High Coronary Calcium Score: How do others feel emotionally?

I feel your pain. Standard of care is broken, and I'm married to a gastroenterologist! Been told for years by doctors that I didn't have to worry about my cholesterol because I had high HDL and because it was the men in my family who dropped dead. Now I'm looking at a 256 CAC score at 64 years old. Thought I was in great shape, now feel like the "walking time bomb" because that score puts me in the 92 percentile which is considered high risk for heart attack. Saw a cardiologist who gave me the same standard of care BS so had my husband order all the tests that tell you what you need to know- LPa, APOB, fasting insulin, etc. and repeating lipids, etc. On a very low carb diet and doing my own research to stop the progression. Seeing one of the top researchers at UCLA tomorrow. Will report back to see what he has to say but statins do raise CAC scores so I'm not sold on taking them yet.

My understanding is that it's normal for your CAC to go up as the plaque calcifies. It's the soft plaque that is dangerous and can rupture. By changing to a whole food plant based diet with no oils you are not injuring the endothelium lining any longer creating more plaque.

Hi there, since your original question was about emotional response, I would first say remember stress is a big killer, so try not to worry. I 'm 79, and have had high cholesterol at least since my mid-fifties, but was never advised, along with a choice between improving my diet and increasing exercise, or go on meds, to get my calcium score done (and why that information was so important.) Making lifestyle changes helped some, but not enough. Finally this year a new PCP told my she wanted me to get my calcium score (which Medicare did not cover) because she was very concerned about my high cholesterol, especially as my father had died of a heart attack when he was 37. I did, and it was way high, putting me in the 99% range for my age of a cardiac event within the next 2-5 years. The thing that astonishes me about the medical profession is that no one, up until this year, had ever mentioned this test to me, and I cannot for the life of me understand why it would not be universally considered one of the first lines of defense, and covered by insurance, since the eventual costs of treating heart disease can be so devastating. So I would very much like to hear from any Mayo cardiologist who happens to read this to address this question, since not just I but apparently many of us were never told to get a calcium score until we were into old age.
Anyway, as I said, try to let go of the ticking time bomb vision, and keep doing what you're doing, and you'll probably be fine. I figure I've lived through at least four 2-5 year prognoses of a heart attack within that period of time, and I'm still here and thriving.

rochelle,

If you are going to say absolute things like your comments on plant based diets, you need to provide links or citations to those independent studies that shoe this.

Here's a link to one study Intensive Lifestyle Changes for Reversal of Coronary Heart Disease: https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/188274

rochelle,

I can find nothing in the linked study that leads to your statement - "By changing to a whole food plant based diet with no oils you are not injuring the endothelium lining any longer creating more plaque."

I may have missed it, but the binary nature of your statement just doesn't align ... sure, the folks in the study who lost 20 pounds reduced fat consumption to 10%-fat vegetarian (does this include eggs and milk products?). No mention of "injuring the endothelium lining."

Here is a quote from the linked document -

"Program Intervention
Experimental group patients were prescribed an intensive lifestyle program that included a 10%-fat vegetarian diet, moderate aerobic exercise, stress management training, smoking cessation, and group psychosocial support previously described in detail.3,7-10 Patients were encouraged to avoid simple sugars and to emphasize the intake of complex carbohydrates and other whole foods. Only 1 patient in the experimental group was actively smoking at baseline, and she quit at entry. Control group patients were asked to follow the advice of their personal physicians regarding lifestyle changes."

Here's a link to a video - listen at 19:08 - where he talks about your CAC score increases.... old plaque calcifies if you make changes....

Agree 100% with your statement ..."and I cannot for the life of me understand why it would not be universally considered one of the first lines of defense, and covered by insurance, since the eventual costs of treating heart disease can be so devastating. "

I had never heard of it until about a week ago. My doc suggested I get one and my CAC score is 2354. Seeing a cardiologist in three weeks to see where to go from here.