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Crazy high calcium score of 3,000+

Heart & Blood Health | Last Active: 1 day ago | Replies (71)

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Hi there - just got back from first visit with cardiologist. I'm not super good at understanding all of this but my husband was there and sort of helps interpret. I think my cognition has really declined and it might be because of these issues,but that's a whole other story. What I think she said was that (1) she has seen far higher scores than 400 and that the bigger concern is the cholesterol. I think what she was trying to say in so many words is the calcium equates to the hard plaque and the cholesterol to soft plaque. Since I have a family history of fatal cardiac events in my immediate family and have had high cholesterol since my early twenties which I didn't pay attention to, she felt that I should go ahead and do more testing. She suggested both the CT with contrast and the angio. I at first went with the CT scan because it's very low risk but on the way home my husband and I decided I should probably opt for the angio. Should there be issues they can take care of it right then and there instead of the stress of waiting for insurance approval and all that. so when I got home I wrote her an email and told her I would like to change to the angio. I'm a little scared but I know they do millions of these all the time and she said the risk rate was like 1%. Physically I feel horrible and I have for years. I've been chasing solutions through every means possible including functional doctors, ayurveda, acupuncture, hormone replacement therapy, etc I will be really curious to see what they find and if they can help me get some quality of life. I just feel like I have no energy and no life force. Plus my blood pressure is getting really low and she said normally they like to see that but in a patient that has these issues it's not good. if you have any prayers or good thoughts you want to send my way, I'll take them! And I'll try to follow up after my next step / procedure.

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Replies to "Hi there - just got back from first visit with cardiologist. I'm not super good at..."

Sorry for your troubles. Let's hope that whatever they find could possibly lead to a better quality of life for you. Good luck and please keep us posted!

Hi @sdbonniea123. I am glad to see you have joined Mayo Clinic Connect! You are working through a process that seems very confusing and contradictory. I’m right there with ya!

One cardiologist told me about a study where a group of cardiologists were given testing from a group of patients that had heart attacks within 6 months of being tested. They were asked to identify where the heart attacks happened and they couldn’t. The initial thought is that problems happened where the largest “blockages” of calcified plaque are. However, the problems actually occurred, I believe in the areas of the 25-40% blockage areas. The problem is actually the soft plaque running through the arteries sorta gets off course since it isn’t cleanly going through pathways that have a nice consistent pathway to flow through. With this, the goals are to turn that plaque into the safest form possible free from things like high LDL, and to reduce inflammation from the sides of the arteries that can make it difficult for the walls that are accumulating hard plaque to stay smooth and consistent.

You mention wanting to improve your quality of life. Do you mind sharing, maybe the top thing that is impacted right now? When is your next appointment?