Can somebody explain what they do during all of these tests at the cardiologists?
Question:
whats a stress test, an ekg, eeg, tilt table test, 2D echo, and what are some other things they could do at the cardiologists?
they think that my fainting could because of my heart.
thanks,
a worried teenager
Answers:
EKG: you lay on a table, they put stickers on arms, legs and chest, they clip electrodes(wires) to the stickers, they push a button and then take everything off. No pain, easy..takes 5 minutes.
Stress test: a few kinds out there, but I'll give you the 2 most common. Regular tread mill-you get those stickers and electrodes on your chest, below your shoulders and stomach (no arms and legs) you have your blood pressure checked before while and during exercise on a treadmill. The electrodes allow them to watch your heart rhythm while exercising. This takes about 30-45 minutes depending on how long you exercise.The second stress test is a nuclear stress test. First you get IV dye, then an x-ray of your heart, then the treadmill portion above, then IV dye again, followed by another x-ray. The dye and x-rays show a picture of the inside of your arteries. This can take hours..sorry but true.
Echo 2D- this is just an ultrasound of your heart. Like when pregnant women get ultrasounds of baby, except they look at your heart and you won't have to hold your urine forever..LOL This takes about 15-20 minutes.
Tilt Table Test; they put those electrodes on again, put a blood pressure cuff on, strap you to a table (not too tight) and "tilt" the table at different levels for certain periods of time. they monitor all of your rates and rhythms during the test to look for any problems. This sometimes makes people pass out and those straps come in handy.
There are so many tests and they all probablly scare you, but passing out is more scary. It could mean so many things and the only way to find the problem is to do testing. Good Luck!
With all of those tests they are seeing how your heart is pumping. The EKG shows your heart beats, the EEG with show the thub-thub of your heart and the 2-D Echo will actually show your heart so they can see the valves and such, making sure they open and close as they should.
They may have you walk or run on a tredmill, while monitoring your heart rate.
A stress test is when they put the heart under a load by having you walk a treadmill, an ekg will show eschemia ( low oxygen to the heart) by the waves on the machine, also they will see if you become light headed during the test, the tilt test is when they check your blood pressure lying down, then tilt the table up and check it again, and look for a drop. ( called orthostatic hypotension) which can cause fainting, they will also ck blood sugar, red blood cell count, they may also inject dye in the blood and watch the vessles in the heart for blockage on a cat scan.
I know you are worrying yourself to a frazzle over all these "fancy" tests you have scheduled for you. I've had some of them & they don't take long nor are any of them painful. They are just going to test how your heart reacts under certain conditions. You are doing the rite things & I'm sure you w/be OK. Don't forget my saying that 99.9% of what we worry about never happens! I've proven it time & time again. When do you have these tests scheduled? I hope soon for your sake. Please eamil me w/your results, you have my email address. I KNOW it sounds "empty", but please try to be as calm as you can for your own sake. I'm thinking of you w/all the best results you can get. You're in the best hands & things w/work out for you.
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