Stress Echo

[Cordelia]

I have to have a stress echo done on Aug. 12. Anyone ever had one? I hear it's a weird test feeling out of control of your body like you're gonna have your heart pound right out of you. Any tips/suggestions on how to help me cope through this test? I'm already getting nervous about it. LOL
Thanks in advance   

[MooseMom]

I had one last year (and have to have another this year) to get on the list, and it was nowhere near as bad as I thought it was going to be.  I was worried that I'd spend hours feeling like my heart was going to explode, but I didn't find that to be the case at all.  The worst part was having the IV inserted in a vein in the back of my hand...God, I hate that!  I seem to remember a very slight flushed feeling, but that could have been my imagination.

Mostly, I got grumpy because they made me fast, so I was irritable and hungry.  They make you fast so that they won't get any false readings; your heart and your stomach both are muscular, so if your stomach is working, it could make it look like your heart is wonky or something.  And it was all very boring.  You have to sit around and wait for the adenosine to "stress" you, and then they take a bunch of pictures of your heart, and the machine takes a long time.  Then you have to wait around some more for the adenosine to finish up doing what it's gonna do, and then you have to have more pics taken...sort of a "before and after" kind of thing.  Dull, dull, dull, AND you're hungry.

Anyway, that was my experience.  I'm actually waiting to get my referrals so that I can schedule the test, and I'm not looking forward to that needle going into the back of my hand.     Yep, that was the worst part.

[C904]

I will second what MooseMom said just very long and boring.  They will put you through the paces on the treadmill, but if you can't keep up they will only have you do what you realistically can.  Pretty much no pain, just that little stick with the dye they put in with a quick iv shot.

I did two of them and in your chart they should have you are there for possible kidney transplant,  both times I had techs ask me about fifty times are you ok can you keep going?  Maybe this is the norm I don't know, but I got the feeling it was because I needed a kidney and they just rolled with this person may be very sick and weak.

[MooseMom]

Yeah, I think it's the norm.  I suspect that anyone who is there for a stress echo is going to be assumed to be unwell and to have difficulty "keeping up".  I have always enjoyed exercise, but I have to admit that I had trouble "keeping up", and that made me very sad.  It made me realize I was probably sicker than I thought.  But to be fair, I hadn't had anything to eat all day, and that didn't help!

[edersham]

 Moosemom said it all.

Ed

[MooseMom]

Oh, and one other thing...since you will be radioactive, they won't let you leave a certain area of the facility.  All of us radioactive people were corralled into a single room that had a TV.  Luckily, I was alone in the room when my soap came on, so I could kill an hour watching All My Children.

After the first set of pictures of my heart, I was allowed some crackers and juice that they provided, if I remember correctly.

Of course, this is just my experience at this particular facility.  But I'd be surprised if your experience was vastly different.

Here's another thing I remember...chances are you are having an adenosine stress test?  If so, be aware that most facilities don't normally have adenosine on hand; they have to special order it for your test.  So if you have to cancel at the last minute, you'll probably be on the hook for the cost of the drug.

Is this too much info?

Take a book or two!

[Cordelia]

Oh boy, I'm learning so much.      LOL   

What's  adenosine? Never heard of it.      Do tell. I'm interested hearing more!!

I'm so happy I'm the first one to be tested for the day. My apt is at 7:45 am in the morning, bright and early. I have to drive an hour to get there so I'll be the first one to get hooked up and leave. I won't be too hungry. They were asking me if I was diabetic, etc, cuz I guess some people who are diabetic really struggle with that having an later than earlier apt. I'm not, but I still opted to have the earliest booking that way I can get the heck on with my day and enjoy my day and not having to dread the test LOL

Thanks for all your advice. I will definitely keep you all in the loop as to how it goes! 

Someone told me that some people have actually vomited during this test and others who have apparently fallen asleep during it! LOL!
I warned my cardiologist, have the PUKE pail handy for me!     

[MooseMom]

Here's even more fab info about my experience with this test!!!  It's your lucky day!!

