What would you do in my situation? Should I be worried?

Posted by guyrien @guyrien, Feb 6 7:59am

I'm 6 foot (see weight details below) currently I'm 53.

I've been on a statin for the last 25 years and it keeps my cholesterol under check nicely.

I exercise regularly (i.e. I walk 100+ miles a month), I eat good food but do over-eat. I live in California where the summer fruits are so good I can't help but eat alot of them!

As part of turning 50, I did the usual battery of tests including doing a heart stress test that was fine. But I asked to do a Calcium Heart Scan and the results aren't awful, but they are a bit disturbing given my age and that I'm in the 88 percentile! Cardiologist and I are meeting soon but he's a hands off kind of person who needs to be prodded a bit (i.e. I had to prod him to do the Calcium Heart Scan).

FINDINGS: Agatston Coronary Calcium Score:
LMA: 0
LAD: 144
LCX: 8
RCA: 0
Total: 152
Percentile: 88%

The coronary arteries arise from the expected sinuses of Valsalva. Moderate coronary artery calcification. The coronary artery calcium score defined by Agatston amounts to 152. The estimated probability of a non-zero calcium score for a white Male of age 53 is 50%. The Agatston score is 152, which places the patient at the 88th percentile adjusted for age, gender, and race/ethnicity based on the MESA trial cohort. CARDIOVASCULAR FINDINGS: Vessels: Aorta and pulmonary artery are not significantly dilated. Heart and Pericardium: Normal. Extra-coronary Calcification: None

My high-school weight was 170
Ages 20-35 I kept my weight under 200 pounds.
Ages 35-45 I shot up to 240 pounds.
Ages 45-53 (current age) I'm back around 190.

Interested in more discussions like this? Go to the Heart & Blood Health Support Group.

@mayoconnectuser1

I suspect most of your father's plaque build up from from earlier in life - and, the statins probably did their job by reducing plaque, and by calcifying already present plaque.

While I know you feel certain about ratios, I would urge you to get your cholesterol under control with injectables.

And to Vascepa - jury still out on full effects, but its core purpose is usually to reduce LDL.

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You misunderstand. I don't know what your knowledge base and experience is. But he CAD. (I think I wrote all this in the hormone section or a heart disease comment today. We have familial CAD. The guy swam 3 times a week and we came from a produce business family. Ate a Mediterranean diet. No smoking or alcohol. rare were treats in our house. Polyunsaturated oil only. Rare processed food. We ate fresh only. Yet at 58 he had a heart attack which required a triple heart bypass. The statins did nothing to reduce the angioplasties and stints in between the next QUADRUPLE (at 72) and TRIPLE bypass surgery at 80. Nothing to stem the tide of TIA stroke and major hemorrhagic stroke at 87. What they did do early in life was margarine. It probably was the transfats that was unknown to them. My cholesterol IS under control. And I DO injectibles. I am on LEVQIO. But, that seems to not be changing my LPa score yet. But I started BHRT again.
However your statement is not accepting the reality: That the arteries CLOSED AGAIN. plaque continue to grow NEW into the okay parts of the arteries. They were newly acquired deposits. They removed the old blocked vessels. So as life continued - he acquired NEW blockages. He did all the right things and took all the right medications to keep the blood from clotting and clogging, plus doctor recommended vitamin D. He was a very active man until maybe the heart bypass at 80.
The Vascepa did NOT lower my LDL, did not improve my ratios, did not lower my cholesterol. There is a big difference between an uninformed layperson and someone who has been studying this for 4 decades. I work closely with my doctors. I worked closely with my dad's cardiologist. I am at UCSD Healthcare. I have some of the finest teaching doctors in the world.
Statins work great for some and for some, they get GREAT results with addition of injectables. which work on a different mechanism. Interfering with the PCSK9 protein. I think you are a bit misinformed about Cholesterol and the role it plays in some plaque buildup and those with the disease of atherosclerosis. https://www.pennmedicine.org/for-patients-and-visitors/patient-information/conditions-treated-a-to-z/arteriosclerosis#:~:text=What%20Is%20Arteriosclerosis%3F,diabetes%20and%20certain%20genetic%20influences.
CAD: https://www.pennmedicine.org/for-patients-and-visitors/patient-information/conditions-treated-a-to-z/coronary-artery-disease
Also, you seem to think we don't have our numbers in line. My LDL has been cut by a 1/3 from 138 to 82 so I must be doing something right. HDL is about 72. My non-HDL is 114 (optimal) but I want my triglycerides down from 160 to 111, which would make me happy.
My numbers are good. Over 10 years they have all dropped dramatically. It was the fish - the real fish that helped the most! And taking some weight off.

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Good stuff - thanks for setting all straight.

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I have been diagnosed with left ventricle hypertrophy and very recently with macrocytosis - could there be any connection?? I have no anemia or lack of B vitamins or folic acid with the macrocytosis (often the usual combination), neither do I have any liver issues. However, I do have stage three Chronic Kidney Disease - stage 3, Severe Asthma, Fibromyalgia, High Blood Pressure. Unsurprisingly, I take a great number of medications to help with all the above…. 😉

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You may like to get a 'CLEERLY' analysis done on your CCTA for more accurate and helpful diagnostics. Please Google 'Cleerly' to know more about this.

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