So I have the echo report but I don’t know what the key metrics are, and there is a lot of data on it. The cardiologist said it looked “completely normal.” This is from the conclusion section of the report:

CONCLUSION:
--There is no left atrial dilatation (LA volume index 19 ml/m²).
--LV global wall motion is normal.
--LV ejection fraction is normal (58 %).
--Normal left ventricular diastolic function with normal left atrial pressure.
--The right ventricle is normal in size. The right ventricle has normal wall motion.
--There is trace mitral regurgitation.
--There is no tricuspid regurgitation.
--The right atrial pressure is normal (0 - 5 mm Hg). There is too little tricuspid
regurgitation to estimate PA systolic pressure.
--There is no pericardial effusion.
--No prior study available for comparison.
****
Additionally, I got the bloodwork back. I’ve been on Crestor at 10mg for the last few weeks and my lipid levels are:
Total cholesterol: 147 (was ~215 pre-statin)
LDL: 67 (was 107 pre-statin)
HDL: 65 (was ~85 pre-statin)

So it seems like the Crestor, despite my physical reaction to it, is doing what it is supposed to from a numbers standpoint.

What concerns me, as I said, is that every doc I’ve now consulted has expressed surprise that my calcium score is 400 given that the baseline lipid level wasn’t really bad. It’s not like I inherited super-high LDL that was running through my system for decades. In fact, based on the current standards, I shouldn’t have even had the CAC test at all: It is only recommended as a tiebreaker for those whose lipid profile puts them in an intermediate risk category on one of the traditional risk calculators. But my blood levels put me in the very low risk (<1%) category. My cardiologist suggested it anyway, basically telling me I could pay $100 for peace of mind and that it would show nothing.

And yet it showed ***massive*** amounts of plaque. It just seems there has to be a root explanation here that is different from just saying it’s genetic. This is an extreme level of plaque at 42. If I had a score of, say, 80, I think I could make more sense of this. But I’m literally in the 100th percentile for my age and I strongly fear that whatever is driving this won’t be addressed by the standard treatment of hammering LDL and modifying lifestyle.

I’m glad to see the numbers go down but I still have a very uneasy feeling that something else is afoot here.