I took the treadmill test and had the results sent to the transplant center.  They then came back and said that the results were insufficient or some such thing.  I had been unable to get my heartrate high enough for long enough to qualify as a valid test, so I thought, "OK fine..I'll go ahead and redo the stress test with the adenosine," which I had really hoped to avoid because I was afraid my heart would explode.   Remember, all of this was new to me.  Also, I had just had my fistula surgery, and that probably wasn't the best time to do a treadmill stress test, but I was in such a hurry to get myself listed.

I reiterate...this is just MY experience!!! 

Adenosine is the agent they use to "stress" the heart.  What it actually does is dilate the blood vessels; it doesn't really stress the heart in the way you'd think.  I believe there are other chemicals they can use, but I gathered that adenosine is what is typically utilized.

If you are taking a beta-blocker (I was taking atenolol and still am), you will be asked to cease using it 24 hours before the test.  A beta-blocker slows the heart, so if they are trying to measure your cardiac function in a way that is supposed to speed up your heart rate, well, you can see where I'm going with this.

I've taken a beta-blocker for so long that not taking it a mere 24 hrs before the test was probably insufficient to get it out of my system.  I think that's probably why I couldn't get my heart rate up using just the treadmill.

I guess it is certainly possible that at some time, somewhere, someone puked, but there is supposed to be a cardiologist and emergency crews on hand whenever this test is being performed.  I suppose if you have severe cardiac problems already, puking is more likely.  I didn't feel my best, but again, that's because I couldn't eat and that's what made me feel icky.

When they take both sets of images of your heart like I described above, you lie down inside of what looks like and MRI machine, and you can hear the images being taken as the embedded camera arcs over you sort of like how the sun rises and sets.  It takes about 20 minutes per set, and I did come close to napping.  You're supposed to lie still with your arms over your head, and the lights are turned down low, and if you are lucky, you get to listen to some new age music.  Zzzzzzz....

[billybags]

I remember my husband having the stress echo. No it was called the Nucular test. The one he had was over 2 days. I am wondering if this is the one you are having. It involved having dye put in a vein and then they connected you to a machine, the first one apparently is a gentle test on your heart, you do not feel it. The next day he had to go back and have dye again and then they make your heart go a little faster. There was nothing to it. As you say it is the fasting that does it. There are others like the tread mill but I don't think they put dye in for that and then there is the echo gram which is not a problem. let me know which one it is.

[The Noob]

DH had his just less than 2 weeks ago. heres the low down:
monday at 11 am was cut off for any caffiene/decaff of anything. tuesday morning at 9 am: NPO.
he had not taken any BP meds for a few days. his BP was fine.
the test was set up for 11:30am, we got there 11am to get signed in. it was a cardiologist clinic (large) where there were alot of things going on. we were in one spot of the clinic.
we got him signed in and went to waiting room. few mins later nurse calls him back, does EKG and vitals, history, etc.
then another nurse comes in, puts in IV. I was there to make sure they saw the new fistula and stayed away from that arm. in the IV line some chemical was run through. then he sat in wait room for 45 mins. for the drug to start working. he said he felt fine but was tired from no coffee.
he watched tv and chatted with other patients. then they bring him back and sit him on bed. doc comes in and chats with him, rubbed his back, he said he felt his heart speed up and then start to slow down. this was all gradual and he said it actually felt decent. he had to lay and sit with arms up too. he did not do a treadmill. this was the chemical test.
he said the only part that was wierd was the meds making his heart rate go up, he felt a sudden urge to go #2.
when they were done with that he was allowed to go to bathroom and did. they did the echo which is just an ultrasound (on heart).
he went back out to sit in waiting room again. this went on a couple times. then he was done. all total it was 3 hours, much of it being wait time. when he left, they gave him a little card to carry saying he was radioactive due to nuclear stress test.

after that we got him something to eat and drove home (1.5 hrs). he had some coffee and was fine.
next day at D clinic, he had to wear a mask as they said he was radioactive and one of the nurses was pregnant.
did not explain this to him. the worst part was "not knowing what was going to happen".
his results came back perfect, they called the next day to report.

alot of his fears were due to past medical procedures that he had never had, wasn't prepared for, and didn't know what was going to happen. the staff at the places we have been do this every day. the patient may never have had it, so is not familiar, hence being scared. kind of like having your first baby. i think if someone had sat him down and went through it, he would have coped better, though he did fine.

