I am a 57 year old woman. I have hypertension well controlled with prescription meds for 2 years. recently I went for routine exam, doc asked me whether I had shortness of breath, irregular heart beats, lightheadedness, or left arm tingling. No to all of the above. Why did doc recommend echo stress? BTW: my results came back normal (Thank goodness!), yet now I have a $9,000 bill for a test that was normal. Could any other test have been done as a heart function screen before the echo stress?