JPinThailand

Got it. Thanks for the help, Sheryl. You steered me good. I get your point.

Heh, BB24, yup, MRIs are damn expensive in Thailand. Good to know that MRIs arent all the same. I'm not claustriphobic so no issues with that. Thanks for the tips.

Thanks for the info, Sheryl. Thats really helpful. I looked at the website of the FrancoVietnamese in Saigon, but they don't have prices listed, so I'm calling to try to get updated prices.

I have 2 questions for you:

Are there any medical centers in Thailand which would be worth going to ask for cheaper MRIs? I tried calling a couple, I was very specific about what I want and I even got a Thai girl do it so there are no language problems, but it was still a pain to get any real price quotes on the phone. But in person works. So I figured to just go in person to a few places, since they give me a price when they have to look me in the face, you know. Which places would you suggest, in Bangkok or anywhere like Pattaya, Phuket, Chiang Mai?

I probably will have to do surgery so I can keep lifting. It will be smthng they call spinal fuzion. I'm totally flexible about where to do it, I can do it in Thailand or in Vietnam. If MRI is so much cheaper in Vietnam as you say, then it made me start thinking about the eventual surgery. How is quality and price of surgery in Saigon compared to Bangkok or some other place in Thailand? Im paying myself, so price really matters. I want good quality results obviously, not some sketch place, but I dont wanna pay for plush lux service thats just not necessary.

Thanks.

I need to do an MRI of my spine in 2 places. The neck part and the lower spine part (its called the lumbar).

The doctor said its from my weightlifting (bodybuilding). X-rays show problems in both areas. The technical words he used is thoracic syndrome for the neck and spondylolisthesis for the bottom back and legs. He says its important to get MRIs' to see the nerves in more detail including if there are compression issues.

What do you think is the cheapest place to get this done? Im in Bangkok now, but I move around Thailand a lot, plus I'll go to Vietnam in the next month, so I can do it anywhere in the region.

St Louis Hospital here in BKK made me a quote of 20,000 THB for the whole thing. Thats like 10k each for the neck and the bottom spine. I looked at prices previously written about on this forum and it seems thats not a horrible price, but its still a lot of money so I want to see if I can shave that and get it done somewhere cheaper, especially because I can do it anywhere. Ive gotta pay it myself, no insurance right now, so I dont want to throw my money away on a sketch place that gives useless results, but I dont care if the place is fancy or whatnot, I just want the cheapest legit place.

Thanks everyone.