High Coronary Calcium Score: How do others feel emotionally?

Had apt. with cardiologist on Fri. Nov. 2. Told him I have not seen cardiologist since 2010 and wanted to get some idea where I might be today as far as coronary artery plaque might be. He did ekg asked a lot of questions listened to my heart carefully and ordered a nuclear stress test for this coming Thurs. to get updated benchmark. He said I was doing everything right as far as cardio and strength exercise 3 times per week. I have also lost between 25 and 30 lbs since January this year and my bmi is now overweight instead of obese. I actually did a lot of that weight loss because I had a total knee replacement surgery coming up which I had done on June 25th. I don't plan on giving back one lb. of that weight loss. 5ft. 6in. 173 lbs clothes and shoes on is fine with doc as far as weight goes. Fingers crossed. Doc. thought it was good that doing 40 mins cardio getting to 80-85% max. heart rate caused no warning signs.

@botexas. I have to assume that based on what I'm reading from others, mine will be up around 2500 when I'm 75 as well, even if doing everything right. It's great what you're doing. Keep that up but be careful not to injure yourself. That can set you back a bit.
On another note, Had dinner with my father-in-law the other day. He was told he had 95% blockage in one of his arteries about 20 years ago. He was always thin, plays tennis 4 times a week, and he thought he ate well. He decided back then to go totally no fat and for years kept his total daily fat intake to less than 20 grams. He did it for years. When he ended up at the hot dog stand he would order the hot dog with the works, w/o the hot dog, or when the pizza came, he would take the cheese off. Extremely committed. His doctor was shocked to see that he actually reduced his blockage after a couple years. As of today, he still takes a relatively low dose statin, but still plays tennis 4 times a week, still works on his feet as a land surveyer, plays drums in a band, sails his boat, takes classes on just about everything, probably puts 20,000 miles on his van a year, going from one thing to another (still a very good driver), and still as sharp as a tack. One thing he does not do, is sit in front of the TV for any length of time.. By the way...he just turned 94.

@botexas. I have to assume that based on what I'm reading from others, mine will be up around 2500 when I'm 75 as well, even if doing everything right. It's great what you're doing. Keep that up but be careful not to injure yourself. That can set you back a bit.
On another note, Had dinner with my father-in-law the other day. He was told he had 95% blockage in one of his arteries about 20 years ago. He was always thin, plays tennis 4 times a week, and he thought he ate well. He decided back then to go totally no fat and for years kept his total daily fat intake to less than 20 grams. He did it for years. When he ended up at the hot dog stand he would order the hot dog with the works, w/o the hot dog, or when the pizza came, he would take the cheese off. Extremely committed. His doctor was shocked to see that he actually reduced his blockage after a couple years. As of today, he still takes a relatively low dose statin, but still plays tennis 4 times a week, still works on his feet as a land surveyer, plays drums in a band, sails his boat, takes classes on just about everything, probably puts 20,000 miles on his van a year, going from one thing to another (still a very good driver), and still as sharp as a tack. One thing he does not do, is sit in front of the TV for any length of time.. By the way...he just turned 94.

Hello chip. Wish my score was 510 instead of 2500. Iam 75 years old and have been on satins for 10 years. Hdl is 78,ldl is 72 and tri is 60. Had all test,necular stress test scored 13 Mets,which means I performed equal to a 24 year old. Even with this high score,my blood flow in the three main arteries is 91%,87% and 87%. My heart function is 68%, which is very good for a 75 year old man. My doctor says that my performance is credited to my active lifestyle. I go to gym everyday for about 90 minutes of strenuous exercise. I never stop for the entire time there,either doing aerobics or weights. I no longer eat red meat,fried foods so very few sweets. Doc says my arteries have expanded to keep blood flow pumping. I average 22,000 steps a day on my Fitbit,which is about 12 miles. Hope this helps,I feel exercise is key. Good luck.

