Anyone ever had a stress test here?
 

I had chest pains awhile back and my doctors are 99.999% sure it's either a muscular/skeletal issue or bad acid reflux. But to be sure, he wanted me to take a stress test. I guess the idea of having a stress test is more scary than anything else (although I guess it's pretty common as a precaution).

Has anyone had one before? I guess I'm either running on a treadmill or riding a bike? Is it hard, long, anything?

That's basically it..they just push you some limits to see what is the max you can take

It's not painful at all. I do nuclear stress tests once per year which is much more involved and not even that is painful - so don't fret it.

They'll just work your heart while hooked up to an ekg machine. Over and done in a half hour usually.

http://www.americanheart.org/present...dentifier=4568

How come you do it once a year?

Also, do they give you the option of something other than a treadmill? My fucking knee (dislocated few years back) throbs when running on those things.

These guys can help you, start with a Free stress test:thumbsup

Had one done several years ago when I was hospitalized with chest pains, they hooked me up to a machine, injected thalium into my IV (that BURNED like a mofo!) then I had to do a brisk walk on a treadmill that was slowly being inclined. After that they took pics with an open air mri machine. The test itself was no sweat, but I just remember that the radiation they inject was like liquid fire.

Hope all goes well with your test results!

I have this: http://orthopedics.about.com/cs/spra...chondritis.htm
I was working out bench pressing) one day and suddenly had the worst chest pains ever. Went straight to the hospital where I was diagnosed with the above conditions. To be sure it wasn't my heart I had a stress test 2 weeks later.
It took around an hour, my air intake was measured, blodd pressure etc etc. I was on a treadmill for around 40 minutes all up. Started slow and pregressively got harder. I did brak out in a sweat but it was by no means exhausting.

My exhusband has to have one Thursday and he's all freaked out about it. I don't think he even cares about the health part. He's all concerned that he's not going to perform like some super athlete on it.

He acts like it's a fucking try-out for some sports league or a fight team. I think he doesn't want the doctors and office people to think he didn't "score" well on it.

<----- 2 heart attacks

Forget the stress test - go for a calcium CT scan of your heart. My cardiologist is the head of the Cardiology department at Cedars Sini (Dr. P.K. Shah )here in LA. His clients are politicians and celebrities, I got lucky to get him. Stress test cannot show deposit that build up on the OUTSIDE of the artery.

Ever hear a story of a really fit 40 some year old that has a heart attack at the gym and is dead before he hits the ground ? Thats calcium that built up on the outside of the artery and caused the artery to collapse on it self.

A stress test will never find that kind of arterial sclerosis. Any guy with any heart disease in his family should have this test.

Good luck.

I had a heart attack 3 years ago - now I have 4 stents. We do the stress test once per year as a precautionary measure. They inject me with a radioactive dye and look at the heart muscle/tissue. Your test won't involve any of that.

As far as your knee being an issue, it most likely won't be. I have a bum knee and get through the test just fine. You'll walk fast, but there won't be any running. If your knee prevents you from reaching the target zone they'd like to have, they can give you a shot of stuff that'll get your heart up to where they want it to be. I've never had to go that route though.

That shit really scares me. I've had stress tests before but I should check into that test.

Have had several...no biggie at all...aside from the monitors and stuff, it's just running on a treadmill until they tell you to stop (usually about 10-12 minutes).

Its going to tell you as much as it does them. When you see where you tire out, you will know that you need more exercise.

My last one, I did as well as the guy next to me, and he was one of the runners from the hospital university. They were amazed.

Just remember. It's Mind over matter. If you dont mind, it dont matter.

I had one (stress test) yesterday while visiting the family for the typical/traditional Italian Sunday supper.

BTW, the secret is as pornguy stats: mind over matter.
A strong capable mind will help you realize the most things truly do not matter!

noooooooope

Oddly enough they aren't very stressful, pretty boring actually.