[monrein]

Cordelia, do you know why they are having you do this instead of the regular stress test on a treadmill?

[Cordelia]

Thank you so much everyone for your detailed responses.......I am on one blood pressure med. 5 mgs, which isn't much. They said they'd call to let me know about my 'pills' what i can take, what I can't prior to the test.


Oh, they wanted me to do the treadmill test and I said I can't do it, I have so much arthritis in my body, it would never work for me. I tried to weezle out of this one too   

All my echos, everything was normal, I asked WHY do I have to have this one if the regular echo was fine!? But, the cardiologist said he wanted it done even though my heart is perfect.   

I tried, but nope, can't get out of it.      

[olivia]

I had a stress echo, Doc ordered the thalium, I asked to go the other route and get on the tread mill, they agreed to allow the tread mill. It took all morning. The IV was the worst. The test showed nothing. I ended up having a heart attack anyway, after my transplant. My transplant center did not order it, guess cause of my age of 45 my insurance company insisted on the test.

Good Luck to you,

[olivia]

Sounds like your doc is on top of things for you which is great for you. Better safe than sorry, cause there is no going back after a heart attack. And from what I have learned heart attacks happen for kidney patients, either dialysis patients or transplant patients. And they are no fun.

[Cordelia]

Am I gonna have a heart attack from this test?        

[olivia]

Lets hope not. I've never heard of anyone having a heart attack from the test.

[MooseMom]

Am I gonna have a heart attack from this test?        

The test isn't going to give you a heart attack, especially since your cardiologist has already told you your heart is "perfect".  You'll be fine, but you'll probably also be bored and hungry.

[Cordelia]

I hope then I'll be bored and hungry. I think I can handle that       

[MooseMom]

I hope then I'll be bored and hungry. I think I can handle that       

....oh, and grumpy, too.

[Cordelia]

             

[cariad]

Huh. I did the stress echo - the treadmill one - and unless I am losing my memory faster than I thought, there was no IV. I just jogged along for a bit, collapsed on the hospital bed, the tech grabbed a few snaps of my heart and the doctor told me immediately that all was well. She even had me ring up my transplant coordinator right there in the room, got on the phone and made sure that he told her exactly what she needed to fax over to put paid to the heart questions. It took no more than 15 minutes - and most of that was jogging.

I could not get my heart rate up either, but they said that was fine. I had stopped Inderal, but I don't remember how many days prior. I totally ignored the no caffeine rule and had my cup of oolong because in researching it on the internet, it seemed that hospitals had widely varying rules on this. I knew I would have a splitting headache if I skipped my morning caffeine, so I went with the most lax set of directives I could find which said no caffeine for a few hours before. I don't think this hospital told me to not eat, but I don't remember. All in all, mine was totally painless and quick. I am sorry to hear of everyone else's difficulties.

[Cordelia]

Yeah, we're supposed to fast. I think I was told 4 hrs before or something like that.

For the treadmill test, there is no needle, just the debutimine test. They are calling mine a debutimine (sp?) stress echo test.

[monrein]

No  IV here either, just running to get out of breath.  They told me to stop even though I could have kept going quite a bit more, since my rate was up enough.  The nurses themselves were out of shape and kept telling me I was making them tired.

What made my day though was that before I began they started telling me how nice it was that I was donating a kidney to someone...then they were super surprised to find out that I was in fact the recipient.

[Cordelia]

That was really nice of them to say that, that was really sweet!          

[sullidog]

I had the chemical kind, it was boring, they did have me drink some water after the first set of pictures because they said I had some bowel activity that showed up in the pictures.