Had my cardiac stress test:

Link to original post #1 and original post #2

Today I got to partake in my treadmill cardiac stress test.  It was kinda interesting---kinda not.  You go in, they strip you from the waist up and let all the upper goodies hang out.  Then attach a bunch of stickers with leads to monitor your heartrate and then a blood pressure cuff.  Then another lady came in, and did an ultrasound of my heart and then they threw me on the treadmill for 10 minutes.  At first, I was like "dude, this is easy".... then the last minute wasn't so much.  Incline of like 30 with a rate of 7 or something.  Thought I was gonna die, then they say "Get off as fast as you can and go lie down on that table" where they proceed to do another heart ultrasound to compare the before and after. 

So, here are the results:  My admitting heartrate was 52 with a normal cardiac ultrasound.  (Some valve regurgitation, which is actually pretty common, so no worries).  Then they put me on the treadmill with the attempt to get my heartrate to 168.  They got up to 149 and that was all they could do, but it still went up and did what they needed it to do, and the after ultrasound was also normal.  He explained his findings this way:  "The PVC (palpitations) are benign, and I am not concerned about them at all, it just means your heart is a little overzealous.  Your heart is slow to increase, as we suspected, but it does get there---but along with that it decrease VERY quickly.  (In 30 seconds it had gone from max of 149 to 104).  This is actually a sign of an extremely healthy heart and is kind of the ideal kind---the kind that those people that run miles and then stop to shoot targets want.  Honestly, because of your size and fatigue, I would not have expected to have such a healthy heart.   So, basically this is not a heart issue.  Have you had a sleep study?  (yes, I have... no apnea, but they did find that I did not ever hit REM sleep in the 8 hrs I was there)  Did they tell you why you never hit REM sleep and which doctor did you see?  (No, they just said "yup, that is why you are tired" and I saw Dr. C).  "Well, I suggest that you have another sleep study if they can't use the original results (done 3 yrs ago), but instead of seeing Dr C. (who does more on the pulmonology  (breathing) side), you should see someone who specializes in sleep disorders akin to narcolepsy." 

And so he thinks everything stems from not sleeping---I can believe that.

So, basically.... my heart is fine, the palpitations are no big deal and probably so noticeable because of my slow heart rate---the heart has lots of time to build up the electrical charge so it is more of a noticeable jolt.  I actually have an extremely healthy heart (wish my ass was as healthy)....  So, off to yet another Dr I go.