Doctor checking me for heart disease
 

Today I went for a routine physical and my ekg came back abnormal, I am alrady on medicine for High BP and hogh colesiterol (sp) I smoke and heart problems run in my family, I am having extreme anxiety since doctor visit today he had NO sympathy for my anxiety disorder, said he is scheduling me for stress test and echocardiogram in 3 weeks, any words of comfort would be aprreciated or any experience i am scared to death. And is this right place to post. Thanks

Hello there GTBC0906, and welcome to NeuroTalk.

I can understand your concern after being told your EKG was abnormal, but please be reassured that although there are many irregularities that could show up, few would actually cause you any problems at all.

Not everyone has a normal reading, but many people never even know unless for some reason they're sent for a check up.

Anxiety and smoking are two things that will cause an increase in your heart rate, where-as high cholesterol shouldn't change it in any way. Did the doctor happen to say just what the irregularity is, or give you any information about it at all?

The echocardiogram is (in simple words) a non-invasive scan of the inside of your heart. It shows up the valves and can tell if any of them aren't functioning properly. It will give your doctor information as to how effectively your heart is functioning right now.

The stress test shows how your heart works under pressure. My DH had one of those just last week, and he had to do things like ride a bike and walk on a treadmill while they measured his heart rate, blood pressure and a continuous EKG.

I hope that helps to ease some of your concerns.

Thank you, for your reply !! I have had an abnormal ekg before and echo was okay ,BUT I did not follow through with stress test the doc wanted me too..that was (5) years ago, so I will FACE this and follow through I suppose it is better to know if something major is wrong,I just hate the waiting and he wants me to wait 3 weeks ,he increased my paxil and trazodone hoping to ease my anxiety no he really did not discuss results of ekg he did show me the graph a few times when my lines should be peaking up ^ they were peaking down V, I am just a BIG worryier.But I'm gonna face it this time.Funny how your perspective changes on life after having to go through something like this.Thank you again I welcome any info

First, please know I am not a doctor so don't take everything I say as gospel. I am replying as some-one with a little knowledge, and I ask you to please consult your own doctor if you need any further information.

As far as your EKG goes, all the bumps on a recording are given letters of the alphabet to differentiate them from each other, and abnormalities in any of them have different meanings.

If it's the T wave pointing down instead of up, and I think it probably is that one as it's the most usual one to change direction, there's a chance that you may have had some angina at some stage. Do you remember ever having chest, jaw or left arm pain? Sometimes ischaemic changes don't cause pain so you may not even be aware that it occurred.

The change in direction of the T wave is often an indication of ischaemia at some time. There's no need to be concerned if you're not having any heart symptoms, but any good doctor would order those tests for you to rule out anything serious.

I wish you well, and do try not to worry. Your doctor is doing the right thing by ordering these tests.