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I have a very high calcium score. What next?
Just joined the site and I'm looking to share with others who have had a high calcium score. I found out today that mine is 2996 and I am scared by this. I am 61 and I am totally asymptomatic. Now I feel like a walking time bomb. I am thinking of requesting an angiogram to see if there's any narrowing anywhere and if it can be corrected with a stent. After a second heart doctor told me that the plaque buildup might be uniform over the course of years with no big problem areas, I am encouraged. But the score still freaks me out, specifically my LAD at 1333. I don't smoke or drink but I have to lose 40 lbs.
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@mayoconnectuser1 Hence my statement is correct?
I've been on this cholesterol journey for more than 40 years now, having worked with multiple MD,s cardiologists, dieticians: for most people, diet can lower cholesterol by about 10%. So if your total cholesterol is around 200, you may be told to "watch your diet", but when your cholesterol is over 400 and LDL over 250 (me), there's genes and family history that plays a larger part that anything I can eat. Even with my "unamerican diet" as my doctor tells me, and with 80 mg statin and ezitimibe (Zetia), I still can't get my LDL number low enough with adding another drug (now Rapatha injections).
Check out "The Calcium Lie". Full of info that is not standard info but makes a lot of sense and does offer ways to balance in body minerals, calcium being a major one.
Uh ... my understanding - not a medical professional - is that cholesterol in most folks is affected by what you eat.
https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/high-blood-cholesterol/in-depth/cholesterol/art-20045192#:~:text=Saturated%2520fats%2520%E2%80%94%2520such%2520as%2520those,by%25208%2525%2520to%252010%2525.
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1 ReactionWhere can one find these to read?
I've heard that too, but aren't there numerous examples of people who lowered their cholesterol simply be eating better?
Given your family history, you might want the doctor to check your Lipoprotein a (Lp a) level along with homocysteine, C-Reactive Protein (CRP), and High Sensitivity CRP and . Lp a is very hereditary.
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2 ReactionsOptions to consider for a better understanding:
- stress test with echo
- nuclear stress test
- advanced lipids panel (called CardioIQ by Quest labs)
Perhaps add Icosapent Ethyl (Vascepa) to you meds.
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2 ReactionsI’m an active healthy ( I thought) 70 year old female, exercise regularly, eat a healthy diet and not overweight, found out my CAC is 537. My family history is bad with heart disease, aneurysm and stroke on both parents side. I had a heart cath which did not require stenting yet, and my carotid ultrasound shows 69% blockage in left carotid artery, and doctor said they don’t clean out the carotids till 70% blocked when I asked if I could have it done. Yes I am freaked out by this, so I have endeavored to eat even healthier, more evoo, flax seed, and have lost a few pounds. My cardiologist put me on Crestor 40 mg daily, baby aspirin, a vasodilator and blood pressure meds. I rarely have high blood pressure but occasionally it would spike up so I’m glad to be on the meds. I sure would like to be proactive on this, any recomendations?
Have you checked PTH lab?
I had that high plus hypercalciumia of 10.5 or higher . I had a 2cm tumor adenoma removed on my parathyroid. Also had osteoporosis -3 as calcium not going into bones but bloodstream making one feel ill omus excruciating psin unsble to be upright more than 4 hours so had yo lie flat. Applied for SSDI but too hard to do.
2 weeks after removal my bone pain was gone as gland working again so dexa scan with wrist has improved some!
Plus have high MGUS labs so annual checks for multiple myeloma sent to Mayo!