Question:
What is involved with a chemical stress test?

Hi everyone. I just had to go to see a cardiologist as a prerequisite to my surgery and because I can't run on the treadmill, the doctor will be doing a chemical stress test. Can someone tell me how I will feel, how fast does the medicine they inject get your heart beating, will I feel faint, do you have to lay down flat? Hopefully I'll have a couple of pillows because laying flat will smother me. Any information will be really helpful. Thanks to you all. Claire    — gramof3 (posted on October 12, 2003)

October 12, 2003
I invite you to go to my profile and read the part about the chemical stress test and what it did to me. Most people don't have the problems I did with it. But you just never know.
   — Delores S.

October 12, 2003
I have to admit it was extremely uncomfortable for me. However, I had not eaten that morning (wasn't sure if I was supposed to or not) and got deathly sick once the procedure was over. I think a lot of it was related to my blood sugar and they think very possible that I had an allergic reaction to the meds. My blood sugar dropped, but I was unable to eat because a side effect of the meds is extremely dry mouth. This was the worst dry mouth I had ever experienced. I was not even able to get down a graham cracker they were trying to get me to eat. I was extrmemly dizzy and nauseous,and my vision was so blurred I could hardly drive home (and I was 45 minutes away). The bad part about this was, I was able to run the treadmill, but since the chem test was SOP, I had to do it that way. I'll tell you one thing, if I ever have to have another stress test, my big butt is getting on the treadmill. Not to scare you, but I'm sure it was just an allergic reaction. From what I've heard, most people tolerate it ok. It does feel funny for your heart to beat so fast when you are laying still. And yes, it does jump up there immediately, but they also bring it down almost as fast. There are several medical personnel present as well as a doctor, so they monitor you extrmemly carefully. Don't worry mate!
   — Denise B.

October 12, 2003
I had a chemical stress test priot to my surgery. The staff present were wonderful and that probably had a lot to do with how my test went. Yes, your heart does speed up very fast, but the staff cued me every step of the way, and let me know when and how i may feel. I could stay in any position i wanted during the chemical part of the test. And so at various times during the chemical part i was standing, walking in place, and then ended up lying down when i felt dizzy. It was a very long six minutes 6 minutes till it was over. By the way , if you can, get someone to take you home. I'm sure i would have had no problem driving but it was just nerve-racking and needed the time to relax. everything was ok for me.--- good luck!!!
   — dorothy S.

October 13, 2003
I had one of these tests just last week. I was sitting on a stretcher in an slightly reclined position. I was also facing the monitor so I could watch my numbers go up and up they went fairly quickly. As someone else posted, it felt strange to be still with my heart racing. The medicine was slowly injected so my heart rate increased over a few minutes until the maximum is reached around 140. At this point the Thallium was injected. Once the first medication was stopped my heart rate began to decrease. The second part, where they take the pictures, took about 30 minutes. For that part I was laying flat. Then, I was finally able to go eat breakfast. I was rather grumpy without my coffee too! I went back about 4 hours later for the second set of pictures and it was over. The next day I was really tired, but, I don't know if that had anything to do with the test or not.
   — Pamela B.

October 13, 2003
I had a chemical stress test,I was scare and thought I couldn't handle it. But I did. I didn't like the way if made me feel, but that pass real fast. There were nurses on each side of me and one by the machine. The was a doctor there also. I was relax laying back, not all the way down. Good luck-- it'll be a breeze.
   — Debbie K.

October 16, 2003
i just had this test 2 weeks ago. the worst part was lying on my back for 20 minutes, as i have back trouble. the tech, and dr. was with me every second.. they got my blood pressure pretty high, but, i never had any pounding. the only thing i felt was hot and a brief period of nausea which lasted seconds. i'll tell you what, compared to walking up the stairs, it was a breeze. just sit and chill... think how happy you'll be after... honestly, my insulin shots are worse! good luck
   — riotgirlp