Electrocardiogram

I'm getting an electrocardiogram done tomorrow morning/afternoon, and I was wondering if anyone knew anything about this, especially if someone had this done themselves. I know it's relatively painless, but I'm curious as to know what they will do for me.

I was a cardiology technician in the Air Force, what sorts of questions do you have regarding the procedure, is it an electrocardiogram or an echocardiogram cause given history I know alot of folks can get confused...

With an electrocardiogram essentially simple explaination:
They'll place 10 stickers on your chest in various places...which will then pick up the electrical activity coming from your heart. Looking for various abnormalities that can be detected with that (low blood flow, heart blocks ect).

With an echocardiogram:

They do an ultrasound of your heart which essentially looks at various wall and valve function to make sure your heart is beating the way it should be beating and functioning the way it should be functioning.

Both of these procedures are painless and incredibly useful.

An electrocardiogram these days generally may take at most 15 minutes of your time (a good tech, not to pat myself on the back, can do it in 5).

An echocardiogram may take up to an hour or two depending on what they are looking for.


Does this help?

An ECG is completely painless. The stick things to your chest and arms, connect them up, and then run the machine (you won't feel a thing). They're just measuring the heart beat - how long between heart beats, then they measure between specific parts of the heart beat. They can then detect if there's any problems, like if there's too long or short a period between certain things, or if it's irregular etc. Are they looking for something in particular?

Good luck, hope it's all clear!

Edit: what she said...