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Following up on stupid medicality

  • Jul. 24th, 2010 at 6:02 PM
KENYA!
foomf

So, the nurse called me on Thursday at 4:30pm to tell me that they'd gotten blood tests done and that I don't have any abnormalities in all the blood markers they use to identify heart disease.

Which leads to the question, "Why do I have the EKG of a person who has had a heart attack if I don't have the markers for it?"

There are several possible answers, but it might take a Dr. House to identify them.

Meanwhile, though, I'm going to have the Thallium Treadmill Stress Test on Thursday AM so need to reschedule my trainer appoingment; she hasn't gotten back to me yet.

I am told it only takes a couple hours but it has to be at the hospital in Nuclear Medicine. !yay! ...

Meanwhile I got a deadly intense workout in between 5:10 and 5:40, every body part, to failure, descending sets on the Kaiser pneumatic machines. Started with Leg Press and moved DOWN.

Sweaty now.

Comments

( 10 comments — Leave a comment )
drath
Jul. 25th, 2010 02:05 am (UTC)
I didn't know it was possible to get absolute muscle failure on a pnuematic. Doesn't that require concentric, eccentric and isometric failure at the same time, something you only get from free weights?
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drath
Jul. 25th, 2010 02:29 am (UTC)
Sorry, ignore that... I just came down with a bad case of "Wikidemia."
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foomf
Jul. 25th, 2010 07:06 am (UTC)
I didn't say 'absolute muscle failure' - that would be impossible without a spotter and would be pretty unsafe in any case.

It's possible on a pneumatic machine to get to the point where you cannot push (or pull as the case might be) with what's on there, due to either temporary fatigue or lactic acid build-up or both.
Lowering the effective resistance, you can usually go again.
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karenkay
Jul. 25th, 2010 02:02 pm (UTC)
In my experience, it takes 2-3 hours, but I find it tough because they don't let you eat for the first 2/3 of the test. That's a long time if you're used to eating shortly after you get up.
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foomf
Jul. 25th, 2010 05:11 pm (UTC)
I can manage that part OK. Though I may hold off on my morning diabetic pill a little.
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karenkay
Jul. 25th, 2010 05:28 pm (UTC)
I do recommend practicing before your stress test. I was NOT prepared for them to turn the treadmill incline up to 10,and the first time I did it, they had to hold me on the treadmill. It was unpleasant to say the least. (I highly recommend interval training.)

The other thing I had trouble with was the MRI itself--not just the claustrophobia, which was manageable, but you need to put you arms up over your head and leave them for 10 minutes or so. I had dislocated my shoulder a few months earlier, and couldn't physically manage that; the technician was impatient with me, which I thought was out of line.
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foomf
Jul. 25th, 2010 06:18 pm (UTC)
I'll have to try setting at 10, didn't know that they go so high :)

The MRI, already I know and loathe :)
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karenkay
Jul. 25th, 2010 08:17 pm (UTC)
The people at your gym will flip out if you set it that high. I found that doing intervals for 30-40 minutes at 3 or 4 was sufficient. (But my stress test was only 10 minutes or so.)
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karenkay
Jul. 25th, 2010 08:18 pm (UTC)
They set it at 10 to get your heartrate up quickly. And believe me, it works!
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unikyrn
Jul. 26th, 2010 09:05 am (UTC)
Wait until they offer you the letter explaining why you can't go through a security checkpoint without setting off the radiation alarm for a few weeks. :)

As a friend likes to remind me, doctors PRACTICE medicine, and you only practice stuff you're still learning. They couldn't explain either my, or my cousins, irregular heartbeat either after putting us on that damn treadmill, don't be surprised if they don't find anything.
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( 10 comments — Leave a comment )