I joined this group when I found ought I had an aortic root aneurysm of 4 cm.
My friends told me "Smile, it could be worse". So I smiled, and things got worse.
I was having a very slight shortness of breath after running several miles and a very mild discomfort on the left side of my chest. It was not bad enough to stop running, it just prevented me from running faster. If I stopped to walk for a minute, I felt back to normal and could run faster.
My cardiologist ordered a Nuclear Stress Test. After 7 minutes on the treadmill, my blood pressure supposedly dropped to 92. The monitor was put on again and it was 89. The EKG showed I had an extra heartbeat, maybe 6 beats. The cardiologist called it non-sustained ventricular tackycardia. The nuclear imaging was totally normal and showed no blockages or problems. My cardiologist said the nuclear imaging gives false negatives 15% of the time.
The cardiologist now wants me to have a heart catherization to see if there are blockages, and where they are. He claims the aortic root aneurysm of 4 cm would not cause these results unless a valve was bleeding badly and it is not. His guess is that the heart cath will come back normal.
First of all, I felt absolutely nothing when my blood pressure supposedly dropped from 160 to 90 in the seventh minute of the stress test. My cardiologist said some people may not feel anything. I find this hard to believe. I think maybe the monitor slipped down my arm.
My CT scan with contrast showed mild to moderate atherosclerosis. The nuclear imaging was supposed to show how bad the plaque was and where it is was blocking. However, it showed all was good.
Does anyone have thoughts on or experiences with:
Blood pressure dropping from 160 to 90, and also not feeling anything?
Non-sustained ventricular tackycardia during exercise?
Nuclear imaging during stress tests being totally normal?
Heart catherizations?
Any other thoughts or experiences on the above?
Thanks a million.
John
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John Walters
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