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Another damn stress test.


maddmaxx

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4 minutes ago, maddmaxx said:

I can tell you I already have enough stress and don't need a damn test to tell me that's true.  However my doctor seems to think that I need another one as my resting EKG hasn't changed in years while my cardiac response to stress has.

Dos his testing involve cabinets, plumbing or flooring.  If not, skip it.

 

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4 minutes ago, maddmaxx said:

I can tell you I already have enough stress and don't need a damn test to tell me that's true.  However my doctor seems to think that I need another one as my resting EKG hasn't changed in years while my cardiac response to stress has.

I'd take one for ya, but you'd end up on a table with your groin shaved.

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9 minutes ago, Kzoo said:

Dos his testing involve cabinets, plumbing or flooring.  If not, skip it.

 

One would think Maxx could just wear an Apple Watch during his discussion with the cabinet guy and it would reveal a LOT of information regarding his heart under stress.

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52 minutes ago, Kzoo said:

Dos his testing involve cabinets, plumbing or flooring.  If not, skip it.

 

It would be a lot easier than running uphill on a treadmill.

Speaking of which I'd much rather take the test on an exercise bike.  Running is evil and the muscles that work on a bike don't seem to like running uphill.  Either way I can get my heart rate up there quickly and I don't have to worry about falling off the treadmill when I pass out.

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33 minutes ago, maddmaxx said:

It would be a lot easier than running uphill on a treadmill.

Speaking of which I'd much rather take the test on an exercise bike.  Running is evil and the muscles that work on a bike don't seem to like running uphill.  Either way I can get my heart rate up there quickly and I don't have to worry about falling off the treadmill when I pass out.

How fast do they make you run on the treadmill? They never made the treadmill go fast enough for me to run. I think the maximum speed they had mine go was 4.4 mph.

I couldn’t have run anyway without hitting the ceiling with my head. They thought about taking out a ceiling tile to give me more headroom.

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2 minutes ago, Longjohn said:

How fast do they make you run on the treadmill? They never made the treadmill go fast enough for me to run. I think the maximum speed they had mine go was 4.4 mph.

I couldn’t have run anyway without hitting the ceiling with my head. They thought about taking out a ceiling tile to give me more headroom.

I don't know the speed but it was a jogging pace.  I normally walk at about 3 1/2 on flat terrain.  The internet informs me however that jogging is 4 to 6 mph.  When an old man does it uphill on a treadmill however it looks like fast shuffling.  It ain't pretty.

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25 minutes ago, Don Cherry said:

I just did a stress ekg and stress ecg.  I did not die.  Turning 60, Transport Canada suddenly wants a barrage of tests.  :(  Audiogram, blood work and my medical intervals drop from one year to 6 months.  

Commie bastards!

Everything but a eye test, huh?

 

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1 hour ago, maddmaxx said:

That seems very long compared to the one's I've had.  

They injected me with radiation and took 150 pictures of my heart from every angle then they had me on the treadmill.  Just  before  I finished on the treadmill they injected more radiation and sent me down for 150 more pictures.

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15 minutes ago, Longjohn said:

They injected me with radiation and took 150 pictures of my heart from every angle then they had me on the treadmill.  Just  before  I finished on the treadmill they injected more radiation and sent me down for 150 more pictures.

Ah, one of those.  I believe that's called a nuclear stress test.  Fortunately, at this time I'm not getting one of those.  I'm just getting a routine exercise stress test.  Of course if that one turns out poorly I might go nuclear.  Some folks bypass the nuclear stress test and go straight to the cath lab to have the doctor insert a camera and travel up to the heart to have a look at the arteries.

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I'm just doing the treadmill, they said 3 to 4 hours

What is a bit scary, they called me at about 3:15, just as I was leaving work, to tell me that they had scheduled the wrong test, they had me lined up for the nuclear one but thankfully they confirmed with my Dr. who told them, no, treadmill.

So I go to a different facility, at a different time, to get the right test.

There are a lot of horror stories about Excella Health, I'm beginning  to believe them. They are the people that wanted to fillet my calf when it was badly bruised and swollen.

But hopefully I'll pass the stress test. Been studying....

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8 minutes ago, Further said:

I'm just doing the treadmill, they said 3 to 4 hours

What is a bit scary, they called me at about 3:15, just as I was leaving work, to tell me that they had scheduled the wrong test, they had me lined up for the nuclear one but thankfully they confirmed with my Dr. who told them, no, treadmill.

