Dobutamine Stress Test w/Nuclear Imaging

I am not sure if this is the right place to post this question, however, I am scheduled to have a Dobutamine Stress Test w/Nuclear Imaging on the 23rd of October, 2007.  I am concerned because I had a stress test some years back and had a very bad reaction.

It was given the test on two different days.  The first part was given in the hospital while a patient and then I was released and told to come back the next day to finish it.  I was returned via ambulance the next day and they proceeded to complete the test.  I was given an injection of some kind intervenous (it may have been dobutamine).  Whatever it was caused my mouth to feel extremely hot and then I preceeded to stop breathing.  I remember the doctor or technician yelling "is she astamatic?"  His next remark was yelling "reverse it, reverse it".  I don't know any more after that.  When I woke up I was in the recovery room.  My pcp told me that they had not received my medical records before administering the test.

Now I'm told that since they do not know what was administered before, it could be the same thing but that they are aware of my breathing condition.  I am also told that the test will entail raising my heart rate to a very high level to check for tolerance.

I get chest pains and shortage of breath walking very brief distances and climbing stairs.  Please tell me your recommendations as to whether I should allow this test.  I want to know what is wrong with me...BUT I do not want to take an unnecessary chance with my life.

[Darcy Green Conaway, MD]

First, I apologize for being tardy in this response..
it sounds like you had a bronchospasm from adenosine; dobutamine is the alternative for people who have underlying pulmonary disease (asthma, emphysema). I would think that with your symptoms it may be reasonable to proceed directly to cardiac catheterization rather than a stress test, but certainly your cardiologist/primary physician knows you better than I do. I would discuss these exact concerns-- usually, dobutamine can cause funny sensations such as palpitations, heart racing, and people often describe feeling their heart pump strongly. Without knowing more about your medical past, it is difficult to say, but I would be thinking more along the lines of a cardiac catheterization (unless you are very young, for example or have kidney disease)...