I had a stint put in Christmas Eve 2022. Last month I had a stress test. They injected something into my bloodstream and hooked me up to monitors and put me on a treadmill (10% incline; 3.4 mph).

My primary care physician said I was in great shape ("for my age"; thanks doc for that caveat). My cardiologist also said it looked good.

What exactly do they see on such a stress test? They can't actually see the blood flowing through the arteries (like a CT angiogram). So, what are they seeing?

BTW, I'm 73 and am on a treadmill 3-4 days a week and work out with free weights and machines 2 days a week. So, there's that.

YEs, hated it.

They inject a radioisotope and then stress your heart (physically usually, but they have other ways to torture you too), then look for distribution of the radioisotope thru out your cardiac muscle mass. One way of determining whether or not you have blockages when your thumper is thumping hard.

RMD

Thanks.

Which is the most efficient barometer of heart health? CT Angiogram or the stress test?

Yes. Was wired up to a cardiac monitor and put on a treadmill. At a number of places that would take me off the mill and roll me into a table and do an ultrasound of my heart while it was thumping away.

Hint - before you go, shave your chest. After the test the nurse seemed delighted to rip the pads off taking chunks of hair with it.

The test wasn’t bad, the ripping of test pads was.

I had a treadmill test back in 1999, a physical showed I had a heart murmur. I've had that since I was born, test went fine. I was 55 at that time, now I'm 80 and just did the nuclear stress test, without the treadmill. That went fine, too, they were trying to diagnose why I went into Afib. I felt absolutely nothing during the latest test, tech said that wasn't unusual.

Yes, three times over the last few years. Doc says it allows them to get pictures while my heart is working hard. The last time on the treadmill they speeded it up a couple of times and decided they needed me to jog to get my heart rate up to where they wanted it.

They asked me, an 80 year old with five stents, if I could jog. I looked around the room and replied, "it depends on which nurse you want me to chase!" (I jogged............)

Biker_dude: we should start a club, I got 2 stents(end to end) on Christmas eve 2023. Unfortunately I also had a heart attack with it.

I have had at least 4 stress test. I feel pretty confident that the first one (2007) saved my life. I was just tired all the time with no energy at all. The stress test showed a blockage that was taken care without me having a heart attack
Just had a nuclear test as due to back problems the treadmill type is not possible. Just got the call a couple of days ago that I passed. Everything looks good for now.

Yeah, I once told my PCP that I had some “chest pain.” What else could he do but order one? It got to be kind of funny. I’m on the treadmill and they keep asking me if I feel any pain or discomfort. “No,” was my response.

Turn up the speed and the incline. “Nope.”

Repeat as necessary. “Nope.”

Turns out the chest pain was my GERD. We all laughed and I went home.

Couple years ago, I ended up in the ER with chest pains. Within a few hours, they were 90% sure it wasn't a heart attack but they kept me overnight for observation and scheduled a stress test the next morning.

They informed me that they're debating between the traditional stress test on a treadmill or nuclear stress test. I pointed at my "shoes" over by the closet, they laughed, and scheduled me for nuclear stress test. I had been out and about when I experienced the chest pains, and I was wearing flip flops .

I didn't like the feeling of a nuclear stress test at all, but it confirmed no blockage. I followed the advice of a Sigforum thread and had the CT Scan Calcium channel test and score a few months later which further confirmed no blockages. I did have a high calcium score so they started me on Repatha, and I've been focusing on losing weight.

I had a co-worker who had the stress test, was cleared and then had a heart attach the next week. CAC and nuclear stress test together to cover more possibilities of problems.

About 5 years ago I saw a new VA Doc and she said I had a "murmur".
Went and had both stress tests and they said "your heart is better than 90% of people 35".
I was 65 at the time.

quote:

Which is the most efficient barometer of heart health? CT Angiogram or the stress test?

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Whichever is cheaper. Your insurance company will help you decide.

My last stress test was a chemical test and ultrasound performed in December 2023. Chemicals got my heart up to ramming speed, ultrasound and EKG did the rest.

I had a bifurcated stent put in my abdominal aorta to repair an aneurism in December 2022.

Yes, age 52 here and just had one a few months ago

Worst part was being dry shaven by a nurse for the pads on my chest and the itchiness of that growing back the next week or so.

I have had two of them. The first was around 10 or 15 years ago and was the treadmill variety. Unfortunately my legs couldn't handle the increased incline and speed necessary to get my heart up to target speed, so they pulled me off and injected me with something to do the job chemically. I thought I was going to blow an artery before they were done, but I came back clean. The chest pains were finally diagnosed as GERD and I was put on Prilosec at the time. Since then have switched to Nexium OTC twice a day.

More recently was last year when my heart was given the full works. Chemical stress test, EKG, ultrasound, etc. The artery blowing feeling wasn't as bad as the first time, but was still unpleasant. Again, no significant problems found other than a very minor valve leakage that doesn't need any attention any time soon.

At my age and physical condition, the chemical version is what I'll have from now on...

I'm curious how much one of these tests costs if it's a scheduled "preventative" procedure.

