Connect
← Return to High Coronary Calcium Score: How do others feel emotionally?
Discussion
High Coronary Calcium Score: How do others feel emotionally?
Heart & Blood Health | Last Active: Feb 13 9:01am | Replies (640)Comment receiving replies
Hello everyone, first time poster here with a similar tale. First I want to take a moment and thank everyone on this thread for helping me get through this past few stressful weeks. Reading your experiences was extremely educational and emotionally helpful to me.
In 2007, at age 41 (I'm 53 now) I had a cardio cath done because I had some strange throat sensations and elevated troponin levels. The cath showed only minor calcification. My cardiologist at the time called them bumps n grooves. They were not sure how to diagnose me, but I was put on 10 MG of atorvastatin and aspirin therapy.
I have also been diagnosed (at age 14) with Mitral Valve Prolapse. As a result, I see a cardiologist bi-yearly for EKG, and Echocardiogram. Over the years, the murmur associated with my MVP has gotten really hard to hear, and I only have mild regurgitation.
In October, at my regular cardiologist appointment, I mentioned that I had a family history of atherosclerosis, and that my father and his father and his father have all had heart attacks. My father is still alive, but had double bypass. She said that since I had a negative EKG stress test in April of 2017 with no symptoms, there was no need for additional testing. She said that I could get a cardiac CT scan to see what my calcification score was. If it was abnormal, then she would do additional testing.
A month later, I had the test, and my score was 2744. Needless to say, I was stunned by the news. The first thing I did was try to educate myself by looking on the web for high calcification scores. I found this thread, and was intrigued/encouraged by the posters who said that their high scores were due to calcium within the walls of their coronary arteries. I kind of clung to that hope, but was soon deflated.
My cardiologist ordered a nuclear treadmill test which I did a week later. I felt fine as I am in reasonably good shape. They called me the next day and said that it was abnormal, and that I had restricted blood flow in the right side. This news obliterated me, and I fell into a kind of depressed state. I simply could not understand how I went from bumps n grooves to at least 70% blockage in 12 years.
I had a cardio cath on the day after Christmas, and to just about everyone's surprise, my coronary arteries showed mild plaque (two spots that were 20-30%), but nothing that they needed to treat with stents. So, they increased my statin to 40, and I am going to try and eat better and take some supplements like fish oil.
The whole experience was pretty traumatizing, but it had a happy ending, and I at least have peace of mind. The cardiologist that did the procedure said that the calcium that was picked up on the CT scan was within the walls of my arteries. He also said that false positives happen all the time on nuclear stress tests. Something about the diaphragm interfering. The fact that I had two false positives is stunning to me, and I still cant believe it happened.
I guess life goes on. 🙂
Replies to "Hello everyone, first time poster here with a similar tale. First I want to take a..."
Connect
@skypigg- Welcome aboard and so glad you found us! Quite the roller coaster you've been on! @bluesdoc- also been following you in your journey and would welcome any feedback you have on any of this.
All this CAC score posts have got me interested in getting mine done very soon. Back in 2014 I suffered a major HA w/o any real warning. I was eating well and exercising 1.5 hrs. 3x a week at the time. I was still working and would work out from 12:30 - 2:00 and after working out would come home to clean up and have a light lunch. This day was no different than any of the past and as I arrived home and was about to sit down for lunch I began to feel flush and a bit uneasy. I told my wife I wasn't feeling well and took a seat in the LR. Things progressed quickly with all the typical signs you read about when youre having a HA. I decided to chew on several low dose aspirins and we decided to drive up to the ER about a 20 min. drive. That was a real mistake! About a 1/3 of the way I was experiencing extreme pain and felt like I was going to pass out any moment. Once we arrived even though I went directly to the ER they started asking me all about billing questions until I finally in tears & incredible pain told the person I was having a HA!
They rushed me into a room right away and after the nurses tried to attend to my pain and make me comfortable a cardiologist entered and administered several tests. For some strange reason I was not "presenting" any real signs that I was having a HA?
The Dr. told my wife that they planned on admitting me and would probably do a stress test in the morning. I had now been there over 2 hrs. My wife decided to go home so she could grab a few things and text some friends about what was up and to pray!
Soon after a Echo Tech arrived and began to administer the procedure and after about 15 minutes he left the room and returned with the Cardiologist. Things moved rather quickly at this point and I barely had time to get a call off to my wife to let her know they were wheeling me off to the Cath Lab. After now being there for 4 hrs. I received a single stent for a 100% blockage in my LAD.
I was soon wheeled into a room and one of the accompanying Drs. told me how fortunate I was because I had survived the "Widow Maker"! I tell you this story only to say that I never had any warning signs other than high cholesterol that I was taking a 40 mg generic for Lipitor. No family history of HA's. One of the consequences of this was a low EF (ejection fraction) of 35.
My Cardiologist told me that often we grow added blood vessels over the next year and that the EF improves.
Since I went through Cardiac rehab and then back to my workouts I planned to do everything I could to improve upon my EF.
A year later they did another Echo and the Cardiologist told me there was no improvement. I was totally bumed!
2 years later this was still weighing on me. I felt great and continued to eat well and exercise. Since I was on the Mayo site I decided to make a appt. in Scottsdale AZ. that spring of 17 for a 2nd opinion. I was scheduled for a whole series of tests which ended with a Stress Echo. The Cardiologist that I was working with was there for all the tests and in the room the whole time the Echo was being administered. It was like having a coach on my side encouraginging me to push myself while he looked at 2 monitors.
In my cardio at the gym I could never break 137 bpm mostly because being on a Beta Blocker, but the Dr. was asking can I go higher and I pushed my self even harder. We ended with the tredmill at a incline of 14 and a speed of about 6. something and 155 bpm.
They got excellent pictures and I met with the Cardiolgist about a hr. later. He told me he would need to do some more work, but he felt based on what he saw that my EF was more in the mid 40's. 2 weeks later I received a personal email from him saying that I was at a EF of 47. I was elated!! He put me on Rosuvastatin 20 mg. in hopes to bring my LDL down below 70. I was at 87 at that time.
Six months later I had new blood work and my LDL was a 65.
I plan to return to the Mayo this spring for a CAC test and am hoping for the best!
Jim @thankful