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Just found out Lpa is extremely high — other risks OK
I am mid-60’s woman in great condition and no health risks. My brother, who is 68 and very active/healthy with no heart related risk factors, found that arteries were 90% blocked. The main artery is not viable for bypass or stents and the other 2 arteries now have stents. His Lpa was 440 and the doctors thought this was the cause. I checked my Lpa and it is 391. My BP is normal, cholesterol is 200 (HDL is 95) w/ ratio 2.3 and have taken 10g Lipitor for years, non-smoker, healthy weight, exercise daily and eat healthy. I’ve been worried sick thinking I could suddenly have heart attack or stroke. Seeing cardio specialist in 3 months. Meanwhile my PCP put me on 20g Lipitor and baby aspirin. Been trying to calm myself that high Lpa is a risk and not a certainty. Anyone out there who has lived with high Lpa but never developed any heart issues? Would I have any warning signs? Thanks for any thoughts.
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@lpakilleddracula
https://academic.oup.com/eurjpc/article/29/5/779/6439180
Thank you for this topic. I had a spontaneous Coronary Artery Dissection (SCAD) at age 47 while in very good health, which caused an MI (heart attack). This condition puts me at higher risk for future heart attacks and stroke. Given that, I recently had an LPa test (I'm now age 60) and it was high, 287.
I am currently resistant to taking a statin as when I had my SCAD 13 years ago, there was a Mayo study that seemed to conclude statins were contra-indicated for SCAD patients, and I have not been able to find anything further on this topic since then. If anyone is aware of any research on this topic, I am very interested.
I'm encouraged that there may be drugs in the future related to LPa lowering, but also prefer to work through non-Rx methods if possible (i.e. diet & exercise).
Thank you for the person who mentioned the Coronary Calcium score text (CAC), I will look into that.
Another take on Lp(a) is that it exists to create clumps of hard plaque in weakened spots of arterial walls to keep them from bursting. So little is known about it. A drug that successfully lowered Lp(a) was recently found to not prevent heart attacks so there's that. A lot more research is needed.
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1 ReactionThis cardio-thoracic surgeon has much to say about statins:
https://www.youtube.com/watch
@gloaming I don't know what video you're watching, but the one you linked to, he has a lot to say about stents, not statins, and in fact he promotes statin use at the end of the video.
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1 ReactionHello @gloaming,
This video is titled "Ask A Heart Surgeon: If Stents Work, Why Don't They Prevent Future Cardiac Deaths?" and seems to primarily be focused on the stent procedures. The surgeon mentions the typical treatment routes including the use of statins as standard treatments. Was that the part of the video you were referring to?
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1 Reaction@njx58 I snagged the wrong URL. Sorry. Here is the one I meant to post, and thanks for pointing out my error:
https://www.youtube.com/watch
@avt There really is no proven treatment to lower Lp(a). Niacin has shown to lower it some but whether that will help with heart disease, especially where it likes to attack th aortic and mitral valves. When I found out a year ago I had to gene, my doctor then wanted me to take a statin. I said 'no' and later research showed statin do not lower it. I am of the belief that inflammation is the biggest factor in heart disease. I am insulin resistant so am doing what I can by lifestyle aka diet, to cut the inflammation hoping that will help. Unfortuantely my aortic and mitral valves have been severely damage. After replacement hoping the lifestyle change will protect them.
As for statins - I am taking a low dose 3 times a week. Rosuvastatin has a half life of 19 hours but takes 3-4 days to leave your system. So taking M,W,F there is always some there to help with lowering numbers, but also because it has been shown to lower artery inflammation, cuts the chances of side effects, among other things. I also take CoQ10 which is suppose to help with side effects. This was my compromising with the cardiologist. I was really reluctant because in 2008 my late husband took one. By day 3 he had no memory of what he had done which 2% have that severe of a reaction.