High Coronary Calcium Score: How do others feel emotionally?

Cindy,

Have you retested after four years?

Calcium supposedly increases at around 15% per year ... so after four years CAC should be around 1925. If it is lower it means you have slowed progression, right?

Cindy,

Have you retested after four years?

Calcium supposedly increases at around 15% per year ... so after four years CAC should be around 1925. If it is lower it means you have slowed progression, right?

Mine was 1100+ four years ago. I assumed that was a death sentence. My mother and grandmother both died of CAD at 48, and 54. I am now 62. I do not have any blockages yet and have been diagnosed with non-obstructive CAD. My understanding is the statin, low-dose aspirin are really all I can do at this point unless something changes, and I get symptoms. I started exercising regularly and try and eat more cardiac healthy. I was terrified at first. I felt like a ticking time bomb but have learned to adjust and to do what I can with the other risk factors.

My understanding (just from consulting websites of reputable medical institutions when I googled that same question) is that calcium scores cannot be reduced.

You are speaking to the choir to me about stress, @mrossi ! My mom’s doc urged her to get testing and she asked me to go with her. It was difficult to comprehend as we sat together hearing her score was 0 at age 80 and mine was at a concerning level (I’m not sure exactly what is was at this point). I have learned to remind myself when I leave appointments that I want to make it home safely. This realigns my thoughts towards the reality that I am doing all I can to be healthy and my real focus needs to be not to get hit by a bus or in a car accident on the way home. I don’t think I’d ever get in a vehicle if I focused on the possibilities. Buy a safe car, keep the oil changed & tires aired up, buckle up and practice good driving habits. All I can do.

One of my college roommates (I am 57) has spent her career as a cardio nurse administering the simple $50 calcium score tests. My understanding from her is now that they have been done for a period of time they are proven to offer value. We are also living in a time that there are significantly more options available for us to treat our conditions.mrossi One of my college roommates (I am 57) has spent her career as a cardio nurse administering the simple $50 calcium score tests. My understanding is now that they have been done for a period of time they are proven to offer value. We are also living in a time that there are significantly more options available for us to treat our conditions. For example, I don’t think LP(a) has been tested because there hasn’t been anything that could really be done about it.

It helps to understand sorting through all our feelings is natural and good to do. It is super difficult to consider the wait time to see specialists upon a diagnosis that seems urgent, what feels like providers are downplaying our conditions in riding the fence between keeping our stress down, like you said vs encouraging us to treat as aggressively as we can, and filtering through “dr. Google” & other conflicting information we hear so loudly.

I have recently taken a calcium score. The result was ok. It was just under 100. My neighbor had one and it was ZERO! I had hoped for a better score. Many many years ago, I had a PCP who told me not to take more than 500 mg in calcium supplements, no mention of k2. As a woman, I was always told to take over 1000mg. For the past few years, I have been taking k2. I have a family history of heart disease and high cholesterol. I had a stress test, echo. All ok. My cardiologist prescribe Crestor 5 mg every other day, my cholesterol was never high, just borderline. He also told me to take CO Q10. I agree that this is one test everyone should have as early as the 30s, and I'm surprised insurance don't cover it. I have a l ways try to eat right, exercise... Although my back and legs don't always cooperate. Sleep is another matter. I listen to guided meditations, there are some really good ones on YouTube. My question is, can calcium score be reduced?

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.

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.