Myocardial perfusion stress scan and dobutamine

[Lincsangel1]

Has anyone else had a myocardial perfusion stress test? I had one friday , and because they're not using the treadmill due to covid they injected me with dobutamine.. it was absolutely horrendous.. the worst thing ever.. I felt like i was having a heart attack, for about 10 minutes.. ive read everything I can find online about how it should make you feel and cant find anything that says I should have felt like thst... since then my balance, amongst other things is totally off.. I can barely walk in a straight line .. can constantly feel my heartbeat and generally feel off

[Jillymo]

I had it done a couple of years ago. I remember the awful smell of the stuff injected into me and my heart racing, I felt very sick after but cant say it affected my balance. I wonder if it has affected your B12.

Drink plenty to try and flush out of your system and if self injecting step uo the injections. I do hope your symptoms diminish soon.

[Lincsangel1 in reply to Jillymo]

thanks Jillymo... i think its all out of my system now...

I was really concerned about the way I reacted to the dobutamine.. from everything ive found online there is no mention of the experience i had

Without exaggerating I honestly felt like i was going to die

I do self inject, daily. I even gave myself 2 on the Saturday as I was still feeling terrible

[Jillymo in reply to Lincsangel1]

Any subsatance or chemical and from what I experienced from the smell that is some chemical that is being pumped into us can cause a reaction. The smell was seriously over powering when I had it done I thought Iwas going to throw up whilst still on the table.

I think you did the right thing injecting twice it most certainly cant do any harm. I hope you recover soon and your results from the test are all good.

[Lincsangel1 in reply to Jillymo]

thankyou Jillymo... i didnt notice any smell.. but i am feeling a lot better now thank goodness...it really was a very scary experience

[Gen89]

I had a stress mri scan years ago and had an injection to increase my heart rate. I don’t know what chemical it was. But it was very painful for a few minutes but then the pain stopped and I felt fine afterwards. Hope you are ok.

[Lincsangel1 in reply to Gen89]

hi Gen89.. yes it was very painful.. my chest was tight.. my heart was pounding.. it felt like i had a huge lump in my throat.. i could barely speak.. breathless.. hot..sweaty..nauseous.. my hearing was almost like i was under water.. my eyes were watering... it truly was the worst experience ever.

I do feel a lot better today, but still feel 'off'

[Gen89 in reply to Lincsangel1]

I found it a frightening experience. They had warned me it would hurt but not that much! That’s good that you are feeling a bit better.

[Lincsangel1 in reply to Gen89]

they didnt warn me at all.. in fact they didnt explain any of it really.. i was given an information sheet to read, that explained the process but that was all.

I just hope i never have to go through that again...

[Gen89]

sounds a very stressful experience. Did they say what you experienced was normal after you had had the test.

[Lincsangel1 in reply to Gen89]

I didnt get chance to speak to anyone about it, as soon as that part was over they moved me to another part of the hospital where i went for the actual scan

[Gen89 in reply to Lincsangel1]

everything is so rushed. You could ask your Gp about it. I don’t know if I had the same drug as you but speeding the heart rate up very high is painful . It would be nice if the staff had spent more time explaining things to you. Hope all goes well .

[Lincsangel1 in reply to Gen89]

yes it was all very rushed and no chance to discuss any of it... as for asking my gp.. thats another thing all together, trying to even get a phone call consultation is a huge feat in itself lol

Thankyou x

[helvella]

I suggest you consider putting in a Yellow Card report to the MHRA.

They are very important as, if they do not receive them, the MHRA will (understandably) assume all is well.

[Lincsangel1 in reply to helvella]

hi helvella.. i didnt think of that..good idea..thankyou x

[scnuke]

I am a retired nuclear medicine technologist and have performed thousands of nuclear stress tests. I am sorry they did not explain this to you, but dobutamine can and does have these effects on people and it is very common. Having had several myself, and even knowing what was likely to happen, it can be frightening. Luckily, it is rarely dangerous and passes quickly. I cannot speak to the effects on your balance as I have not heard of these type of side effects. but I had not yet been diagnosed with PA at the time I had/performed these tests. But in my experience there is a wide variety of things that can deplete B12 levels and bring on a variety of symptoms. The only thing that I have come to believe is that if you are suddenly not feeling well, get some extra B12 injections. I will sometimes take up to three 1mg injections/day if I am having a bad spell and that seems to bring me back up more quickly. Sorry for your bad experience. It sounds like the staff needs to learn a bit of compassion and communication.