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Find a Stress Test For Heart Disease in NYC

Find a Stress Test For Heart Disease in NYC

Heart disease and stress go hand-in-hand. For that reason, it’s not uncommon that patients with chronic chest pain opt for a cardiac stress test (also known as a treadmill test).  

This test acts as an initial measure of your cardiac function. It can also be used to support other diagnostic and treatment decisions.

Heart Disease and Stress; What Happens?

On the surface, stress or anxiety releases adrenaline. Adrenaline increases your energy and the workload on your organs, at least temporarily. This increase can cause muscle contractions and chest pain when your heart rate becomes elevated.

Occasional bouts with adrenaline happened to everyone, but angina – whether stable or unstable – is where heart disease and stress intersect.

Angina, especially when it’s chronic or progressively worsens, can be a sign that the oxygen level or blood flow necessary for heart function has decreased. While this isn’t always an immediate indicator of heart attack, it does need to be addressed and treated accordingly.

Enter: cardiac stress test.

Determining the Heart’s Workload

This exercise-based test is used to determine three things:

1. Your activity threshold
2. Your cardiac blood flow when your activity level is elevated
3. The amount of oxygen being utilized by your heart

Your age, weight, and other medical factors will determine what your ideal activity threshold should be.

The longer you are able to sustain that activity threshold, the better your heart function will likely prove to be. That’s not to say that you should push yourself beyond your natural limit. In fact, specialists are in the room to ensure that you do not put yourself at undue risk during the test.

The side effects from a stress test are relatively mild. It can take patients a few minutes to regain their breath and allow their heart rate to fall within the normal range. However, if you begin experiencing significant discomfort at any time during the test, please say something right away.

How you react and respond can give specialists additional clues to how your heart disease and stress may relate to one another.

Given that additional discussions and tests will likely be needed; the more information that can be collected on your heart, the better your chances are of condition management in the long run.

Dr. Seldon, a Heart Doctor and Cardiologist in New York City, offers same day appointments and all testing is done on site.  Call us at (212) 367-8000.