If you’re into health and wellness, chances are you’ve heard about Prenuvo, the advanced whole body MRI screening. Prenuvo uses magnestic resonance imaging (MRI) technology to give you a comprehensive view of what’s going on in your body. It’s safe and radiation free and takes just under an hour for a full-body scan. The whole premise behind doing a full body MRI scan is to catch minor issues early and identify serious ones so you can act on them. A physical at the doctor’s office does not go into nearly as much depth (as you’ll notice in my results below) and unless you know how to advocate for yourself, some medical professionals can be dismissive and ignore symptoms in a seemingly healthy individual. I realize that getting into a discussion about the medical system opens up a political can of worms and especially since I am not a doctor or medical professional, I am steering clear of this to focus on providing a (hopefully helpful!) Prenuvo scan review. I’ll be oversharing, but the last time I did this, I transformed someone’s life, so doing it again! Prenuvo is not covered or maybe only partially covered by most health insurance companies. It’s an investment in your health. Keep on reading to find out if it was worth it for me.
Why I Did It
To be honest, if you looked at my bloodwork and health trends over my entire lifetime, you’d think I’m pretty healthy. I have taken zero medications my entire life, do nine workouts per week (running, cycling, and resistance training), have done six half marathons, a sprint triathlon, and a 4:11 full marathon (at age 42), eat an anti-inflammatory diet (lots of veggies, fruits, minimal dairy, no gluten, refined sugars, or red meat) and have been completely alcohol-free for over a year now. My muscle mass and fat percentages aren’t quite where I’d like them to be from an aesthetics perspective, though I’m slowly getting closer. I am at a very healthy weight and sleep 7ish hours on most nights (fine, not lately with trying to get products out the door…but you know how it is!). So why on earth would I need a Prenuvo scan?
As an ex-engineer, I know that the devil’s in the details. I wanted more data to be more proactive about my health. For myself and for my family. On the surface, I may look healthy, but I have a family history of breast cancer, dementia, diabetes, osteoporosis, and a host of other, minor issues on both sides of the family. Not just the random family member who you barely know, but many aunts who are thankfully cancer survivors. My breast tissue has already warranted a closer look and extra ultrasounds, even though I’m only in my 40s. The cards aren’t exactly stacked in my favor and even if no major issues were uncovered, I wanted to know what may be coming my way as I navigate perimenopause and inevitably have to face all the fun that comes with aging as a woman in a society that hasn’t done much research on women’s health to begin with (sorry, I know I promised I would leave the politics out of this!).
Prenuvo can detect many Stage 1 tumors and provides a thorough review of your nervous, respiratory, circulatory, endocrine, digestive, reproductive, musculoskeletal, and urinary systems. You also have the option to scan just your torso or just your head and torso for a smaller investment. Here’s how it works:
The Experience
Once you schedule your appointment online or over the phone (in select cities only), you’ll receive a link to a medical questionnaire a few weeks before your scan. You’ll need to fast for four hours before your scan, so I opted to be scanned early in the morning, before breakfast. I went to the Prenuvo clinic in NYC and it was beautiful, spacious, and reminded me of a spa-like venue. Once you’re checked in, you change into scrubs. Remember to leave all your jewelry and metal objects at home as you can’t take these into the MRI machine.
My Prenuvo scan review wouldn’t be complete without addressing the elephant in the MRI machine room: claustrophobia. I’m not a very claustrophobic person, so I did not take a sedative beforehand, but if you decide to take one, you’ll need to make sure you have someone to drive you home after the appointment. If you’re worried about being enclosed in an MRI machine, I can assure you that it’s not bad at all because you have the option to either watch YouTube, Netflix, or listen to music. I chose to watch “Our Planet” on Netflix (nerdy, I know, but I love nature and animals and loved every second of my 1.5 episodes!). Also keep in mind that your entire body is not in the machine at all times. Once you get through the “breathe in, breathe out, hold your breath” part, the machine will move you around and at some point, I was looking at the ceiling (next to my Netflix screen), which meant that my head was outside of the machine. You can also press a call button at any time to talk with the Prenuvo technician in charge of your images. Prenuvo’s MRI machines are slightly larger than your average MRI machine and though I got a bit cold towards the end, I was comfortable the rest of the time. You’ll hear loud construction-like noises the entire time, which is part of the scan. The Prenuvo staff can give you extra ear plugs if you’re sensitive to loud noises.
The 55ish minutes honestly flew by and once you’re done, you change out of scrubs and can enjoy some healthy-ish snacks and beverages (which I took home for my boys, of course, because #momlife). Overall, I thought the explanations, directions, setting, and staff were really great, clean, professional, and easy. Next up: scan results and a call with a nurse practitioner to discuss these in the next 5ish days. Keep reading!
My Results & Recommendation
I have to be honest with you. I wanted a clean bill of health. Like squeaky clean. I’m a certified health coach and wellness-company-in-the-works founder and no one wants to hear that you have less than stellar MRI results after you put so much effort into researching wellness and your own health.
But that’s exactly what my results came out to be: I have 2 moderate findings and a number of minor ones. I have a pineal cyst in my brain, which is apparently quite common and minor, same with a mucous retention cyst in my sinuses, a hiatus hernia in my stomach, a gallbladder that needs to be looked into some more, some cervical spine issues (apparently, I have bad posture!), and I learned a lot about my reproductive system, more than my OB-GYN was ever able to share. Some of these issues are minor, others are worth a visit to my primary care provider. After talking to a nurse practitioner via video conference, it became apparent that some anatomical variations are normal and quite common, but can look alarming in the images, which is why it’s so important that they’re discussed with a medical professional. The nurse practitioner was phenomenal and definitely put me at ease a bit more, without being dismissive and by allowing plenty of time for my questions (and boy, did I have questions!).
From my perspective, the full-body scan was absolutely worth it and I plan on doing it again in a year or so. Body literacy and having a greater awareness of what we should be focusing on is so important. Some of the cysts in various parts of my body should be tracked and others probably don’t need to be watched so closely. Some issues, like those related to my spine, can be improved through lifestyle changes. I’ve been out of breath on every single practice run I’ve done for my half marathon training and knowing that I still have some extra fluid accumulation between my chest wall and lungs (from a recent case of pneumonia) is helpful in that I now know the root cause of it. I’m the kind of person who wants to have and understand all the data. I can completely understand how some people can get into analysis paralysis mode, but I’m still part of the group who would want to know more instead of less, even if the more is “scary”.
The medical community can be against doing full-body scans like Prenuvo because of the false positive rate (which Prenuvo tries to minimize), and because a full-body MRI always uncovers more than we really need to know and can lead to unnecessary surgeries. Our bodies aren’t perfect and mine certainly isn’t, so I’m not sure why I was expecting perfect results. Maybe it’s because I’ve always been given a clean bill of health and because wellness and especially female health, are so front and center in my daily life.
I truly believe Prenuvo can save lives. I am extremely grateful to not have any immediate life threatening problems that were discovered during my scan, but if there’s one thing I know, it’s that you can never be too complacent when it comes to your health. Prenuvo would be free for everyone in an ideal world, but we all know that’s not how it works.
Finally, I think signing up for the Prenuvo scan is not an easy decision due to the sheer cost of the investment. Even if you can’t do it now or in the future, keep in mind that no one escapes the cost of neglect. How you treat your body today determines the quality of your life tomorrow. If you take away nothing else from this post, please remember that. Lots more practical tips and posts for your health over here. I hope you check them out and please leave me a comment if you found this Prenuvo scan review helpful!
