meandmyuncleDeac
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- May 18, 2011
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I recently had my annual physical examination. At the end of it, my doctor basically said that in the coming months he was going to start having available in his office "stress tests". He described it as a procedure where you have some substance injected, then you get on a treadmill, and they watch this substance travel through your heart, etc., under varying degrees of stress and relaxation.
When I got home, I thought about it and then started to do some research. To begin with, I am 58 years old, and in good physical shape. I routinely exercise (running) 5 days a week for 40 minutes per session. I run at about 9-minute per mile pace. In my early fifties, I developed mild hypertension and some elevated cholesterol. The blood pressure is controlled by medication (enalipril) and the cholesterol by Simcor. I have no family history of heart disease, and have never experienced any chest pain, shortness of breath, which would be classic symptoms of heart problems. I have never experience any such discomfort during my exercise regimen.
I have now read several articles about stress tests, the most recent of which appeared in this month's edition of Consumer Reports. The gist of all of the articles is that such stress tests on people with no history of heart disease, and who report no symptoms, are costly, unnecessary, and over-prescribed. the bad news is also that such tests often result in "false positives" giving rise to furthur testing. I would be interested to know what you learned, Wake doctors have to say about this. Thanks in advance!
When I got home, I thought about it and then started to do some research. To begin with, I am 58 years old, and in good physical shape. I routinely exercise (running) 5 days a week for 40 minutes per session. I run at about 9-minute per mile pace. In my early fifties, I developed mild hypertension and some elevated cholesterol. The blood pressure is controlled by medication (enalipril) and the cholesterol by Simcor. I have no family history of heart disease, and have never experienced any chest pain, shortness of breath, which would be classic symptoms of heart problems. I have never experience any such discomfort during my exercise regimen.
I have now read several articles about stress tests, the most recent of which appeared in this month's edition of Consumer Reports. The gist of all of the articles is that such stress tests on people with no history of heart disease, and who report no symptoms, are costly, unnecessary, and over-prescribed. the bad news is also that such tests often result in "false positives" giving rise to furthur testing. I would be interested to know what you learned, Wake doctors have to say about this. Thanks in advance!
