Neuclear Stress Test

[Gnusgal]

Yesterday I went in and had a neuclear stress test done (that's not really what it's called. Erica told me what it was called, but I've forgotten already...) to see if we can get to the bottom of my chest pains. Basically, they put in some radiation, took pictures of my heart, put meds in the IV to "stress" my heart (along with having me walk slowly on a treadmill), then put more radiation in, and an hour later took more pictures of my heart.

Most of the test was no big deal. The 20 minutes each time they took pictures of my heart I almost fell asleep. But the 4 minutes of the meds going through to "stress" my heart were AWFUL!!! My chest has never hurt so badly in my life! I was nearly in tears and wanted to just curl up in the fetal position and hold my chest. They told me to keep my eyes open, but I just wanted to shut them and try to shut out the pain. Fortunately, the medicine gets out of your system pretty quickly once they stop putting it in. But those 4 minutes were sheer torture! The tech was rubbing my back and telling me, "Just thirty more seconds and I'll stop it early..." because she could tell how much it hurt. I didn't even notice if my heart was going faster or anything. I was so focused on the pain that nothing else registered.

After I started to recover I asked the tech if everyone gets chest pains with the meds. She said no, some people don't feel anything at all, some people have other symptoms, but chest pains are not uncommon. That makes me wonder... Does the fact that I had these chest pains with the meds mean that the chest pains I've been having ARE heart related? And maybe the test actually figured out what they were? I wish I knew the answer to that. The doctor wasn't in yesterday, so I won't find out until Monday (if then) what the results were. I hate waiting for results.

I also was sent home with an even monitor to try and catch some recordings of the chest pains. I don't think my heart does anything different when my chest hurts, though. But maybe the EKG picks up something I can't feel... Anyway, I've already called in two. I've had a few more than that, but didn't record them because I waited to long, debating on weather they were "real" or not and they went away before I could record them (I have the kind that you just put up to you chest to record, instead of being always attached.).

Anyway, I thought I'd update you all on what was going on with me. Thanks for being out there to share with!

 

[Karlynn]

Niki, was it a Thalium stress test?

Thanks for keeping us up to date, because you stay in our thoughts all the time.

 

[Sherry]

Hi, Niki,
I'm so sorry to hear about your terrible episode. Just as a point of comparison, I had a Thallium test two years ago (as Karlynn asked about), but I don't know if that's the same thing as the one you had. I didn't have chest pains with mine at all. I'll be curious as to what the docs find out about yours. Please keep us posted.

 

[skimomck]

Wow Niki,
I'm sorry that was so miserable. Hopefully they can figure out what is going on soon. Hang in there and your're in my thoughts and prayers.
Cindy

 

[Shine_on_Syd]

Niki,
Thanks for the update. Sorry you had such a bad experience. None of us needs any more chest pains!
It's called a Myoview Thallium stress test. The Thallium is radioactive. When I had my test, while I did not have chect pains I was ghastly ill for a day and a half for day and a half from the Thallium and no one warned me. Luckily I was in good shape and stayed on the treadmill for 14 minutes.
They sent me home with a 30 event monitor too and discovered some PVCs.
By the way, anyone looking for a career change, think about getting into that field. Now that I work in a hospital I can tell you that the tech who does those tests "Nuclear Med Tech?s are in very short supply. Its one of the hottest jobs in medicine. We just filled a slot and it took it 9 months and lots of persuasion to hire one. We had a celebration when we hired him.

 

[Nancy]

Joe had one also, not too long ago. His was a stress echo. While he didn't have chest pains, he was quite ill for a couple of days afterwards. They did stop the test early, for what reason, we don't know, since he didn't reach his desired heart rate which would have been 160. Later we were told that there is a max dose on the thallium, and maybe he reached that w/o getting to the target range.

There were 3 techs in the room, a PA, the test tech and an echocardiogram tech.

 

[Gnusgal]

I have no idea what my heart rate was doing (normally I'm VERY aware). I was too focused on the pain. The test was only 4 minutes long, though. Actually, she stopped me at 3.5 minutes, because I was so miserable. I was told that the meds (thallium??) don't stay in the system for very long after they stop giving it to you and that the side effects would go away within minutes of stopping the infusion. They did, thank goodness. She said that every person reacts differently to it. They don't like to warn you about possible side effects because they don't want your mind to bring them on (if that makes sense). My guess is that these side effects may be indicative of problems going on??? Since the complaint I've been having has been chest pains and that is the #1 symptom I had with the drug, this is the logical conclusion I have come to. Of course, I'm only speculating. I could be WAY off base. I sure wish it wasn't the weekend and I could get some answers before Monday. Waiting stinks...

 

[Ross]

I had one of those tests and I'll never have another one. I could not breath about 10 minutes after the test and was turning blue in the waiting room. Never Never Again!

