Living with high calcium score

I totally agree. I’m a 54 F. Looking back, I wish I would’ve been more educated about my cholesterol. For the past 10-20 years my #s were high. I have a family history of heart disease and my cholesterol is now 240. In the past it was always 198-220. My primary dr said “don’t worry just watch certain things you eat, your active, not overweight etc & she also said my other #s balanced it all out. Gosh, I should’ve pushed more and went to see a cardiologist back then. So disappointed in not advocating nor taking it more serious at the time.

I recently had a ct calcium scan (recommended from my husband pcp as he said we’re getting older and it’s probably a good idea to look into the test) which came back high 444. I had my cholesterol checked immediately and that was elevated as well. I then went to a cardiologist and she started me in 40 mg Atorvastatin & did another lipid 3 months later. At that time all my #s went down but my ldl was still above 70 (80) so I was put on another 40mg. (My cardiologist wants it 70 or less) Currently I’m now on 80mg of Atorvastatin/aspirin daily. I wasn’t expecting that at all and was honestly scared about the whole situation. I asked to see if I could stay in the 40mg and watch everything I ate but she felt with my family history and knowing now it’s hereditary I should do the 80 mg. I asked for further testing but was told because I’m asymptomatic it’s not necessary. I told my cardiologist that I do have a pain on my left side that comes & goes but that was coughed up to muscular so idk. I considered myself somewhat active, I don’t eat red meats nor a lot of dairy. So all in all I’m just asking myself the same thing…..if I would’ve been put on meds 15-20, years ago especially with my family history (father heart disease, stents open heart surgery etc, along with a few of his brothers and both paternal grandparents dying from heart related issues & my mother and older sister have high cholesterol & bp with meds) could that have prevented the calcium buildup? I should’ve been more concerned way back then but I’ve just followed what my PCP Drs advice and she didn’t seem overly concerned.

Ugh…so frustrating that this is something I can’t control. I’ve never been on any meds like this so now I have daily statin/aspirin for preventative purposes. It’s hard to hear “heart disease” and it’s very scary.

I’m reaching out to get a second an opinion about my care moving forward. I have so many more questions that need answers and my first cardiologist seemed to just brush off what I’m dealing with. I need more guidance instead of being told don’t eat meat dairy (which I don’t) keep active (which I do) so at this point just getting another Drs perspective on my situation just to ease my mind.

leeds,

Your numbers sound like many on this site. You knew you had high cholesterol, but didn't do anything about it until you got a high CAC score - also pretty common.

You don't mention - good idea to get these done?
- stress test
- PAD test
- advanced lipids test

I totally agree. I’m a 54 F. Looking back, I wish I would’ve been more educated about my cholesterol. For the past 10-20 years my #s were high. I have a family history of heart disease and my cholesterol is now 240. In the past it was always 198-220. My primary dr said “don’t worry just watch certain things you eat, your active, not overweight etc & she also said my other #s balanced it all out. Gosh, I should’ve pushed more and went to see a cardiologist back then. So disappointed in not advocating nor taking it more serious at the time.

I recently had a ct calcium scan (recommended from my husband pcp as he said we’re getting older and it’s probably a good idea to look into the test) which came back high 444. I had my cholesterol checked immediately and that was elevated as well. I then went to a cardiologist and she started me in 40 mg Atorvastatin & did another lipid 3 months later. At that time all my #s went down but my ldl was still above 70 (80) so I was put on another 40mg. (My cardiologist wants it 70 or less) Currently I’m now on 80mg of Atorvastatin/aspirin daily. I wasn’t expecting that at all and was honestly scared about the whole situation. I asked to see if I could stay in the 40mg and watch everything I ate but she felt with my family history and knowing now it’s hereditary I should do the 80 mg. I asked for further testing but was told because I’m asymptomatic it’s not necessary. I told my cardiologist that I do have a pain on my left side that comes & goes but that was coughed up to muscular so idk. I considered myself somewhat active, I don’t eat red meats nor a lot of dairy. So all in all I’m just asking myself the same thing…..if I would’ve been put on meds 15-20, years ago especially with my family history (father heart disease, stents open heart surgery etc, along with a few of his brothers and both paternal grandparents dying from heart related issues & my mother and older sister have high cholesterol & bp with meds) could that have prevented the calcium buildup? I should’ve been more concerned way back then but I’ve just followed what my PCP Drs advice and she didn’t seem overly concerned.

Ugh…so frustrating that this is something I can’t control. I’ve never been on any meds like this so now I have daily statin/aspirin for preventative purposes. It’s hard to hear “heart disease” and it’s very scary.

I’m reaching out to get a second an opinion about my care moving forward. I have so many more questions that need answers and my first cardiologist seemed to just brush off what I’m dealing with. I need more guidance instead of being told don’t eat meat dairy (which I don’t) keep active (which I do) so at this point just getting another Drs perspective on my situation just to ease my mind.

I’ve said this before on this thread so here’s the short version. To get my LDL down (it was around 80), my cardiologist put me on an injectable….first Praluent and now Repatha plus a 10 mg dose of Lipitor generic. In six months, my LDL was 5 mg! It was said to be too low so I cut the Lipitor to 5 mg and now it’s 25. If you want to get the LDL down, investigate injectable’s. They work! You take a very easy shot twice a month, self administered. It’s a piece of cake. The medication is costly if your insurance does not pay but Repatha has a $5 co-pay program which is pretty sweet.

May I ask if you had any side effects with the Repatha...or any with statin that changed with Repatha? Just concerned about any possible new side effects. Thanks

My husband had a calcium score of 846 . We were shocked . He is 65 , not overweight , nonsmoker . He has been on a statin for 20 years before learning of his high calcium score .
Saw cardiologist , put on higher statin and zetia , baby aspirin , following Mediterranean diet , cardio 150 min per week .
He passed stress test and had a normal EKG .
Dr said he doesn’t need angiogram now because he passed the stress test and EKG .
I feel like it’s Russian roulette .
Any advice ?
Can you live a normal life with a high calcium score ?
)

Yes! I found out I had a CAC of 1100 when I was 61, six years later it is 1300. As long as your husband is asymptomatic there is nothing more to do than what you are doing right now. It is stressful at first, but you learn to live with it. Enjoy life and work on that bucket list.

My husband had a calcium score of 846 . We were shocked . He is 65 , not overweight , nonsmoker . He has been on a statin for 20 years before learning of his high calcium score .
Saw cardiologist , put on higher statin and zetia , baby aspirin , following Mediterranean diet , cardio 150 min per week .
He passed stress test and had a normal EKG .
Dr said he doesn’t need angiogram now because he passed the stress test and EKG .
I feel like it’s Russian roulette .
Any advice ?
Can you live a normal life with a high calcium score ?
)