Nuclear Stress Test-Terrified

Relax….it probably sounds worse to you than what it actually is. I had one several years ago….the techs were really good and I didn’t even realize what was happening
It was over before I knew it…you feel some pressure as if you were on the treadmill, doesn’t last very long..
You can also look it up on the Internet that explains it.
https://www.mayoclinic.org/tests-procedures/nuclear-stress-test/about/pac-20385231
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You go to the hospital and check in with the stress test desk. You go to imaging and get a CT scan that lasts maybe 10-15 minutes. You lie on a shelf that moves you through a 'donut' made of metal and electronics several times. It's a bit noisy, so you might be given hearing protection. You are to go back to the stress test desk, you wait a bit, and then get invited into the lab, get an IV inserted, and an attending cardiologist or internist will drop by to invite you to begin. You step on a treadmill and begin to walk. After several minutes, they raise the front end to make more of an incline so that you're walking uphill, but they also speed up the treadmill. After several increments, you may have to stop, but they'll ask you to go until you simply can't any more, but not the point of passing out or endangering yourself by running out of leg speed and possibly falling. In fact, the physician will stop the test at some point when he/she has the data and/or your heart shows distinct signs of duress such as SVT/fibrillation, etc. Just before they think they should stop, or you do, they'll push the radioactive dye into the IV and make you go another minute or more. You get off, gasping and wheezing, they'll take your pulse and monitor you while you cool down and gather yourself. The attending will show you the results as he/she sees them with just the briefest of cursory analysis...first glance. Later you'll get a more detailed report after an expert has looked at your data. Back to the waiting room, they ask you to eat and drink a light lunch, and you wait for about half an hour...if I recall...it has been a few years. Back to Imaging for a second CT scan, but now with the radioactive dy in your system.

This is nothing to fear, except that you do get a big whack of radiation that day, or some go over two days. I have had two MIBI stress tests about three years apart. Looking back, I would ask them why not an MRI and/or an angiogram. Neither is radiation-free, but you won't be getting the equivalent of 500 chest X-rays like the nuclear stress test. Or, so my cardiologist ethically told me, and so did the handout he gave me to take home in preparation.
https://www.ottawaheart.ca/sites/default/files/legacy/uploads/documents/Patients-Visitors/tests-and-procedures/instructions-for-stress-myocardial-perfusion-test-2018-12.pdf

Hi @myg68, thank you for posting your concern about getting a nuclear stress test. I am sorry you have a reason to get this stress test but encouraged to hear your doctor is on top of figuring out what is going on with your heart.

You are getting such encouragement and good information from @ruth36 and @gloaming.

You said that you are freaking out about your test. What is it about using the dye has you the most concerned? Do you have other concerns about the test, or what you are learning through this process?

Thank you for your time and sharing your experience. I appreciate it.

Thank you for the details. I won’t be doing the treadmill. I will get an injection of medicine that stresses my heart. I know everything else is the same regarding the test.
I appreciate your time.

@myg68 it’s done very quickly. I have done it twice…

Here’s the bottom line. My dad died after having his second heart attack at age 38. I’ve had issues ever since then. After having my second child at 25, I started having palpitations. I didn’t know what palpitations were at that time. I thought for sure I was going to die. I got to the point where I was able to live my life, but I was always too in tune with my heart. In 2005, I have an angiogram done, not because I needed too, but my doctor then thought it would be a good idea to put my mind at ease. And it did. I had no blockages at all.
Fast forward to 2017, after getting a CT Scan with contrast, I got a blood clot in my left arm. In 2018, after getting a CT Scan with contrast again, I got a blood clot in my right arm. All of my blood work came back normal for any blood clotting issues.
I seen a hematologist, and he figures the blood clots happened because of the contrast.
So, in 2020, my OCD Health Anxiety took over, mainly because of Covid existing, and being so scared of getting Covid. It’s been tough ever since.
I still have palpitations, and I seen a cardiologist about them, and he said they were normal.
This is turning out to be too long. Haha!
The main thing I am scared about is the medicine that they’ll inject to stress my heart. My cardiologist said I will probably feel some pressure in my chest, maybe shortness of breath, and I can’t remember what else he told me. I probably tuned out by then.
After getting the CAC Score back and it is quite high, I have felt a bit afraid of the
what ifs. But again, this is my life story. I’m really trying to stay positive about my experience and hopeful that all is well with my heart.
But, I forgot to mention that I am also worried about getting a blood clot again through this procedure.
So, that’s it.