What's it like having an Echocardiogram?

Mine was a piece of cake.
They wheeled in the machine, connected some wires, ran some tests, disconnected the leads.
It was done bedside, when I was in "Acute Care," a couple of days after the stroke.
Completely painless.
Nothing like a brain MRI, which was a claustrophobic nightmare.

You are in a quiet room with a technician who will use something like an ultrasound wand and gel. They repeatedly run the wand over a prescribed area, may ask you to turn over, or lift an arm, and repeat. They don't usually run much longer than 30 to 45 minutes, depending on your tissues and the wand and the technician, but also on the requesting instructions by the person needing the information. They CAN go longer, but the typical length is between 30-45 minutes. No dyes or drugs are given. If contrast dye is needed they usually do a nuclear stress test or they need the large 'donut' machines where you slide in on a conveyor tray.

It's a pretty cool experience. You will be able to see your valves and your heartbeats. It's a very easy and non-invasive test.

I had a couple. You lay on your left side on a gurney or whatever. The tech gets on behind you in a "spooning" position and reaches over with a mouse like device and runs it over the required chest area after gelling it up. Quite pleasant actually.

Google "how is an echocardiogram done", there is some good info on the procedures.
There isn't much to it, Like me I close my eyes and think of things I enjoy while they run the paddle in the area of being viewed.
Good luck

Piece of cake as a heart transplant recipient Ive had hundreds. Some as short as 20 min and others longer like 45-1 hr. Some with contrast (a dye injected in the arm to enhance the pictures) most with none. If its for the heart you will probably be on your side for most of it (and it is cool to watch on the display as you see you heart beat) part of it with a small door in the bed open to gain access to the left side and usually ends on your back with them looking at the heart from your lower abdomen . The device is a wand that uses sound waves (no you cant hear them) and to make a better vision will use this gel on your skin to get the pictures. Typically, you cant move a lot but its not in a small enclosure. You're in a exam room on a bed. Usually just one or two people in the room besides you. Every tech can be different as to Tynique but basically all the same. If you get enough of them you'll notice those who are more experienced vs those fresh out of training. and sometime a trainee may ask after your main exam to practice a bit to get practice and I personally thing its great when a hospital has such programs to learn under a seasoned tech. They will always ask permission ahead of time. I as a transplant receiptant have a special one called a nuclear stress test. It involves a basic reading like i described then they put a medication in me to "Stress The Heart" in other words cause it to speed up like I'm exercising. They will be taking more pictures while this is happening to compare the heart in both states. But I don't think they are doing that for a stroke. Just in case you ever hear of that test you may see a treadmill in the exam room for what's called a regular stress test. They have your run on the treadmill to watch your heart under stress. That type doesn't work well for Transplant Patients as its harder to get the heart to speed up as much as they want.
Hope that helps and it really is kind of cool to watch. Amazing organ the heart.

Also they also use the same machine to do other test on just about every organ in the body including arteries to look for problem. So yours may not even be on the heart. Another major problem they do is to look for clots. Ive had those also and those are different and usually shorter. They will look at your arteries and Veins for clots. Also very common and at least with me it just ment they had to use a different artery to do some biopsys a different way until the clot dissolved which over time the body does.
Good Luck and I definitely would not worry.

After reading all the posts nobody talked about the tech pushing on the probe to get better pictures. In some cases a bit uncomfortable but no big deal.

@davej That may be the case for some people and for some technicians, but I had no such experience....that I can recall now six years later. In my memory bank, it is often the uncomfortable or weird positioning that can be the issue that I recall years later.

@davej only once did that happen to me but very short. When i had a pacemaker put in the night after they needed to check the placement of the device and wires. The tech pushed pretty hard but I was also sore from the surgery. Thats the only time It happen to me and ive had hundreds of them to my Heart.

Of all the tests that I have had, this is the easiest to tolerate. Please don't stress over it unless you really can't lay still for a few minues. It is a dark, quiet room, the technician does everything to make you comfortable. You will be asked to hold your breath several times--at least I was--but it is not unpleasant. You'll be fine! It is nothing like an MRI or even a CT scan. Good luck!