Yes. They put an IV in her arm. The first thing they do at the start of the day is give the patient an injection of thallium, have them wait about half an hour then take pictures of their heart at rest. Then they are told to wait again and they go to the stress part where they get some more thallium and get hooked up to monitors and they turn on the adenosine for 6 minutes, all the while watching the ekg to make sure nothing is wrong and asking the patient how they feel in case they have to shut it off. After that, they observe for several more minutes and then you wait and they take more pics. It's a lot of waiting and the whole thing can taake more than 3 hours.
Im not familiar with the adenosine stress test.. do they actually give u adenosine?
Hi,
My mom is in her 70's and recently had an adenosine stress test. She was very afraid to have it and she doesn't even use the Internet. I went with her and stayed with her the whole time she was there. There were only a few times I could not be right by her side.
The doctor explained the possible side effects of the
med beforehand. On rare occasions, people can have a very bad reaction, but the patient is surrounded by cardiologists so that is comforting. The way the med is administered they can turn it off immediately and the effects cease immediately. I heard the tech reminding my mother of all the possible feelings she could have while she turned the drip on and to let them know what she was feeling. It turns out my mom did not have a single side effect. Her test came back normal.
The worst she felt was cold because they had her drink a large class of cold water after it was all done. :-D
You may want to bring a book or CD player or something else to do while they have you sit around and wait. It takes a while, though not as long as I thought it would take when I first researched it.
I am sure all will go well. :-D
I think most of the symptoms they describe are the ones that can occur if you have angina and exercise in general. The medicine may make you feel funny or edgy, but there will be a doctor to treat those symptoms or stop the test if he feels you are in danger.