Well, I Had My Dobutamine Echo Stress Test Today...

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#1938139 - 10/24/24 11:39 PM Well, I Had My Dobutamine Echo Stress Test Today...
FalconEddy FalconEddy Retired Mastering Marvel Planeteer Registered: 10/16/01 Posts: 10819 Loc: Litchfield, NH, USA	...And I'm obviously STILL alive!!! I actually wasn't alarmed about it once I got into the room this time, although they were INCREDIBLY behind schedule today. One nurse to administer the dobutamine/saline solution, etc., intravenously, and one technologist to perform the sonographs (ultrasound photos/digital videos). However, it got a bit most complex than that today. My heart rate wasn't climbing quickly enough due to the beta blocker I'm taking as one of my normal daily meds, so the nurse had to incorporate atropine into to equation once I maxed out at 96BPM. She used the maximum dosage (which is 2mg/2 minutes), which pushed me up to 112BPM; but still shot of the target rate of 128BPM. She went for the atropine again, and pulled another full 2mg from the vile. I told her that I felt, "that's going to be overkill, and you'll only need half that dosage to hit my 85% of my heart rate for my age." Then my HR spiked up over 130BPM, and the audio alarm went off. It kept climbing until it hit 139BPM. I watched the monitoring the entire time with the excellent view I had. At that point, she slowly backed of the dobuteral drip, and administered a counter-medication to bring down my heart rate from addition of the atropine. It came down fairly regularly, and steadily over the course of four minutes, while the cardiology on call was making his way to the room from elsewhere in the hospital. So...the end result is that I only had one PVC when I was coming down from the dobuteral stress echo test. Revealed NOTHING. Sucks, huh? . . Falcon _________________________ . . . but, what do I know?
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#1938157 - 10/25/24 02:37 AM Re: Well, I Had My Dobutamine Echo Stress Test Today... [Re: FalconEddy]
Doofie Doofie Doofie Planeteer Registered: 04/04/02 Posts: 14759 Loc: Hamilton, Ontario, Canada	Is the point of this to try and induce the contractions? _________________________ "On religion, the common man finds it to be true, the wise man finds it foolish, and the wealthy man finds it useful." -Seneca The Younger ~76AD I'm David McMillan. My friends call me Chuck.
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#1938206 - 10/25/24 03:13 PM Re: Well, I Had My Dobutamine Echo Stress Test Today... [Re: Doofie]
gonzo gonzo purveyor of noise Loquacious Planeteer Registered: 08/16/99 Posts: 32046 Loc: SL.UT	sorry for your situation, falcon... all you can do, is keep at it.
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#1938207 - 10/25/24 03:22 PM Re: Well, I Had My Dobutamine Echo Stress Test Today... [Re: gonzo]
Jazzooo Jazzooo Loquacious Planeteer Registered: 05/18/02 Posts: 56058 Loc: San Miguel de Allende, Mexico ...	I too don’t know what the point of that test is but I’m sure sorry you had to do it! _________________________ Dougrobinson.com
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#1938237 - 10/25/24 05:43 PM Re: Well, I Had My Dobutamine Echo Stress Test Today... [Re: Doofie]
FalconEddy FalconEddy Retired Mastering Marvel Planeteer Registered: 10/16/01 Posts: 10819 Loc: Litchfield, NH, USA	Originally Posted By: Doofie Is the point of this to try and induce the contractions? Well, in my case, it was being performed in an attempt to identify WHAT may be causing those damn PVC's, Chuck. The nurse closely monitors the ever-running EKG readout chart on the monitor, along with all of your vitals, while your heart rate increases. Plus administers the dobutamine. They've already fitted you with multiple lead sensors across your chest and laterally on your sides, and taken you baseline readings at rest. The technologist at that same time gets you to lie on your left side while she performs an echocardiogram with an ultrasound system using small transducer (wand). Some of the images were not as clear as she wanted, so she decided to utilize a perflutren lipid microsphere injection via my IV. This helps to brighten up the image quite a bit, and cut through the 'fog' to reveal a much more