We doctors often neglect our own cardiovascular system. Shortness of breath with climbing one or two flights of stairs may indicate significant cardiac disease. Most flights of stairs average out at 12 or 13 steps but it depends on the height of the staircase. A major coronary artery can be stenosed by as much as 50-70% in an asymptomatic patient.
Holter monitor, exercise electrocardiogram echocardiogram would definitely give a good cardiac evaluation. Tachycardia is more likely to cause myocardial ischemia than hypertension. Coronary artery disease with age more than 60 years, cigarette smoking, diabetes, hypertension, and cholesterol more than 240 mg/dL may be benefited from receiving beta-adrenergic blockers under the supervision of a cardiologist.
