stress tested

Aside from the Big D, since a month ago I've been undergoing treatment for hypertension as well.

A fairly recent development, my blood pressure remained high for several days prompting me to go pay a cardio a visit. He suspected too much salt intake as the cause of the BP elevation but to be sure, he had me undertake a 2D echo test and when the results of that test were ok, he then subjected me to the treadmill stress test.

That treadmill stress test happened this morning.

In a nutshell, this test will measure a person's cardio-vascular activity (heart rate, blood pressure, etc.) while being stressed out -- via the treadmill. The test will have you work on a treadmill and in stages, the difficulty level increases making you (and your cardio-vasculars) work harder. The treadmill stress test had seven stages but a person does not have to complete all seven. He/She only has to go to his/her maximum capacity.

The seven stages are divided into minutes of three each and at each stage, the speed of the treadmill increases and is inclined a notch steeper.

I reached Stage 4, however, lasted only one minute in the stage which had me only doing light jogging (yes, I am that unfit).

Stage 1 was normal walk (which seemed un-normal to me as it was definitely faster than the average speed I often pedal myself -- and people already consider me a faster-than-average walker) while Stage 2 had you walking a half-step quicker. Stage 3 was already brisk-walking and like I said, Stage 4 was already light jogging. By Stage 3, I was already sweating gallons!

How did they measure the performance of your cardio-vascular system?

The treadmill machine was by no means your ordinary, run-of-the-mill treadmill but a specially-built machine for stress testing. Think of a regular treadmill then attach a computer beside it. The "computer" is the ECG machine that churns out data progressively. And how is data fed into the ECG machine? Via connectors pasted on your heart area that will monitor you as you treadmill.

A total of 10 round connectors where plastered on my chest, most of them around the left chest area for obvious reasons. But parts of my chest hair had to be shaved off so that the connectors would stick :P Then, when I got to the machine, I was hooked up, 10 wires for each of the connector and a small device was belted on me that would help the ECG perform better.

However, monitoring the BP had to be manual. A doctor was on standby on your side while you worked on the treadmill and every 2 minutes, you had to hold out your hand so that your BP can be determined. Then, the BP is manually inputted into the ECG machine. From the ECG machine setup, the operator or doctor can also control the treadmill's speed and incline.

When I finally had enough at Stage 4, I couldn't get off the machine right away as they also had to monitor how my BP changed from strenuous activity to almost nil activity. So, after 10 minutes on gradually increasing difficulty mode, the recovery period also took ten minutes as your activity also gradually decreased.

Results will be available in 2-3 days. For more info on the treadmill stress test, visit here.

And oh by the way, Diether Ocampo was there with his Brazilian girlfriend. Apparently, he was there to undergo the same stress test as well :)