Originally Posted by
Timtruro
During a recent physical, the doctor recommended that I have a stress test. He said he noted what appeared to be some minor abnormalities on the EKG this yr. versus last. he said it was probably nothing but given my family history he would recommend a stress test. I have never had one and am somewhat anxious about the test. I have talked t0 a couple of friends who have had them and although they assured me it is nothing to be too concerned about, I am more anxious than I thought I would be. I guess one piece of good news is that the doctor told me I could continue my normal exercise routine prior to the test. Anyhow, tomorrow is the day one way or the other.
Has anyone who has gone through this got any advice or information on the test? How did you feel during/after, what I might expect, etc. ?
It's normal to be apprehensive about this sort of thing.
The stress test is not bad, though. In all probability, your doc has ordered a nuclear medicine stress test. The objective of the test is to check and see how well your heart muscle receives blood flow. What they do is inject a special dye into a vein, and then take a series of pictures with a nuclear imager. The dye is mildly radioactive, so they can see where the dye (and thus blood) has moved into the heart muscle itself. Then, they will exercise you on a treadmill to take your heart rate up to a set goal (there is a formula they use to determine what heartrate must be reached) while they have you hooked up to an ECG machine. After the exercise, they will take another set of images and compare how the blood is distributed in the heart muscle.
Depending on your weight, they may do the first (resting) set on images on one day and the exercise set on another.
Apart from the IV, none it hurts, and you are closely monitored during the exercise phase. There are no residual effects from the dye or the testing, you can go back to your normal routine right after the testing.
Matt