Exercise stress test

[SJL]

I had my exercise stress test the other day and was surprised how difficult it was, I got to the stage where the incline on the treadmill was quite steep and I was at running pace but I asked for it to be slowed down before reaching the sprinting up hill stage as I was getting quite out of breath. My max heart rate was 196 and I experienced no palpitations (thuds in chest) which was a shame as that's why I've been tested to try and trigger and capture it. The problem was my resting heart rate sitting down after the test was still 120 after an hour, they won't let you go until it drops below 100 and were nearly at the stage of administering a drug to reduce it, thankfully it dropped below 100 about 20 minutes later. The guy there was quite perplexed as he said this is usually caused by a rhythm disturbance but after looking over the many ECG printouts in the hour and a half I was there he couldn't find any rhythm disturbances but I did hear him mention some irregularities about T wave inversions (I probably shouldn't have googled this).

I now have an echocardiagram booked to rule out anything structural causing it. It's strange because even though the results weren't great and I still don't have a clue what causes my issues I've felt a lot calmer since then as I know they are taking it seriously and trying to get to the bottom of it.

Has anyone here had similar issues?

[Justanutter]

Well SJL sounds like they weren't too worried as they probably would have done the echo there and then. May be your heart rate stayed high because you were so anxious? I need to go and get some tests but am too frightened to do it at the moment. I have a friend who is normally very anxious but she recently had a minor heart attack and tests but said she felt strangely calm and isn't worried... I can't imagine being like that as I usually panic and lose it big time and end up embarrassing myself. Hope all is ok at the end of the day for you.

[ohwell123]

hope it helps but I was also in hospital connected to a pulse thing and the mere fact I could hear the doctors talking about me kept my pulse at 90 plus for what felt like ages

yet sitting here at work although i don't try and make a ocd thing about it I clearly have a slower pulse than counting seconds in my head ie under 60

also if I have a panic attack my heart beats out my chest yet if I sprinted down the road my pulse will go high but not beat out my chest figure that one out

[Frenchy]

I had my exercise stress test the other day and was surprised how difficult it was, I got to the stage where the incline on the treadmill was quite steep and I was at running pace but I asked for it to be slowed down before reaching the sprinting up hill stage as I was getting quite out of breath. My max heart rate was 196 and I experienced no palpitations (thuds in chest) which was a shame as that's why I've been tested to try and trigger and capture it. The problem was my resting heart rate sitting down after the test was still 120 after an hour, they won't let you go until it drops below 100 and were nearly at the stage of administering a drug to reduce it, thankfully it dropped below 100 about 20 minutes later. The guy there was quite perplexed as he said this is usually caused by a rhythm disturbance but after looking over the many ECG printouts in the hour and a half I was there he couldn't find any rhythm disturbances but I did hear him mention some irregularities about T wave inversions (I probably shouldn't have googled this).

I now have an echocardiagram booked to rule out anything structural causing it. It's strange because even though the results weren't great and I still don't have a clue what causes my issues I've felt a lot calmer since then as I know they are taking it seriously and trying to get to the bottom of it.

Has anyone here had similar issues?

Hi there,

Sounds to me like you did great on your test. The length of time it take for your heart rate to come down in the recovery phase can vary a lot for people depending on a number factors, including things like anxiety but also just general fitness levels, especially if you're are not someone that regularly gets their heart rate up that high. My understanding is that it is far more important to ensure you have a correct sinus rhythm and blood pressure response on the "way up", than a quick recovery (as long as it does return to normal eventually).

I guess it can be frustrating when you have symptoms that you can get anyone to actually witness, however the good news is, outside of a full cardiac MRI (and other more invasive tests), an exercise ECG and an Echo (when you've had this) will combine to give an excellent, very thorough heart "MOT".