 

[Gnusgal]

But did the test give you any answers? That's the only way I'll ever have one again. If it actually gave us some answers. If they tell me that everything looked normal there's no way I'm going through that again!

 

[Marty]

Niki, the thallium stress test is one done to check on blood supply to the heart muscle ( myocardial perfusion). If you are unable to go fast enough on the treadmill to get your heart rate up, they give you drugs to dilate the blood vessels. Some of these drugs can cause the bronchial tubes to constrict and this may have caused Ross' "reaction". Actually I would not recommend this test for a patient with restrictive lung problems.I hope they find the blood supply to your heart muscle is OK and that the cause of your pain is something benign.

 

[Gnusgal]

Thanks for the explaination, Marty. That helps. I hope that the cause for my pain isn't blockage to my coronary arteries (which I seriously doubt anyway), but I do hope they are able to figure SOMETHING out with that test. I hate to have had to go through all that pain for nothing.

Before the test started the supervising doc (not my cardiologist) asked me what my pulminary pressures were. I told him I didn't know what they were, but they were fine, because of my Pulmonic Stenosis. I guess maybe he was asking because of the type of reaction Ross had? The tech was concerned, though, because she said that the drugs can make your bp go down and my bp was already at 97/60. She warned me that I might get lightheadded and dizzy and if I felt like I was going to fall or pass out then she would have me sit down immediately. However, the pain made my bp go up, not down.

I just hope I hear from the doc tomorrow!

 

[Ross]

But did the test give you any answers? That's the only way I'll ever have one again. If it actually gave us some answers. If they tell me that everything looked normal there's no way I'm going through that again!

It proved nothing more then they already knew. They were dead set that I had a blood clot in the apex of my heart and during surgery when the surgeon went to take it out, he found it to be a cyst on the sidewall and not a clot at all.

 

[Abbanabba]

Hi Niki, sorry to hear you had such a dreadful experience. I hope something fruitful comes from it all to make it worth such pain.

All the best
Anna : )

 

[gijanet]

Oh, Niki, ((((hug)))) !!!

Oh, Niki, ((((hug)))) !!!

I am so sorry to hear that you had such a horrible experience. I don't know how I missed your post, but I just now stumbled upon it. Please, please tell me that after suffering through all of this that you have gotten some answers............and good ones! Please post when you are up to sharing as you know we will be worrying. You stay in our prayers. Much love.

 

[Gnusgal]

I have yet to hear anything back about the test. I will be calling today. Yesterday was just too busy with getting grades in for the end of the six weeks. Today should be a bit easier.

I also had to reschedule my appt. with my electrophysiologist because she won't be in on the day I had originally scheduled it for (tomorrow). I have to wait another week to get any sort of information about putting in an ICD at Christmas. I hate waiting on doctors!

But at least I only have one week left of my after school play production and then it will be over! There will be a considerable DROP in stress (and time spent at school) once Tuesday has passed. Then I can concentrate on getting my major project done for my masters class, and once that is done it's smooth sailing to the end of the semester...

 

[catwoman]

Niki:

Sorry to hear about your pain during the test...

Are you working on a master's degree?? Where? I assume UNT (or whatever they're calling it today) or TWU or someone other school in the area. Let us know when your students put on a production and we'll try to make it to a performance. Would give me an opportunity to visit my niece there in Frisco.

 

[Gnusgal]

Yes, I'm working on my master's in Library Science through UNT. But it's all online, so I don't have to go up to campas at all. There's no way I would have time to actually show up to a class.

We are performing a dinner theatre Tuesday, November 9th. Admission is $10 and you get a spaghetti dinner starting at 6:00, then the show starts at 7:00. The show is about an hour and a half (with an intermission for serving dessert). It's a comedy mystery. Keep in mind, it's middle school. Let me know if you want to come (I completely understand if you don't).

 

[Gnusgal]

Well, I left a message for the nurse yesterday at 8:00 AM, and finally heard from her at about 5:00 PM. At least she called, right? Nothing much to report though. She said the reason I hadn't heard anything yet was because the techs had such a hard time reading my scan. My situs invertus (all my organs are on the oposite side, mirror imaged, from "normal") made it all a bit confusing. But after bringing in several other people, they were finally able to read it and it's all normal (for me). There is nothing wrong that they can see. Also, the test strips I've sent in with the event monitor have all been normal. So I asked the nurse "Now what?" She had no idea and said she'd have to talk to the doctor and get back to me. Why she couldn't have anticipated that question I don't know, but oh well. So I'm waiting some more.

Regardless of what the tests are saying, SOMETHING is going on. I'm having chest pains every day, several times a day. That can't be "normal." Maybe it's not blockage in the coronary arteries (I didn't think it was) but surely there is some other explaination for it? Who knows, maybe it's just stress... Lord knows I've got pleanty of that!

Anyway, there's my update, such as it is.