StrangeRanger09

I can answer that for you. I'm a Nuclear Medicine Technologist and I do a lot of those tests. As a matter of fact, I'm doing one now!! lol. You will probably have yours done with Adenosine, which is pretty much the standard these days, although there are alternatives.

On the negative side, it IS radiation, and radiation can be bad, handled poorly, so just drink a lot of water after your test for about 24 hours and youll definately negate that aspect of it, because your body will flush it out faster if you drink more. Another negative is this test is designed to stress your heart, and if you're close to a heart attack, it could be fatal, but I've never seen this even come close to happening, and a Doctor will be there through the entire time anything like this could happen, and should be able to tell beforehand how your heart is doing through the EKG.

On the Positive side, it's a great test for your heart, because it accomplishes several different variables at once: heart wall motion, EF ( how much blood the heart is kicking out w/ each beat ), EKG, and blood perfusion to see how the blood is moving through the heart muscle itself. So its actually a 4 for 1 deal. Its also an accurate representation of how your heart will perform under stress, so you won't need to be so scared of getting your heart rate up a little if it comes out with a clean bill of health.

So if you're worried about it, don't be. Sometimes the Adenosine part can cause the patient a little discomfort, but it only last for about 8 minutes or so, and you go back to feeling normal about as soon as it's done because it clears out of your system almost immediately.

Hope this helps you out some!!