A previously fit and healthy veterinary nurse has been left disabled after being poisoned by dye used in an MRI scan.
Clare Garrett, 45, from Camberley, Surrey, experienced worrying symptoms after accidentally hitting her head in June 2024.
She said: ‘I hit my head pet-sitting on a kitchen cupboard. I stood up and smacked the back of my head.
‘I didn’t think anything of it until I started getting symptoms over the next week or two. I just started feeling dizzy, almost like concussion symptoms.’
Ms Garrett, a veterinary nurse, went to her local A&E before deciding to undergo a private MRI scan the following month when her symptoms failed to improve.
Before the test, the veterinary nurse was injected with gadolinium – a chemical used to help give radiologists clearer MRI images – that is usually eliminated naturally by the body within 24 hours.
A day after the MRI scan, Ms Garrett woke up unable to lift her head from her pillow and soon began experiencing a ‘crunching’ sensation in her neck and knees.
She said: ‘After the first gadolinium scan, something felt very, very off the next day. I couldn’t actually lift my head off the pillow.
Clare Garrett has been left wheelchair bound after being poisoned by a dye used in an MRI
The vet nurse was pet sitting when she hit her head on a cupboard door
‘I didn’t know what was going on. I was in a panic.’
Concerned over her worsening symptoms, Ms Garrett went for two more MRI scans – both with gadolinium and her health deteriorated further.
She developed a heart condition, and also began experiencing severe neurological issues, cervical spine instability, tachycardia, dysautonomia, Ehlers Danlos Syndrome, connective tissue issues, regular collapsing, and exhaustion among other health concerns.
‘Before this I had a really healthy diet and ran five times a week. I was running up to half-marathons,’ she said.
Dumbfounded by her decline in health, Ms Garrett began researching her symptoms online and stumbled upon gadolinium toxicity – rare, long-term side effects caused by the contrast agent.
Eventually testing revealed that Ms Garrett still had ‘very high’ levels of gadolinium in her body 16 months after she was first injected with the chemical.
She said: ‘I had no idea what was going on with me until I began doing my research on MRIs this year.
‘I wasn’t told about the risks. I was told it would be removed from my body within 48 hours but blood tests now show it’s still very high in my body a year and a half later.
Before the MRI, Ms Garrett was regularly taking part in running events
Now she struggles to stand and is crippled with terrible headaches
‘I feel like I was poisoned by this chemical. It feels like it’s taking my life away. I feel like death.’
Ms Garrett is now in a wheelchair ’90 per cent of the time’ due to ongoing mobility issues and severe head pain.
She said: ‘It’s got to the stage where I’m collapsing almost daily now. My partner will often come home from work and find me on the floor.
‘All my connective tissue has fallen apart. Ninety per cent of the time I’m in a wheelchair. I can walk but it’s very difficult, the pressure in my head gets quite severe.
‘I’m in a lot of pain, there’s no quality of life.’
According to the NHS, side effects or allergic reactions to gadolinium are very rare and are usually mild and short-lasting.
In patients with normal kidney function, the NHS states that most gadolinium (over 90 per cent) is excreted in the urine within 24 hours.
Ms Garrett is now determined on reversing the damage caused by the dye, while also raising awareness of the potential risks associated with the injectable, and fundraising to help pay for future treatment to remove the gadolinium from her body.
Ms Garrett said: ‘It will never go away naturally once it passes a certain amount of time. I’m just hoping this therapy works. I’m looking at places abroad to see a specialist.
‘I really hope I’m not wheelchair-bound for life. It’s completely ruined my life.
‘I know it’s a rare reaction but people should be told the risks. I definitely wouldn’t have gone ahead with it if I’d known the dangers.
‘It’s probably cost me £45,000 overall in the past 18 months.’
