1. < Heart & Blood Health

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

Posted by nonna2four @nonna2four, Jan 5 7:40am

I am a 58 year old female who lives an active, healthy (or so I thought) lifestyle. I exercise 6 days a week which includes cardio dance, weights, and walking. I have borderline high cholesterol (LDL 102, HDL 83), low triglycerides, BP 110/66, A1C 5.9. My primary doctor recommended a calcium scan which came back at 107, putting me in the 92nd percentile for my age, with most of the calcium in the LAD. I was shocked! I’ve never had symptoms, but my dad had a heart attack in his 60’s.

I am now on 10 mg rosuvastatin, a very low fat, low carb diet, and am exercising less than before. The cardiologist I saw said that I may have been exercising too much which was causing inflammation that could have led to the calcium in my arteries. My EKG was normal, I had a carotid artery ultrasound which came back minimal 1-15%, and I am awaiting a stress test in February 11.

Any advice or words of wisdom or encouragement? I’ve been very worried since learning about this back in November.

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nonna2four | @nonna2four | Jan 17 10:55pm
In reply to @bitsygirl "I looked at this paper to try to begin to understand what might be a reasonable..." + (show)
@bitsygirl

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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When I asked my cardiologist about it, she recommended strength training, walking on treadmill with incline or walking up hills, and water aerobics. I guess the HIIT exercise, rowing machine, elliptical and 5 mile hikes would fall into the very vigorous category, especially when I was doing it 6 days a week. I actually feel better in general since I have reduced the time and intensity of my exercise, so I guess that’s a plus!

REPLY
nonna2four | @nonna2four | Jan 17 10:59pm
In reply to @jlharsh "Mayo Clinic has A podcast called “Aging Forward” you may like, particularly episodes from August 22..." + (show)
@jlharsh

Mayo Clinic has A podcast called “Aging Forward” you may like, particularly episodes from August 22 and January 9. I’d love to hear what you think. I’m am kinda partial to the one about improving cardiovascular health because my cardiologist, Stephen Kopecky is the guest. The other, optimizing health through exercise is next on my “listen” list.
https://redcircle.com/show/1ed238fd-45a5-4f80-9a38-474784a20789

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Thanks! I will listen to them and let you know my thoughts!

REPLY
gloaming | @gloaming | Jan 18 12:02pm
In reply to @bitsygirl "I looked at this paper to try to begin to understand what might be a reasonable..." + (show)
@bitsygirl

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. 🙂

Jump to this post

Intense exercise for any one sex and age would almost certainly be linked to the heart rate at maximal VO2 and just below that, which is age-dependent. So, using the 220 - Age formula, a 60 year-old woman should expect to be at her upper limit (and in the 'intense' level of activity) if her heartrate were at, or exceeded, 160 BPM, which only goddesses can maintain for any length of time. 😀

REPLY
1 reply
bitsygirl | @bitsygirl | Jan 20 1:47pm
In reply to @jlharsh "Mayo Clinic has A podcast called “Aging Forward” you may like, particularly episodes from August 22..." + (show)
@jlharsh

Mayo Clinic has A podcast called “Aging Forward” you may like, particularly episodes from August 22 and January 9. I’d love to hear what you think. I’m am kinda partial to the one about improving cardiovascular health because my cardiologist, Stephen Kopecky is the guest. The other, optimizing health through exercise is next on my “listen” list.
https://redcircle.com/show/1ed238fd-45a5-4f80-9a38-474784a20789

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I listened to both podcasts. You're lucky to have such a prominent cardiologist! They are great public health messages. Hopefully the word gets out. The one on exercise is focused on people who are mostly sedentary I think.

REPLY
bitsygirl | @bitsygirl | Jan 20 1:54pm
In reply to @gloaming "Intense exercise for any one sex and age would almost certainly be linked to the heart..." + (show)
@gloaming

Intense exercise for any one sex and age would almost certainly be linked to the heart rate at maximal VO2 and just below that, which is age-dependent. So, using the 220 - Age formula, a 60 year-old woman should expect to be at her upper limit (and in the 'intense' level of activity) if her heartrate were at, or exceeded, 160 BPM, which only goddesses can maintain for any length of time. 😀

Jump to this post

Yeah, after thinking about this use of METs for a while, I decided that it was probably assumed that the target audience already has an idea of what "vigorous" and "very vigorous" means. Then they'd go through the records that the participants kept and back-fit those to a pace that is average for a 50-60 year old man, so they could identify percentiles of minutes in each category. So, best they could reasonably do with the data they had?

When I read exercise recommendations elsewhere, they equate "moderate" with walking and "vigorous" with jogging. So I'm thinking moderate is Zone 1, vigorous is Zone 2(/3?) and very vigorous is Zone 4/5. But, I really don't know. As you pointed out, 160 is squarely in Zone 5 for me, so I'm suffering and it won't last long.

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