EKG Stress Test

[Nightmare2]

Last Month i had an EKG at hospital with the drug to induce heart rate as if we are on treat mills, Dobutamine drug.

My Rate would not increase as fast as they wanted, so kept giving me a bit more through canula, all of a sudden it shot up, and i heard the operator on one of the machine say that my heart had 'flipped' so i knew they meant gone into AF. They got me to take 2 bisoprolol to bring it down but this takes a long time anyway. I had to get home 1 and half hours on the bus, then drive half an hour, In my life i have NEVER fel t so ill, i am used to AF, but this was so different, i thought i was having a heart attack no dramatising. All next day i felt ill, and the worst of all is since then my BP is hovering around the 110 sometimes lower mark, it has permanently affected it, so proves these drugs do more than we know, my GP has taken me off my Amlodipine BP med, but said if i find it rises very high i will have to go back onto it, On it it lowers my BP even further but it could be by stopping the BP pill my BP will begin to rise.

The cardiologist at hospitals tells me that this is nothing to do with the Dobutamine, well they would. all i know for certain i had no BP problems before and now its 6 weeks since had this EKG.

Warning to anyone, beware with this drug, i have heard others have reactions to it, but none seems to have lasted as long as my own has.

[Fanfab1]

Hello I am sorry to hear that your experience with dobutamine made you feel so ill.

whilst I have had angina symptoms in response to dobutamine being administered during tests (which is a good thing as showed there was a problem with my heart) I recovered quickly with no lasting effects. I already had high BP and am on amlodipine.

BP 110 (assuming top number) is well within normal range or did you mean heart rate was 110?

We all react differently but for me dobutamine was (although not a great experience) critical to my diagnosis. For my condition it is the gold standard test.

If you are still struggling, a discussion with your doctor may help.

Hope your BP gets sorted.

👍

[Nightmare2 in reply to Fanfab1]

Hi, I hear what you are saying and understand, but my experience was carried out the same way as your own, 4 present in the room, the difference is my H.Rate would not increase, one of them noticed my arm with the canular was slight bent, they kept giving me more Dobutamine and could not understand why h.rate not going up, at one point the cardio in charge told them to inject some of it directly into the vein and not canular, straightened my arm and then my heart got the full force in one go, she kept asking me if i had chest pain, i could see she was concerned, they did the scans, told me my heart looked fine no blockages at all, then suddenly i felt so ill, Could literally not walk my AF has never ever made me feel ill like this,

My normal BP on one Amlodipine daily is around 134/70 ish, after this procedure it is around 107 - 112 ish in the mornings, and not much higher in afternoons, all since the day after procedure. My GP has me off the BP meds altogether and to monitor daily 4 bp checks per day. I can say categorically, that the Dobutamine whether it be overdose or the suddeness of it whamming my heart due to pooling before they straightened my arm out, that i felt fit before this EKG, now have palpitations on and off, so weak with the low BP, and wich to heaven i hadnt had it done. The write ups on this med, is that it has been know to raise or Lower BP, on a permanent basis afterwards, well i appear to be one of the unlucky ones. Therfore i wanted to warn others to be beware and that all drugs can and on occasion will cause problems. My h.rate is a normal 48 - 50 and that is unaffected, just permanent low BP since this. and now as i say around 6 or 7 weeks ago.

[LuciaHJ in reply to Nightmare2]

So sorry to read of your bad experiences with dopamine stress test, I have had this procedure twice now with no problems .

I had to stay off all blood pressure medication for four days prior to the procedure, I was well monitored and injected with dopamine bit by bit to a heart rate of 120 with no ill effects, this was then stopped and declared enough for my age 77. Were your meds stopped prior to your tests???

[Nightmare2 in reply to LuciaHJ]

I was just asked not to take any meds that morning, i had te procedure around 10.30 a.m. i was monitored, i was fit and well before, i think because my h.rate was not increasing after the stress meds were going in they began injecting me with slightly more, my arm was not completely straight and when she asked the operator to straighten it, i dont have a clue how high it went, but i have never felt so ill, and i know what AF us usually ike, I cant begin to explain how ill i felt, but they gave me two bisoprolol straight5 away, my heart didnt know what was hitting it yhou can imagine, i will never forget the 2 hours journey home as long as i live, its a miracle no heart attack, my resting h.rate is always around 50, it took me two days following before i began to feel like myself. I never dramatise, and would never have this done again and my Cardio knows that following this for 7 weeks my BP was hardly highte than 100, it has now returned to how it should be, 7 weeks - i dont guess i know it was the stress drug. he has brought my appt. forward to see him now on 24th August. I feel sure i cannot be the only one this has effected, indeed i know i am not.

[Avagra]

I often feel that in the field of cardiology the left hand doesn’t know what the right hand is doing!