So I go to a different facility, at a different time, to get the right test.

There are a lot of horror stories about Excella Health, I'm beginning  to believe them. They are the people that wanted to fillet my calf when it was badly bruised and swollen.

But hopefully I'll pass the stress test. Been studying....

You go to Dr. who?  That's awesome!

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15 minutes ago, roadsue said:

What will happen if you don't pass? Not that you won't. I'm just curious what this all means.

If you fail the test it's because your heart cannot handle the load, usually because of insufficient blood flow through the narrowed arteries feeding the heart muscle.  It's better to find this during the test then after the impending heart attack.  The solution consists of various things such as a diet change, various medications to prevent further narrowing of the arteries, the placement of stents to enlarge the arteries or even bypass surgery where new blood vessels are installed to "bypass" those that are clogged.

The normal exercise stress test is a preliminary to determine if you have a problem

The nuclear stress test is used to examine specific arteries for blockage and to determine what the following course of action will be if any

The stents have become a relatively normal procedure.

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There is an additional form of stress test where no treadmill or exercise is employed.  That's the chemical stress test where the heart is stressed by the injection of chemicals instead of exercise.  I believe that caffeine is one component of those chemicals but I'm not sure about that.  My stay at the Holiday Express ended before I found out.

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1 hour ago, maddmaxx said:

There is an additional form of stress test where no treadmill or exercise is employed.  That's the chemical stress test where the heart is stressed by the injection of chemicals instead of exercise.  I believe that caffeine is one component of those chemicals but I'm not sure about that.  My stay at the Holiday Express ended before I found out.

I always thought stress was caused by resisting the urge to strangle some asshole who desperately deserves it. :D

 

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12 minutes ago, RalphWaldoMooseworth said:

I always thought stress was caused by resisting the urge to strangle some asshole who desperately deserves it. :D

 

That may be my problem as the company that butchered my kitchen is coming today to view the reasons for my dissatisfaction and to determine what they are willing to do about it.  I've already had to take a couple of blood thinning aspirin today in preparation.  Should I disappear after today you will know that I flunked the ultimate stress test.

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7 hours ago, maddmaxx said:

There is an additional form of stress test where no treadmill or exercise is employed.  That's the chemical stress test where the heart is stressed by the injection of chemicals instead of exercise.  I believe that caffeine is one component of those chemicals but I'm not sure about that.  My stay at the Holiday Express ended before I found out.

I had one of that kind of test whenever I smoked/ingested THC. The last time I just said to myself this is stupid. 

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5 hours ago, maddmaxx said:

That may be my problem as the company that butchered my kitchen is coming today to view the reasons for my dissatisfaction and to determine what they are willing to do about it.  I've already had to take a couple of blood thinning aspirin today in preparation.  Should I disappear after today you will know that I flunked the ultimate stress test.

I'm still alive.  So is the contractor.  The work is not satisfactory but it was clear that short of getting a lawyer this was the best that was going to be done.  I can now open the cabinet door without hitting the stove........(duh, shorten the door and reinstall) (why wasn't this obvious before this)

So it turns out that the guy was actually a local contractor hired by a subcontractor hired by National Restorations who were contracted by my insurance company.  I'm going to chill out for the rest of the day.

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I almost passed.

There was a change in my EKG waveform that apparently indicates some degree of blockage. Not enough to blow the panic whistles, but enough that the testing Dr. wants to do the imaging (nuclear) test.

I'm not in favor of this.

They were impressed with my functional capacity, had to crank the mill up to a pretty good grade and make me start jogging before my heart rate got up enough to count as a stress test.

My blood pressure is way out of whack   180/100 resting got some eyebrows raised.

I've been avoiding all this medical stuff for awhile now, taking the ostrich approach. Warren Zevon's song about my shit is fucked got me reconsidering.

I have a feeling I'll be changing my diet.

Ah well, I had a good run  

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After I had my little heart attack, they wouldn't do a stress test on me. They said I'd fail it. I wanted to know not if but when. I set my heart rate monitor to beep at 160 BPM as I'd get chess pains in the 170s.

A number of years later, I had some chest pain (chest muscle issue) and they finally did a stress test but only took me up to 140 BPM. I was barely working up a sweat and not breathing hard. And I still wasn't slowing down on the bike until reaching 160 BPM.

Recently I figured I was loosing about 1 BPM per year so I have the heart rate monitor beeping at 150 BPM which is still more than I've been tested in controlled circumstances. 

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