Sure, Martin. Also, statins are different. I was initially started on the standby - atorvastatin - and my hepatic and muscle enzymes went nuts. At a later date, I tried pitavastatin, low dose, and did fine, and have for 3 years. So far....... Also, just to be clear, despite practicing clinical (mostly in the trenches) medicine for ~45 years, I offer no recommendations here. My only dog in this hunt is my own aging and beaten body. If we really knew what to do, we'd all be doing it...... jon

To NY Artist, thank you so much for your reply. I will effort to round up those items and incorporate into my day !so you really cut down the mg’s on your statins and your lipids look good. Maybe 80 is too much for me.i have had three cardiologist tell me that they don’t put a lot of credence into the CAC score , they say it doesn’t accurately define the true situation hard vs soft plaque etc. but yet they all want you to get the test. I don’t know. Scary. I try everyday to block it out lol. So happy to hear your wife is great ! Have a great weekend and thx again . Seriously. That. B.

@bigbern I'm also a part of our illustrious group with my 2316 score and was put on 20 mg of Lipitor and a baby aspirin. After reading research on the aspiring I opted to eliminate that. But I must say the Lipitor has done some remarkable things to my lipid profile blood tests. My wife has been on supplements for her ovarian cancer while at the same time doing the medical care things she should be doing. And she is now cancer free - in remission. So is her success from what the medical doctors are doing or what she's getting from the holistic doc? Impossible to say but as long as she's doing well no reason to stop. anyway - I started with him as well and here's what I'm taking: CoQ10 (Jarrow brand) he recommends 100 mg of it for every 10 mg of statin, K2 (Ultra K). magnesium buffered chelate, anthocyanins, something he calls Cardio 5 which he says works on multiple levels for vascular health, resting heart rate, etc..., and fish oil. I do not expect calcium scores to change one way or the other with these formulations but I do have some belief that they're helping in other ways.

@bigbern I'm also a part of our illustrious group with my 2316 score and was put on 20 mg of Lipitor and a baby aspirin. After reading research on the aspiring I opted to eliminate that. But I must say the Lipitor has done some remarkable things to my lipid profile blood tests. My wife has been on supplements for her ovarian cancer while at the same time doing the medical care things she should be doing. And she is now cancer free - in remission. So is her success from what the medical doctors are doing or what she's getting from the holistic doc? Impossible to say but as long as she's doing well no reason to stop. anyway - I started with him as well and here's what I'm taking: CoQ10 (Jarrow brand) he recommends 100 mg of it for every 10 mg of statin, K2 (Ultra K). magnesium buffered chelate, anthocyanins, something he calls Cardio 5 which he says works on multiple levels for vascular health, resting heart rate, etc..., and fish oil. I do not expect calcium scores to change one way or the other with these formulations but I do have some belief that they're helping in other ways.

Hi everyone. I’ve been on here for a while and want to say I very much appreciate how open, sincere and caring all of the posters are. I am like most 59 year old male when with just high bp, cholesterol levels all over the place but healthy, CAC score was 693 my cardio put me on 80 mg stat amd baby aspirin. A year later I got another test ( Doc told me not too) my score was 1100. Doctors won’t do anything say it’s too risky to get into my arteries and get the plaque . So we just wait for something to happen seems to me that’s unacceptable. Is there anything we can take maybe from a health food store to slow progression of this plaque? I hear of vitamin k frequently. Good luck to everyone

Well, @bluesdoc, I couldn't resist commenting on three of your points an hour ago. Everyone's different for sure, but apparently so are statins. FDA records show reported memory loss with a handful of different statins. If CoQ10 works for you, great! I've taken it for several years and still deal with drifting memory.

Borrowing your words, "there's something clearly amiss . . ." I will turn the corner and say that about Cardiology in several respects (which I won't articulate here without getting permission from a number of friends who feel their cardiologist is welded to long-running recipes for diagnosis and treatment by rote). The friends are referring mainly to Cardiology's fluid approaches to hypertension.

I have personal experience with vessels turning to stone, and it was very sad. My aged grandmother got past 70 years with no significant demise in her cognitive or memory facilities, but over a few years in her mid-70s she was overcome with severe dementia to the extent of becoming totally vegetabilized. Her diagnosis was arteriosclerosis. Both of her only sons also died in dementia. I'm hoping my mother's genes will save me from this empty end of my life. Meantime, I arise every morning asking what I might start today that I could pursue for another 20 years! Martin