What reason did the nurse give you for wanting to do the chemical stress test instead of the regular treadmill one , @Babs Hunt ? There must have been a reason because I believe that they usually do the treadmill kind unless there is a health/safety reason not to. When I had mine, it was because my cardiologist said that my heart was doing so poorly that it was not safe for me to do the treadmill test; so they had to do the chemical one where they can stop it before the stress damages your heart. The test itself only lasts about 1-2 minutes, and then you sit in the recovery room for an hour afterwards until they are sure that you are in good enough condition to leave; so the chemicals are not in your body for very long, and I didn't have any after-effects from the chemicals. I was also worried about having the chemical test; but I already knew that my heart was so bad that I couldn't walk much on the treadmill and was more afraid of dying on the treadmill than I was of having chemicals in my body for a few minutes. It was not painful or even exhausting like the treadmill would have been. I was scared when I thought I might pass out; but I didn't, and it was over very fast.
This is a personal decision I have had to make pertaining to my own body. Since neither the Doctor or the Nurse have given me any information on why they want me to have the Nuclear test instead of the treadmill one and until they can give me a valid reason why one would be better than the other my decision to not have the Nuclear one stands.
Yes, I agree with you that if they have not given you a medical reason for having one kind of a test over the other kind, and you feel strong enough with your heart to do the treadmill test, then that seems like the better choice. I wonder why they did not give you a reason for their choice of stress test ? I already knew that my heart was too damaged for me to take a stress test on a treadmill; but they still told me that was the reason why they had to do the chemical stress test. It seemed to me like they should have told you the reason why they wanted to use the chemical test for you and not the treadmill, is why I was asking. If I had refused the chemical test, they would not have been able to do a stress test at all, and they needed to; so there was not much option in my case.
I am wondering the same thing, and until I know the reason I'm not changing my mind about this. Now that I have taken the echo the Doctor may know whether my heart has some damage, etc. but with the EKG, blood work, Holten monitor testing for 24 hours all done before the echo....my Doctor has not told me anything about my heart at all. And although I'm not a regular exerciser I am not bedridden, etc. and may not be able to run a marathon on the treadmill I still should be able to do that one.
I think that in this case you can probably assume that they are not finding anything serious, or they would be calling you back in IMMEDIATELY and telling you that there was something going on that needed attention right away. That they haven't set up an appointment right away can probably be considered good news, like the old saying of "no news is good news". What is good, is that your new doctor seems to be being very thorough in checking out your heart to see what is wrong/not wrong with it. I agree that calling right away is a good idea, too. Maybe the nurse can just tell you if they didn't find problems, and then you don't have to keep wondering until you go back for the next appointment. Prayers that the doctor can find the problem, and can take care of it, @Babs Hunt .
I heard from my Heart Doctor's Office this past Tuesday. I got a call from the woman who administers the Nuclear Pet Scan stress test and she was still trying to talk me into taking it. She told me it was perfectly safe and she was hoping she could reassure of that. I told her I had no peace about taking that test still....but I also wanted to know how my other test results came out before I would even reconsider this test. She told me that the Holten monitor did show I am having irregular heart beats but the blood work and echo (ultrasound) were all normal. I asked her why I couldn't do the treadmill stress test....and she said because if I wasn't used to exercising on a regular basis then I might not beable to get my heart rate up to where they needed it to be for the test. Now she told me they want to make sure my arteries are clogged up. But in the research I have doing I have read that they don't need to do the stress part to check if my arteries are blocked, etc. They can tell that with a regular Pet Scan or a CTA both of which my Health Plan covers with a copay. So my appointment with the Heart Doctor to discuss the test findings, etc. is on Feb. 20th and once my Doctor explains what he thinks is going on...I will discuss with him about doing just the regular scans and see what he has to say. My daughter who is a Registered Nurse wants to come with me for that appointment...and I said she is welcome to come with me. So for now, this is all I know. Which I can say is good news for the moment....but I still don't have the answers to the why of my problem. And I guess I won't have it until we can see if those arteries are a problem.
@Babs Hunt , taking your daughter is a good idea. As a nurse, she'll understand, and she'll be able to help get your doctor to give you clearer answers. I have had a heart murmur since I was 9, and it has gotten worse over time, but my tests show that my arteries are nice and clear, so that might not be your problem either. I know you're in the Creators hands, and there is no better place for you. I'm hoping that all you need is a good regular physical routine. It has helped @Yvonne Smith way more than I thought it could.
While this is not the answer to everything, it is certainly something that helps a whole lot. I have talked about this more in the thread that @Frank Sanoica started, so I won't go into the whole thing again; but motivation to exercise is good thing. Both Bobby and I were close to dying a few years back, and neither of us expected to live through the upcoming winter. When we finally got him to the VA, the doctor pretty much said that we had gotten there too late. My heart had deteriorated to the point where I could not even comfortably walk from one room to another in the house. After medical intervention, we both thought that if God was going to give us a second chance to live again, it was up to us to do our part, since we were asking God to do His part. When we first started, neither of us could do much; but we persisted, and like @Ina I. Wonder said in her post, it has done more for me (and for Bobby) than anyone could have ever imagined. They say that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure; so as long as your doctor gives you the okay to do some kinds of exercise, then I think that it is a good idea to find something that you enjoy and try to build up your body strength again.
