There is something else which is odd about the treadmill ECG that I had. After I had a pulse of about 180 bpm, I felt this super hard extra beat, which showed up on the ECG screen as a random squiggly line. The doctor seemed to see this and stop the test as soon as it went off the screen. When I asked the doctor about it, he said "What? Nothing happened. Look, if something happened the ECG would have picked it up" and pointed at the sheets where the squiggly line did not appear. Is it possible he purposely stopped it between the time it showed on the screen and was recorded on the paper, so I would not be able to ask about it??? Also, what can that random squiggly line mean? I always have those extra unexpected hard beats when I do too much activity these days. (Well, there shouldn't really be a such thing as "too much activity" for a 19 year old in decent shape).I would be very happy to know what you think about these questions so I can know what to do next in my pursuit of treatment (if it's necessary). The clinic seems to have abandoned me ever since this latest test showed no problems, totally ignoring the fact that I still have symptoms and that the old ECG did find what are supposedly permanent problems. Thanks ...
Posted by CCF CARDIO MD JMF on August 08, 1999 at 14:44:46Deawr Kivo,
thank you for your question. a resting ECg and an ECG for a treadmill should not be compared for things such as LPHB and RBBB as one is done with a different hook up than the other.
It sounds as though your test was normal and that the squiggly line was probably a PVC(premature ventricular contraction ( an extra beat). that would go along with the hard beat you felt which is the beat after a PVC which has extra time to collect blood and pumps more forefully.
I hope this has been useful. I wish you the best of luck. Feel free to write back.
Information provided here is for general purposes only. Specific questions should be addressed to your own doctor. If you would like to make an appointment at the Cleveland Clinic Heart Center, please call 1-800-CCF-CARE or inquire online by using the Heart Center website at www.ccf.org/heartcenter. The Heart Center website contains a directory of the cardiology staff that can be used to select the physician best suited to address your cardiac problem.
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