Posted by Greg on August 28, 2000, at 9:57:35
In reply to James's Stress-Echo, posted by stjames on August 27, 2000, at 21:40:48
Mr.James,
I'm glad you finally got this done! What I thought was funny about mine was after the treadmill (only got up 145bpms before I had to stop) they laid me down on the table and said "Now hold real still so we can get an accurate reading". Here I am, gasping for every breath sure I'm going to have a heart attack, and they want me to hold real still?!?!. Anyway, they said mine was back normal. I was very concerned because of the history of heart disease in my family.
In continuing with the butt kicking, don't put off your further tests. The only way you're going to have any real piece of mind over this is to get them done. I know dealing with a HMO is a total pain in the a**, but I'm sure you can get a reference if you push the issue enough. Is your Heart specialist willing to make the ref for you? I would certainly think so.
You obviously know a lot more about the technical side of this than I do so I won't embarrass myself by trying to talk intelligently about it, but I'm real glad you are pursuing this. You are a very valued part of the PB community, and I want you to be for a very long time.
Peace,
Greg> Y'all were so kind to "kick my butt" so I would stop puting off
> this test and so, much late, this is what happened. Short answer is that
> I need more tests. I;m conserned about anyurisims, as they run in
> the family, and I knew going into this test that a stress echo does
> not image the aorta. My primary is more conserned with
> my high BP, so he is checking for cause and possible dmg
> with the echo. The stress echo almost killed me ! (a joke, but it felt that way)
> The cardio man did say that given my family history I was justified in being conserned
> and need specific tests to image the aorta. he chose the worst moment to tell me this, 1 min before the end of the tread mill part, just b4 I really thought I might explode.
> There were minor changes on EKG and resting echo, due to hypertension, but they
> resolved on stress. My heart did excellent under stress
> and if I were not so out of shape I would not of felt like I was going to die.
>
> I knew from the Marfan list that there were some reading this test could
> do that might be indictave of an anyurisim or the beginnings of on. The tech
> had some time to kill and showed my some neat doppler images. I asked her to estimate
> the aortic root size. She said "I can't do that but I can tell you exactly
> what the root size is" Ms tech was very clinical and did not even crack a smile
> when she said "this is your heart" and I said "just the one ?" My aortic root
> was high normal, like 3.6-3.7 cm and 4.0 cm is cause for consern. In my case this just might
> be the hypertension but a enlarging root size also indicates a risk for
> anyurisim and/or disection at the aortic root (where the aorta attaches to the heart)
>
> So I need to get my primary to order imaging of the aorta and I will push for a
> complete study of the entire aorta. From my reading it seems less likely
> I have Marfans as the criteria is very specific, now.
> There are at least 2 genetic conditions that cause anyurisims.
> Wayne State is doing a genetic study on non-marfan families with
> anyurisims; I am finishing the paperwork for this.
>
> This test was $1,400 so I will have to make a good case for
> more studies. Getting the HMO to pay for a complete study of
> all of the aorta(s) may be a fight. I would like to know for sure
> so I can go back to taking Dexadrine.
>
> james
poster:Greg
thread:43866
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20000822/msgs/43913.html