pristine image. It was done during the rest stage at the beginning, and when the dobutamine was being released, as well. It only requires a small squirt now and then to help enhance the image internal to the heart, as well as the heart walls. Now, my target rate was calculated at 128BPM (which I’d already done a few days prior), and is 85% of the max rate for someone my age. However, after a bit, I’d slowed to a crawl from increasing higher than 96-98BPM from the dobutamine alone. So, the nurse decided to administer atropine to rapidly speed up the process. I shot right up to 112BPM, and stalled again. She went for another round of atropine (same amount), and I said to her, “Shouldn’t we only be using HALF that amount?” I have a feeling that we’re going to overshoot my target.” She said that we needed to get through the test soon since we started 25 minutes late. Well, I was right. . . I skyrocketed right past 130, and the alarm went off, and kept going up to 139BPM. That’s when she slowly shut the dobutamine drip off, and administered another med to bring my heart rate down. I started getting a nasty pain in my lower back between L5 and S1, And she said, "Sorry, that can happen sometimes when dropping out of this test of you have ruptured disks or spinal stenosis. Things along those lines." "Well, I have spinal stenosis." So, since the cardiologist that was called in at the end of testing read the charts; and looked at the sonograms taken by the technologist. Everything appears to be perfectly fine with all valves, blood flow, all four chambers, and heart walls. With the exception of ONE lousy PVC when I was coming down and at a heart rate of 107. Since I went up to 92% of my max heart rate, he said the only thing he'd recommend would be to keep losing weight (down 35 lbs), and start taking higher dosages of magnesium every day. . . Falcon _________________________ . . . but, what do I know?
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#1938427 - 10/26/24 04:30 AM Re: Well, I Had My Dobutamine Echo Stress Test Today... [Re: FalconEddy]
Jazzooo Jazzooo Loquacious Planeteer Registered: 05/18/02 Posts: 56058 Loc: San Miguel de Allende, Mexico ...	Jeez _________________________ Dougrobinson.com
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#1938461 - 10/26/24 01:32 PM Re: Well, I Had My Dobutamine Echo Stress Test Today... [Re: Jazzooo]
Tao Jones Tao Jones Planeteer Registered: 06/13/00 Posts: 15743 Loc: CA	Whoe _________________________ http://indiemusicpeople.com/bobelliott https://soundcloud.com/bobelliott4
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#1940099 - 11/05/24 02:22 AM Re: Well, I Had My Dobutamine Echo Stress Test Today... [Re: Tao Jones]
Jazzooo Jazzooo Loquacious Planeteer Registered: 05/18/02 Posts: 56058 Loc: San Miguel de Allende, Mexico ...	Mark—did you get my email a month or so ago? I’d like to talk with you if you’ve got a minute. Thanks. _________________________ Dougrobinson.com
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#1940110 - 11/05/24 09:16 AM Re: Well, I Had My Dobutamine Echo Stress Test Today... [Re: Jazzooo]
MadGuitrst MadGuitrst The Freak Planeteer Registered: 06/10/99 Posts: 25034 Loc: 3rd Stone From The Sun	I read this thread when you posted it but hesitated to respond....and have felt bad for not doing so. I want to be right up front s to why: you're a very intelligent guy, no doubt (but not the only one $;\)$ ), and I felt like you would just blow me off and I'd waste my time and effort because, after all, and to be fair to you, I'm just some guy on an internet forum. But I just can't sit by while my (internet) friend "suffers" with something I know all too well, professionally and personally, even if you do blow me off. I believe I can help you with your PVCs if you are open to it. But unless a beta blocker or calcium channel blocker helps, it takes some time, maybe months of lifestyle/diet/supplement awareness/changes/introduction. I hate doing this (again), but just as a reminder of my background, I ran a diagnostic imaging center including a nuclear stress lab with a FT cardiologist on staff. I can read EKG better than any doctor except a cardiologist, and I taught EKG at Drexel University as part of the neurodiagnostic/sleep disorders program, along with "fellows" at MCP (Medical College of Pennsylvania). More importantly, I suffered with this very same problem, and more, many years ago. The bottom line is this: your cardiologist is your tool, but you are going to have to figure this out (that goes for many things with doctors: they are tools; some tools are better than others for certain jobs, but WE are responsible for our health). The good news is you ARE taking that responsibility, and you are obviously a very good patient who educates himself thoroughly (nothing could be better). As for me and my history: yep, PVCs....pairs, salvos/triplets, bigeminy, trigeminy, etc. Sometimes they were painful, sometimes they were frequent enough to cause dizziness (you understand why), and at times they can almost trigger panic-like attacks. But even more, I started having these arrhythmias only while I was sleeping, and they would wake me up, and I could feel they weren't just PVCs. At one point, like an aura with seizures, I could feel these coming on, and the interval between heartbeats elongating until a beat was dropped. It was Wenckebach Syndrome, an AV block that is typically considered benign. But then, so are PVCs, unless they are multi-focal, happen in certain patterns, etc. (too much to go into on an internet forum). Regardless, it fucks with your head, to put it nicely. So, I had a nuclear stress test (at like 31-32 years old). I wound up with a false positive and had to have a cath through my goin. Perfectly clean, cardiologist said I had the arties of a 12 year old. So, it was on to beta blockers. Didn't help. Calcium channel blockers. Em...maybe a little. Here's what it came down to: I was working crazy hours and not eating right, meaning not eating frequently enough and then eating big meals when I did (sometimes only one a day). You have mentioned wanting/needing to take off some weight, and carrying around too much weight (for one's own body) can definitely have an effect for someone prone to PVCs. Let me ask you this: have you ever heard of Roemheld syndrome? If not, read up on it. As for supplements that can help, everybody knows about magnesium and potassium. CoQ10 is good all around. But here are the two I found most helpful, along with magnesium (I took it with calcium): taurine and especially vanadyl sulfate (which I actually got for working out/muscle hardness). Of course, the biggest thing was to stop eating big meals or overeating at any one sitting. Overeating alone can trigger PVCs, and not just after your big meals. I'll say it again, look up Roemheld syndrome if you don't know what it is. All the best, FE. You CAN conquer this (it's gotta be driving you nuts). _________________________ An intelligent person will change their view if new information contradicts their belief. An indoctrinated person lacks this ability; they are conditioned to dismiss facts.
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#1940112 - 11/05/24 11:58 AM Re: Well, I Had My Dobutamine Echo Stress Test Today... [Re: MadGuitrst]
Marty Gilman Marty Gilman Official Planet Sax Monster - Planeteer/Artist # 117 Loquacious Planeteer Registered: 04/05/00 Posts: 27275 Loc: Palm Beach, Florida- U S A	Losing weight cant hurt. It might be the best thing you can do. I need to do the same, being 60 pounds overweight myself. it is not as easy when you get older, but I have a plan. Good health to all -m _________________________ Can you play that an octave louder?
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#1940132 - 11/05/24 01:21 PM Re: Well, I Had My Dobutamine Echo Stress Test Today... [Re: Marty Gilman]
MadGuitrst MadGuitrst The Freak Planeteer Registered: 06/10/99 Posts: 25034 Loc: 3rd Stone From The Sun	It's definitely more difficult as we age, and some people simply have it harder due to their DNA. Just take it easy and take it slow, a little bit at a time. Eat more often but eat less at one time, and your metabolism will do it's thing. Eating small meals and snacking during the day is where it's at, IMHO, at least it has been for me. _________________________ An intelligent person will change their view if new information contradicts their belief. An indoctrinated person lacks this ability; they are conditioned to dismiss facts.
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