Although I won't see my Heart Doctor until February 20th to talk about my test results I called his Office a few days ago and asked if they could send me a copy of my heart test results and today I got them in the mail. Here's what my Doctor concluded from the 24 hour Holter monitor: Premature atrial and ventricular contractions with a low ectopic burden No sustained arrhythmias Patient events corresponding with sinus rhythm Otherwise unremarkable holter monitor It also says I had 1 premature ventricular contraction during that 24 hours and 757 premature atrial contractions. The Conclusion for my Echocardiogram: Normal left ventricular size and systolic function Mild diastolic dysfunction Physiologic tricuspid regurgitation with normal estimated pulmonary pressure There's a lot more information but it's all normal except for what's mentioned in the Conclusion. That's all I know until I meet with my Doctor but it's looking like I have a pretty normal heart that is aging the same way I am...slowly but surely.
My next stop is the Gastroenterology Doctor which I will see on April 17th but probably sooner because I am on the call list for cancelations. In fact they called today but the cancelation they had was for 11am on Feb. 20th and since I have my Heart Doctor appointment at 9:50am that just won't work. I am also going to see my old Chiropractor next Monday because some of my problems could be caused by my spine being out of alignment. In fact in researching my symptions...every one of them could occur with my spine being out of alignment! And this is something I am praying is the problem...because that can be fixed without medicine or surgery. It's slow going with the Health care system the way it is today...but I'm going to find the answers to my health problems and then I'm going to go take advantage of that free Health Club membership that comes with my Medicare Advantage plan.
This morning is my appointment with the Heart Specialist to go over my test results and see what he thinks is causing my irregular heart beats and what if anything we can do about them. If he mentions the Pet scan stress test again, I will tell him I am willing to take just the Pet Scan so he can see if my arteries are clogged or the Cat Scan that is also supposed to let him see my arteries. Even though I also wanted to see my Chiropractor, I'm not going to be able to do that because all though my Health Plan says my copay for this is $20 a visit, the Chiropractor says it will cost me $45. a visit and I can't afford that since I would have to go at least 2 times a week to begin with. So if my back keeps giving me trouble I'm going to try and go the Physical Theraphy way which is supposed to cost me only $15 copay per session. One way or the other I'm going to find out what is causing my new health problems even if the search for answers is slow going.
Well I had my appointment with my Heart Doctor and the good news is I really like him, he is a very kind and loving young man. He told me that from my test results he doesn't feel my heart palpitations are anything to be concerned about since their is no regular pattern to them. And he explained that the echo just shows a heart with normal wear and tear for my age. He still would like me to take the Pet Scan Nuclear stress test, but when I explained my concerns to him, he said that he would like me to just think on this and if I felt peace about it later on to just call his Office and they would set it up for me since he still can't tell me for sure if I don't have any clogged arteries. But he did tell me that my blood test results and blood pressure, etc. are just fine and he didn't seem overly concerned that the test was a priority anymore. He doesn't feel I need to take any medicine for these irregular heart beats and that was probably my favorite thing that he said to me. If anything changes for me he wants me to also call and unless that happens he will see me in a year. I am very pleased with my new Heart Doctor but hope I will not have to see him again until my next appointment. Yesterday I also got a letter in the mail from my Humana health insurance plan. The letter was to let me know that the complaint I called in about the "nightmare" Heart Doctor is being investigated although I will have to call the number in the letter today because some of the facts they stated back to me in the letter are not the facts I stated to the person I lodged the complaint with. Things now days go through so many people that it is like the "fish story" I used to hear about....by the time the fish story got to the last person, the "minnow" had become a whale! I want my complaint to be recorded but I want it to be accurate too. So with this good news I came home and spent 10 minutes on my new elliptical bike exercise machine. Since I have not been doing any regular exercising, this start was just fine with me. I figured if something is wrong with my heart I will find out now that I am beginning an exercise routine.
My New Year is not off to a good start at all. I was so happy after seeing my Heart Doctor for my test results and not having to take the PET Scan Nuclear Stress testing. But this past Friday my heart and blood pressure (which is always on the low side) decided to celebrate my Birthday early and not inform me of this until the party was in full swing. My heart was racing around the track at the Daytona 500 while my blood pressure was trying to reach the boiling point! Thank God my daughter is a Registered Nurse...she saved me a trip to the Emergency Room but now I am going to have to have that PET test because if I can't even do my normal work around our home, then something is wrong and the other tests didn't were not able to show the problem. Scared or not, there is no doubt in my mind that I need to take that PET test now and tomorrow morning I will be calling my Heart Doctor's Office and scheduling it.
@Babs Hunt , I'm so glad you've decided to take the test. I too went through all the thoughts that you now are having. As it turned out it was the simplest test I had to take, and I pray that your test goes as easily. Hang in there Babs, and you know who's hands you truly are in, so let him ease some of your stress.