58 year old healthy, active female with high coronary artery calcium

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”

Your wonderment in the last para applies equally to sleep apnea. After you spend a few weeks on apneaboard.com, you realize that sleep apnea can afflict anyone...ANYONE! Fat, thin, young, old, female/male/indeterminate, no matter the ethnicity....and I was myself fit for my age when I was diagnosed and not near being overweight (although I had been retired 12 years and gained about 10 pounds).

And, as to your last statement and the question that follows it: Modern medicine is largely, not entirely, about patient discomfort and anxiety. IOW, how you feel, and also how you convince the practitioner that you feel the way you claim to feel, is what they use so often to assign a level of care or remediation...including the statins and SSRIs that are handed out like jelly beans. A high CAC is like atrial fibrillation, which I have/had. It can be present, but it isn't a great indicator of imminent danger. Any one person selected at random from your CAC score pool and from my 'severe obstructive sleep apnea' pool can expect to live a long time, perhaps a decade or longer. If you want to live it well, with little anxiety and less danger, then use what the medicos offer, albeit with a heavy dose of self-teaching. You should wield just enough relevant knowledge that you're close to being annoying during doctor's visits. Let them know you're taking you seriously. 😀

I wish I could describe the left arm pain with precise details. The best I can tell you is what it is NOT. It is not like a sore muscle. It is not like a muscle spasm. It is different and there was no question in my mind as to what was happening. The arm pain issue had been more like a tingle, months earlier, only when I was walking up a steep hill and I thought it was the angle of my neck as I have a bulging cervical disk. But the night before I went to the ER, when walking up stairs I developed arm pain that took about a half hour to subside while lying in bed. The next morning I was doing some very normal things and found the left arm pain was back and strong. I called my cardio and the triage nurse told me to get to the ER. In retrospect, I should have gone the night before.

I did not experience any chest pain or sweating.

So my advice to anyone who experiences an unfamiliar left arm pain is to simply go to the ER immediately and let them tell you it isn't your heart.

My cardio says if you are having chest pain and think it is gastro related, take two tums and if the pain is still there 10 minutes later, call 911. Again, better to let the experts tell us it isn't heart related.

I wish you good luck and good health.

Your wonderment in the last para applies equally to sleep apnea. After you spend a few weeks on apneaboard.com, you realize that sleep apnea can afflict anyone...ANYONE! Fat, thin, young, old, female/male/indeterminate, no matter the ethnicity....and I was myself fit for my age when I was diagnosed and not near being overweight (although I had been retired 12 years and gained about 10 pounds).

And, as to your last statement and the question that follows it: Modern medicine is largely, not entirely, about patient discomfort and anxiety. IOW, how you feel, and also how you convince the practitioner that you feel the way you claim to feel, is what they use so often to assign a level of care or remediation...including the statins and SSRIs that are handed out like jelly beans. A high CAC is like atrial fibrillation, which I have/had. It can be present, but it isn't a great indicator of imminent danger. Any one person selected at random from your CAC score pool and from my 'severe obstructive sleep apnea' pool can expect to live a long time, perhaps a decade or longer. If you want to live it well, with little anxiety and less danger, then use what the medicos offer, albeit with a heavy dose of self-teaching. You should wield just enough relevant knowledge that you're close to being annoying during doctor's visits. Let them know you're taking you seriously. 😀

I wish I could describe the left arm pain with precise details. The best I can tell you is what it is NOT. It is not like a sore muscle. It is not like a muscle spasm. It is different and there was no question in my mind as to what was happening. The arm pain issue had been more like a tingle, months earlier, only when I was walking up a steep hill and I thought it was the angle of my neck as I have a bulging cervical disk. But the night before I went to the ER, when walking up stairs I developed arm pain that took about a half hour to subside while lying in bed. The next morning I was doing some very normal things and found the left arm pain was back and strong. I called my cardio and the triage nurse told me to get to the ER. In retrospect, I should have gone the night before.

I did not experience any chest pain or sweating.

So my advice to anyone who experiences an unfamiliar left arm pain is to simply go to the ER immediately and let them tell you it isn't your heart.

My cardio says if you are having chest pain and think it is gastro related, take two tums and if the pain is still there 10 minutes later, call 911. Again, better to let the experts tell us it isn't heart related.

I wish you good luck and good health.

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”