Stress test & echo

Hello everyone,

I have had my pacemaker for almost a year now. I recently started having swelling in my legs and high blood pressure. My blood pressure went from 120/60 to 160/95. So i went for a bunch of test. I had a doppler to make sure it wasn't a clot(and it wasn't). So they did some blood work and sent me for a stress test with a echo at the same time.

At the start of my echo they checked my blood pressure and it was good 120/70. Then they had me get on the treadmill. Once my heart rate got to about 135 it i could see the ecg went crazy. They mentioned something about my left ventricle not working. This happened for about 20 seconds although is seemed like forever. But then i think my pacemaker kicked in and brought my heart rate back to normal. It really scared me and no one explained what that means or why it would happen. They continued with the stress test and i was able to go to 85% target rate.
I am seeing a medicine specialist on Wednesday but i just thought i would see if any one else had an experience like this. Also after i finished the stress test they checked my blood pressure and it was up to 185/88. Isn't your blood pressure supposed to come down after exercise?

6 Comments

One more thing

by scotia - 2013-12-13 01:12:01


Also when i originally had my pacemaker put in it was for a sinus node dysfunction. My echo showed my heart was in good condition except for that. So it shouldn't have anything to do really with the pacemaker. It must be something new. If any one has some advice or have had a similar situation i would appreciate hearing from you.

Thanks
Laura

not sure

by scotia - 2013-12-13 01:12:32

I noticed all of a sudden the ECG looked like a kid scribbling up and down. I felt my heart fluttering but I kept walking and i'm guessing my pacemaker kicked in and brought my heart rate back to normal. I was only pacing around 130 at the time. I'm 46 and before the pacemaker I was pretty active. So 130 is not exactly high for me.

what's crazy?

by Tracey_E - 2013-12-13 10:12:07

When you say it went crazy, did they say crazy how? By left ventricle not working did they mean electrical block? If they did, that's an easy fix, possibly just a matter of adjusting some pm settings.

I think bp is normally up right after exercise, it comes down later. I think :)

BP up with exercise

by Jonny - 2013-12-13 12:12:45

BP should increase on exercising then reduces afterwards.
John

I will

by scotia - 2013-12-14 01:12:55

I will be seeing a medicine doctor. There was no doctor in the room during my stress test. I will make sure i ask on Wednesday. I was just wondered if anyone else experienced this kind of erratic heart rate during a stress test. Wasn't sure if it had something to do with the pacemaker as i had not experienced anything like that before.

Question

by Mandi - 2013-12-14 12:12:06

My doc is always in the room during my test. He tells me what is going on and why, of course he knows that I am going to ask anyway. Did you ask you doc? You should.

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