I've had chest pain. EKG showed some abnormalities, but after going through this with multiple Docs, it seems many people have "abnormalities" and it doesn't necessarily mean anything. I've done 2 regular stress tests and one chemical. The chemical one was kind of scary, as you are laying on a bed and when they inject the chemical, it suddenly feels like you are doing an all-out town line sprint. The regular tread-mill test I tried to max-out, but I'm not in the same shape I was back in my heavy running days so I didn't do as well as I thought I should have. The hardest part is they want you to tell them just before you blow up so they can inject the tracer and you still need to go for another 45 secs or so, so the tracer gets to the right places.

So the tests themselves weren't that big a deal, but there was the hanging-around waiting to get imaged after recovery. Also at least where I was the imaging required maintaining absolute stillness while the camera cycled around.

After all that they never could see any problem. Eventually I got a different internist and he thought the problem was actually injured chest wall. He had me stop all exercises (I did a lot of weight lifting) for a year and that has pretty much cleared it all up. Now off the beta blockers, aspirin, etc. Had to work up the cycling again from zero, and weight lifting. Now I only lift what I can 12 reps of in a set. That also helps with the joints which just can't take the heavy weight any more.

scott s.
.