The fear of the unknown can produce a lot of anxiety. And for me, doctor visits are one of those things that can make me a bit crazy. Today, I had a treadmill stress test. I used to be a daily gym rat, and still think I hold my own when it comes to walking on a treadmill. I have my own "Beast" and while I don't use it as often as I should, I do use it. I walk every day with Sadie, and am constantly on the move while at work. So a treadmill test shouldn't produce a whole lot of anxiety. But there was a bit.
I wore my favorite workout shirt that says "Sweat today, smile tomorrow" and my fav Asics. I walked into the room and the treadmill wasn't what I would call "state of the art" equipment. Just the walking belt and a hand rail. Personally, I was hoping it would have controls that *I* would be able to choose speed and incline, but no such luck. Darn.
The tech hooked me up to all the EKG cords and I was hoping that would be it, but nope. She also hooked up a blood pressure cuff. On a good day, I don't enjoy how tight they pump it up, but when my anxiety is up, it feels like it's trying to choke my arm off! She also explains that the target heart rate goal is 160 BPM. Um ..... what??? In my personal workouts, 150 is about my max. Ok, we'll give this a try.
Hopped on the treadmill and she gets it going. Incline goes up, speed is about 3 mph. That's the norm for me on a long workout and I thought "I got this". Then she starts pumping to take my blood pressure and the cuff feels too tight. Then 3 minutes into the workout, the ramp goes up, and the speed goes up. Yikes, here we go! About 5 minutes in, she asks me to read a chart on the wall and tell her what my comfort/discomfort level is. She's taking my blood pressure again, and here goes the tight cuff feeling again. Ugh. Then I'm thinking about how my legs are beginning to feel heavy, but worse, trying to get air into my lungs because I'm wearing this stupid COVID mask ......
She's reading my heart rate out loud to me, 155, 156, almost done .... *walk*walk*breathe* *walk*pant*pant*pant* .... 157, 158 ... *pant*pant*pant* .... 159, 160! OK, we're done she tells me, hang on, I'll slow the treadmill. "Are you doing OK?" she asks me once it stops. I'm sucking in breaths, trying to slow my heart rate. And stepping carefully off the treadmill because I'm wearing my reading glasses (which causes a few issues with my depth perception on uneven surfaces).
Sneaking a peek at the computer chart, it took me 7:50 minutes to get to my target heart rate, and 3:40 to return my heart rate to my normal post workout rate of 120. I'm not sure if that's good or bad from a doctor's standpoint, but I was happy with it.
So if you're being scheduled for a treadmill test, don't sweat it. It's not as bad as it sounds!
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