A few years ago I was having severe chest pain. I was about 35 at the time, and couldn't believe that it was a heart attack, but it got so bad I decided I needed to go get it looked at. Our insurance requires that you go to urgent care before the ER for non-emergency care, so I went there first. Doc in urgent care gave me something to confirm that it wasn't indigestion, hooked me up to some leads, and then told me I needed to go to the ER. He wanted to call me an ambulance, I said no thanks I can get there just fine.

Wife drove me two block to the ER. Sat in there for a couple of hours, blood test, IV, more leads, freezing cold in the stupid little gown. Doc finally came in and said they didn't see anything but he wanted to do some CT Scan/dye test just to be sure. I told him I wasn't keen on paying for that if we were pretty sure it was not a heart attack, but he talked me into it. Said the tests that they'd done so far weren't comprehensive and he didn't want me to walk out the door and die. They took me upstairs, injected me with some stuff that made me feel like I was going to piss my pants, and then said they didn't see anything on that test either, and it was probably just a pulled chest muscle and to take it easy.

It hurt for a few more days. We were leaving on vacation the next day and I remember the first night in the camper it got so bad I went outside and lay on the ground for a couple of hours in the nasty grass by the Lake Ogallala spillway. It sucked. Then a month or so later I got a bill for $12k, which really did just about give me a heart attack. I ended up being on the hook for a little over $6k of that, after insurance. I told my wife it would be cheaper to just have a heart attack next time. I know a guy and can get a funeral done for $2500. So I'm curious how much all that testing costs if it's a scheduled procedure.

Didn't cost me a dime... thankfully, as I couldn't afford any more than that!

[QUOTE]Originally posted by nhtagmember:
Yes. Was wired up to a cardiac monitor and put on a treadmill. At a number of places that would take me off the mill and roll me into a table and do an ultrasound of my heart while it was thumping away.

Like nhtagmember I've had stress echocardiograms. I've probably had more than a dozen, along with regular old echos. I had valve issues from birth that finally got bad enough for the insurance company to agree I might pass away, so I now have a pony valve (since 2013) and had my ascending aorta repaired with a graft to fix the aneurysm that formed. The stress echo enabled the tech (and doc) to see how the valves worked under stress with my heart beating fast.

I've had five of 'em since the early 90s. Plus non-stress and stress heart echo exams.

Biker_dude, you had a stent put in, not a stint. And what you had was, specifically, a nuclear stress test. That's where they inject a mildly radioactive contrast material so they can better-see what's doing what.

I had my first stress test, a nuclear stress, in the early 90s, at the behest of my PCP at the time. I'd had what turned out to have probably been a panic attack, but he wanted to be sure.

No problems with my heart, but it turned out I had high blood pressure.

My next stress test, which included a full-body echo (legs, etc.) was before I started working out in 2005. I asked for this one. Knowing myself—that I'd go for it—I wanted to make sure I wasn't likely to kill myself

Next was a heart echo (no stress) somewhere in the early 2000s, at the behest of my PCP. She'd heard something she didn't like, did an EKG and didn't like something she saw, so prescribed it.

All it was was "runner's heart" from me doing high-intensity interval training.

Next was another stress test somewhere around 2014. I'd called my PCP complaining of "heart-attack-like symptoms." He was alarmed. "But I do HIIT twice a week!" I protested. When he told me of a 35-year-old patient of his that played pickup ice hockey 2-3 times/week and turned out to have a previously-undetected, asymptomatic 85% blockage of the widow maker artery I gave in.

Spent that afternoon and overnight in the hospital.

Nothing. Another panic attack?

Of all of them: This was the only one that cost me anything significant out-of-pocket. And cost me it did: Somewhere to the tune of $8k! Apparently because the tests came up bupkis. (Crappy health insurance.)

(Funny thing about those "panic attacks": They both occurred during working hours, but I didn't recall, at the time, having been particularly stressed about anything ¯\_(ツ)_/¯)

The stress heart echo, which was accompanied by carotid artery echos and a raft of blood work, was in 2020. I'd suffered a Branch Retinal Artery Occlusion (aka: "eye stroke"). My ophthalmologist said that was often a precursor to a full-blown (brain) stroke and had me admitted for an emergency stroke evaluation.

After twenty-two hours in the hospital I was cleared.

That one has an amusing side-story. As I got on the treadmill I cautioned the (hot blond) doc supervising "I have very rapid cardio recovery time. Your techs are going to have to be damn fast to catch the results." When she checked my heart rate and BP just a minute or so after I'd hopped back on the table she said "You weren't kidding about your cardio recovery rate."

The last one was in 2023. I'd gotten a calcium score (CAC) done on my own dime. It came back with a couple high-ish numbers. Despite my heretofore extensive cardiac testing history, my cardiologist was concerned. So another cardio stress test.

Passed with flying colors again.

Lessee... that'd be a stress test every ±6 years? So I guess I'll be due for another in about four years?

Had a few years ago when I was still on the job.

Had one about 4 years ago, nuclear. NO TREADMILL!

They injected me with something that speeds up your heart. Felt like it would beat itself out of my chest. Guy kept asking if I had chest pain ..yet?
Never want to do that again.