing information with all of that. And that's where I'm at. And, you know, again, because I have the self-awareness of it, I think probably I can keep it in check, but I do have to be cognizant of it's a potential rabbit hole that I can go falling down. So before we conclude, I just wanted to share that uh Pre Nuvo has provided us with a discount for our listeners who are interested in getting one of their scans. So we're gonna put a link in the show notes. It's gonna be sort of at the bottom with all of our contact information. So you can certainly take advantage of that. If you're interested in getting more information, we'll have the website link as well. And I guess in closing, we're sitting here, and in one week, we will actually be on the inside of those machines. And that makes my heart flutter a little bit and I'm slightly sweaty, but hopefully I get through it and we're gonna take you along for that journey. Right now, we're just operating purely on imagination and fear. If there's one thing this conversation highlights, is that preventative health decisions are rarely just logical. There's a huge emotional component: fear of a diagnosis, fear of uncertainty, fear of discomfort. These are real forces that shape how we engage with our health. As we mentioned, in an upcoming episode, we're going to take you inside the actual pre-nuvo experience and share what it's like to get through the scans themselves. And then the third part, as again, we mentioned, we'll speak with the chief medical officer of Pre Nuvo to unpack what these scans can and cannot tell you, how their results are interpreted, and how to think about proactive imaging responsibly. If this episode sparked thoughts, questions, or even anxieties of your own, we would genuinely love to hear. You can reach out to us at the Hell Hunt Podcast on social media or through our website. If you're enjoying these conversations, the best way to support the show is to follow Ray and review the podcast. It helps more curious humans find their way here. As always, stay curious, stay thoughtful, and we'll see you next time on the Hell Hunt.