High Coronary Calcium Score: How do others feel emotionally?

SteveSH,

Calcium scores do not go down, they only go up - the goal is take action to slow the rate of increase.

I see my PCP tomorrow and I’ll ask if I need any more tests done. If he says no I won’t worry about it. My score was 573, my brothers was around 37 and what’s funny is he has high cholesterol and a fatty liver from his diet. Go figure!

Sure - not what I did, but you get to choose.

You sound like you did the research and are personally ready to allow the PCP to decide.

Yes I feel exactly like you. I am 53 and at 1000 already . On statin and aspirin. I read and read journals and feel worse . I read "high risk" "decreased life expectancy" and 10 year risk of an event . They say if u are asymptomatic then just excercise, eat well, and what wait to have a heart attack. Now every twitch I get makes me wonder . So yes I feel very anxious 🙁. I have been trying to decrease anxiety with distraction and I even tried mindfulness meditation . Idk but you are not alone . What do you drs say?

missy123,

Advanced lipid panel?
CTA?
Stress test with echo?
Peripheral ultrasounds?

What are your basic lipid numbers? Total cholesterol? HDL? LDL? Triglycerides? Weight? Lifestyle? All can be changed to lower risk.

Same here. I'm 65. Had a score of 110 when I was 55. Retested this week and now 490. I can't have lived a healthier diet and exercise routine, so am at a loss and feel discouraged. I hear words like risk and probability, but don't know how to translate that to what will happen to me personally. So I'm going to go on statins again even if there is muscle soreness, keep exercising and eat well. And hope that I'm not a person that contributes to the probability number.

If you have good insurance and/or can afford the injectable cholesterol lowering medication like Repatha it should remove the muscle soreness issue and work better than oral statins on most individuals.

Amen!

try Praluent also or look into it. i had a high calcium score (462 and I'm nearly 70) and doc put me on Praluent which is a twice-monthly injectible and my LDL dove down from 77 to 22 in one month. from what i know the trick is to get the LDL down so....so far, so good. i don't notice any side effects

I think for me getting a calcium score was a wake up call--my was not horrible compared to many, but it made me think about the bigger picture. Their is a saying by Confucius “We have two lives, and the second begins when we realize we only have one.” I modified this quote a little bit in my mind. I believe we have two lives---the first we are born into, the second is when we learn we are not immortal. For me that 2nd life opportunity is eating better, exercising, taking meds when necessary and trying not to stress too much. CAC scores is but one part of the equation.