Who Should Have a Stress Test and How Often?

To keep you alive, your heart needs to continue functioning through a variety of conditions. It pumps while you sleep and works a little harder when you’re walking up flights of stairs. How your heart adjusts to stress can tell doctors a lot about what’s going on in and around it. 

That’s why we offer stress testing here at Cullman Internal Medicine. Our extensive team of providers can help you determine when you might benefit from this diagnostic tool. First, though, we want to help you understand what this test does so you can have a clearer idea of when you might be a candidate. 

Nuclear GXT 101

Here at Cullman Internal Medicine, we offer graded exercise testing (GXT) that creates additional data. Specifically, with our nuclear testing, we inject a tiny, safe amount of radioactive isotope into your bloodstream before you start your stress test. Then, we use a specialized camera to take a three-dimensional image of your heart.

Next, we start the GXT portion, which means having you exercise on a treadmill. The “graded” part of the name here means we slowly increase your level of physical activity. You’ll start at a slow walk, and we’ll gradually increase your pace — never exceeding what’s safe for you. 

With the nuclear testing in play, we can see how your heart responds to the additional stress of exercise. We can see how blood and oxygen flow into your heart muscle, helping us pinpoint problems. 

When you should get some kind of stress test

Stress tests aren’t routinely offered to patients. Instead, your Cullman Internal Medicine provider will only recommend it when you’re experiencing clear signs of a heart-related issue. That might include:

• Chest pain
• Dizziness 
• Irregular heartbeat 
• Trouble breathing

We might also suggest it based on your personal and family health history. If you have a heightened risk of cardiovascular conditions, this testing can help us catch problems early, when they’re easiest to treat. As a result, you might benefit from a stress test if you have symptoms or a family history of:

• Atrial fibrillation
• Congenital heart disease
• Congestive heart failure
• Coronary artery disease (CAD)
• Heart valve disease
• Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy

You won’t necessarily need to get the stress test regularly. The US Preventive Services Task Force and the American College of Cardiology recommend against routine stress testing unless you have or are likely to have CAD. 

That said, you might need more than one stress test. We might order one to diagnose your heart condition, and then we may order another later to assess how your treatment is working.

Our team can help you determine if you need a stress test. If you’re experiencing chest pain, difficulty breathing, or any other symptoms of a heart problem, don’t wait to call our office or book an appointment online today.