High calcium score: I'm in shock

Hi OP, there is a lot of good advice here. I know how you must feel about the CAC score, it's a shock to get a high one. After my latest I spent weeks walking around feeling like I could keel over at any minute.
I'm 59 and my CAC score was 1124 in April 2021. I've been on rosuvastatin/Crestore for many years but ate an unhealthy Standard American Diet and had a high-stress job. Since late 2018 I have been eating a low-carb, healthy fat diet, and have sustained a 50 lb. weight loss on a husky 5'7" frame, I'm 175 lbs. I walk 3-5 miles a day, briskly, and do tension band exercises every other day. I'm semi-retired (part-time jobs).
Whether you eat plant-based, LCHF or Keto, I think it's important to avoid processed carbs and added sugar, they lead to metabolic syndrome which ties to heart disease. You want to be insulin sensitive. All of these ways of eating can help you achieve a good triglycerides/HDL ratio (ideally less than 1.5 if calculated using mg/dl measurements).
Something to keep in mind is that statins may be linked to elevated CAC scores.
Also, I have heard K2 works best with sufficient magnesium (I supplement).
You may want to check out Yuri Granik's high CAC score Facebook group, it's where I learn a lot of this stuff (private group, you have to apply to membership and provide your test scores).
And - lastly - high cholesterol is not itself necessarily bad, nor is high LDL. It's the type of LDL (either fluffy buoyant or hard and dense, the latter being the bad type). That can be changed by diet and lifestyle. I recommend you get an advanced lipid panel with NMR fractionation, it will tell you more about the makeup of your blood lipids and better help you assess your risk.
Stay well..

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I come to this thread every once in a while. Was wondering if you all can participate in https://www.facebook.com/groups/cacgranik which is Facebook Coronary Artery Calcification group. I am not a salesperson for this group. However, there are many experts and the group is very lively, 10's of posts per day. The administrator is VERY informed about heart, CAC Score, nutrients, more. It is by invitation only, but if CAC Score is of concern, you'll be accepted. Every day, the admin posts multiple scholarly articles, and there is a Guide section with lots of spreadsheets that spell out lab tests, supplements, other people's scores, analysis, forecasting upcoming developments. You will find me there as BTL Atlantic. I hope to see you there. Once this referral is done, I'll find some time to post, here, my latest. Soon .....

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I have a 255 CAC score - just found out six months ago after some blood tests that showed high glucose, high cholesterol/LDL, and a terrible family history of heart disease- and also passed a stress test and told I had no blockages. I decided I should have a CT angiogram (non-invasive X-Ray of the arteries) to make sure which came back a couple of days ago that I have an approximate 50 percent blockage in my LAD. The cardiologist also ran a blood flow test (FFRct) and it showed restricted blood flow in that area. I will be seeing the cardiologist at UCLA tomorrow to go over what this all means but I'm glad I went beyond my standard of care cardiologist who told me I was fine after the stress test and instead, saw a research cardiologist who specialized in CAC.

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It's a great group, I'm a member. Many people there question the statin/aspirin/low fat/low LDL orthodoxy. I'm one of them.

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It's a great group, I'm a member. Many people there question the statin/aspirin/low fat/low LDL orthodoxy. I'm one of them.

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And, therein is the problem. Unqualified folks questioning medical professionals, anti-statin, anti-medicine comments are common on the CAC fb page. There is very little policing, few practicing doctor inputs, many who want to discuss the latest book or podcast by the latest youtube doc - so there are a lot of whacky comments.

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I respectfully disagree that comments from people who are not “medical professionals” but who are touting “ the latest book or podcast by the latest YouTube doc” are whacky.
I’m a registered nurse with a 25-year history of CCICU and SICU experience. That does not make me an MD, but puts me in a position to see the benefits of conventional medicine and it’s failures in this specialty.
I would venture to guess that most people who find their way to this site are not anti-conventional medicine and can think for themselves.
For myself, I explore answers to health issues from a wholistic perspective and I know many doctors who do the same.
I have very high cholesterol and before agreeing to statins I asked for the
CAC and ultrasounds of my carotids and jugular veins. All were perfectly clear. I suspected they would be because decades ago I read an article in the NYTs that the problem with cholesterol may not be the amount of cholesterol but the size. Remembering this, when my cholesterol went up I paid out of pocket to discover the size. They were the large, fluffy kind known not to stick to the arteries.
Now we know of a simple calculation that will indicate the size of your cholesterol:
Divide your triglycerides by your HDL. Lower is better and you want to be below 2 and closer to 1. Mine, with a total cholesterol consistently over 300 is 1 or just below 1.
I offer these comments in the spirit of encouraging people to keep an open mind and in hopes that people will continue to offer information they have come across that they think make sense or would like feedback on.
BTW, I think that Vitamin K2 has played a part in keeping my arteries clear.

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I respectfully disagree that comments from people who are not “medical professionals” but who are touting “ the latest book or podcast by the latest YouTube doc” are whacky.
I’m a registered nurse with a 25-year history of CCICU and SICU experience. That does not make me an MD, but puts me in a position to see the benefits of conventional medicine and it’s failures in this specialty.
I would venture to guess that most people who find their way to this site are not anti-conventional medicine and can think for themselves.
For myself, I explore answers to health issues from a wholistic perspective and I know many doctors who do the same.
I have very high cholesterol and before agreeing to statins I asked for the
CAC and ultrasounds of my carotids and jugular veins. All were perfectly clear. I suspected they would be because decades ago I read an article in the NYTs that the problem with cholesterol may not be the amount of cholesterol but the size. Remembering this, when my cholesterol went up I paid out of pocket to discover the size. They were the large, fluffy kind known not to stick to the arteries.
Now we know of a simple calculation that will indicate the size of your cholesterol:
Divide your triglycerides by your HDL. Lower is better and you want to be below 2 and closer to 1. Mine, with a total cholesterol consistently over 300 is 1 or just below 1.
I offer these comments in the spirit of encouraging people to keep an open mind and in hopes that people will continue to offer information they have come across that they think make sense or would like feedback on.
BTW, I think that Vitamin K2 has played a part in keeping my arteries clear.

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My CAC score decreased from
199 to 18 after I started Vitamin K2 mk7. I have high cholesterol, high LDL, and high HDL. My TG/HDL is 0.9. I don’t like to take statins because they have caused worsening neuropathy in my feet in the past. However, I am back on a very low statin dose because I have soft plaque developing according to a recent CT Angio, and a low carb diet. I need to lose a few pounds.

I order my advanced lipid labs through Ulta Lab Tests. https://www.ultalabtests.com for a big discount. You can shop on their site for discount coupons. They do not bill insurance and you don’t need a doctor’s order in most states. The CardioIQ panels are run at Quest Cleveland Heart Lab. Most doctors are reluctant to order the advanced CardioIQ labs because Medicare and many other insurers won’t pay for them.

The Quest Cardio IQ advanced panels give you a more detailed breakdown of your particle size. I am Pattern A. I order panel 94220 which includes hsCRP.

This may be a helpful option. I have a strong immune system and LDL plays an importent role in the process. I don’t want my LDL too low and I like the option of monitoring my own lipids. I have been able to order a simple cholesterol panel for $15 with a coupon plus a $8 lab draw fee. I do the more advanced panel once a year, which is more expensive.

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