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58 year old healthy, active female with high coronary artery calcium
Heart & Blood Health | Last Active: Jan 20 1:54pm | Replies (55)Comment receiving replies
No, I don’t think it’s just sour grapes because many doctors are dismissive of concerns when you are generally fit and appear healthy. I do feel like my doctor took the genetic factor into consideration as it was one of the reasons she recommended the test for me.
I had researched everything extensively before my cardiologist appointment so I could ask some intelligent questions. When I asked the doctor about the link between high intensity exercise and CAC, she was aware of the studies and seemed to concur with the findings. She told me that unless I was training for something I should keep my exercise at 150 minutes a week. I tried to post a link to the study for you to read, but the site would not allow me to do so. The study is found on ahajournals.org and the title is “Exercise Volume Versus Intensity and the Progression of Coronary Atherosclerosis in Middle-Aged and Older Athletes: Findings From the MARC-2 Study”
Replies to "No, I don’t think it’s just sour grapes because many doctors are dismissive of concerns when..."
Thanks for posting this study!
Here's the link: https://www.ahajournals.org/doi/full/10.1161/CIRCULATIONAHA.122.061173
Thank you for posting this study.
I looked at this paper to try to begin to understand what might be a reasonable exercise routine for myself. I enjoy jogging and biking and I'd like to do what I can while staying protecting against plaque progression.
I am wondering if anyone understands why they would use METs to classify intensity. I would think that heart rate and blood pressure would be the important factors in CAC progression. The MET value is based on running pace, but the heart rate and blood pressure of a 70 year woman at a given pace is going to be very different that the heart rate and blood pressure of a 20 year old man. I guess the group was 50-60 year old men, but I'd guess there would be some variation in pace a "moderate intensity" by RPE or heart rate.
So what is the take away? Avoiding "very vigorous" should be safe, but what is "very vigorous" for someone that isn't a 50-60 year old man. Guess I should leave the interpretation to the professionals, but it's really hard to find someone that knows where I live. When I asked my cardiologist about training for a half-marathon, he asked me "Why would you want to do that?" And there is one cardiologist in my rural area. I have to drive two hours to go to someone else. Which I guess maybe I should. 🙂
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@nonna2four That study sounds interesting. I have never had a doctor recommend a limit to my exercise.
I imagine for you that the hardest part is not knowing right now. The feeling that something is not right, but no one can say for sure what it is. I worry that you might find out that the tests are inconclusive. The maybe or maybe not answer...ugh. To be fair, doctors cannot predict what will happen and much of the science of medicine is based on probabilities. X symptoms means the likelihood of Y disease.
Glad you are doing your due diligence on this. You know your body better than anyone. I also think it is good that your doctors are running you through these tests.