I did not have any choices. This is what the cardiologist provided. It does use AT&T to continually send the data in. Mine in a pretty small box that is one of the probes and a 1 foot cord to a second probe.
CT Coronary Calcium Scan
- Thread starter Donald
- Start date
So from the nuclear stress test I guess I can conclude I had a silent heart attack.
Not necessarily, I'd wait to see what your cardiologist says. Frequently various tests have results that could theoretically indicate a previous MI but that doesn't mean there was one. The cardiologist will look at all available data to make a determination if you have and potentially to follow up with a cath.
So what they found via nuclear stress test was a small scar where a small artery had closed off due to a blockage. Could have been 1 year or 10 or 20. Unknown. Does not really effect the heart's functioning. EKG says heart is working normally.
Doctor said to walk past deli counter at food store, loose weight, get LDL below 60, exercise more and live on.
While I have been stressed since the CT Calcium Scan and it lead to more tests, it's good to know my heart is in pretty good shape for a almost 69 year old guy.
I recommend the CT Calcium Scan for people 60 or 65, roughly that age group. It was $125 out of my pocket. Not covered by insurance. I feel I benefitted from it.
After wearing a heart monitor for a week, the cardiologist determined I have AFib and need an additional Rx.
Change to caffeine free Diet Pepsi. Loose weight.
Change to caffeine free Diet Pepsi. Loose weight.
I cannot tell I have AFib. Looks like it happens when I am sleeping
My cardio appt is next Wednesday. Not sure what's going on with me. I've had severe dizziness on occasion when standing, not all the time though. Also uncomfortable feeling in my chest for a month or so. Enzymes came back negative. Only 42 but have a huge family history of heart problems, my uncle is getting a triple tomorrow. Cholesterol has always been borderline high no matter what I do. I think they caught his with the CT scan but they didn't seem interested in running one me, maybe next week.
Only going to do a few more tests before I say it is what it is. I ride 65 miles a week on the bike and did a 460 miler a month ago. Whatever it is must not be that bad!
Only going to do a few more tests before I say it is what it is. I ride 65 miles a week on the bike and did a 460 miler a month ago. Whatever it is must not be that bad!
So, eat more hot dogs? Because I could totally make that change…
Calcium Score isn't as important as it was once thought to be. Newest current articles point out that Calcium in an arterial wall is stable; however, soft plaques (non-calcified) often have a necrotic core. It's the rupture of those soft plaques with necrotic cores that stimulates the clotting (as well as the flap possibly adding to the blood flow inhibition past that flap) which can completely occlude that coronary artery...leading to ischemia, arrhythmias, and "heart attacks", which, of course, can kill you.
Calcium score seemed like a great idea when it first came out. It's not a "get out of jail free" card, nor is it a death sentence. There is still more work to be done to understand when it is meaningful.
Look, in medicine as well as politics, there are often simple solutions to complex problems. The only thing is, those simple solutions are wrong. This is a complex situation, and the CAC score is not a binary finding...it depends upon a lot of other factors.
Calcium score seemed like a great idea when it first came out. It's not a "get out of jail free" card, nor is it a death sentence. There is still more work to be done to understand when it is meaningful.
Look, in medicine as well as politics, there are often simple solutions to complex problems. The only thing is, those simple solutions are wrong. This is a complex situation, and the CAC score is not a binary finding...it depends upon a lot of other factors.
Good luck and give an update, most important be proactive and find out why you felt like you did during the "dizzy" Can be a serious indicator.
Being you are active and dont state this happens when you exercise it might be the electrical side of the heart and can be just as serious but fixable before damage occurs. The trick with electrical is it has to be happening during an ECG/EKG so that 15 second snapshot they take while in the DR office is just that 15 seconds in time and if nothing is happening, well//. If they are concerned enough they may hook you up to a Holter monitor that will record for 48 or more hours depending on the system.
I hate to say this because I am repeating myself, its a case like this that the Apple Watch shines, it helped two specialized Cardiologists in different fields "plumbing and Electrical" who commended the data I provided to them from the watch.
Anytime I felt something in my chest, I opened the watch ECG app and did an ECG. I actually have 500 ECG recordings stored on my phone right now. I printed out a couple dozen of them and the doctors went over them.
I had a few things going on, PVCs and VTACH showed up on the Holter monitor that they hooked up to me because of the data from my watch, but my watch was also showing a third condition of PACs which I now take a medicine for, I have a follow up in two months, feel great, meds work fine but I am going to tell them I want to go with the optional Ablation in with they go in and microwave (burn) the heart muscle that is sending the stray mistimed impulses. The will eliminate the med I am taking or greatly reduce it.
Because of being proactive, recent ECHO shows my heart and function in excellent shape and I want to keep it that way. Stray signals and PVCs and PACs you may read are not serious, many people have them but over time it can lead to more serious conditions and VTACH is very serious but mine was "limited" duration.
So anyway, I know my posts are repetitive but I am passionate about the subject because my family history is huge too and I am the only one so far that has been ok.
What is cool about the Apple Watch is as we know, relaying information on how you are feeling to a doctor is important but a challenge to a dr to interpret what you are trying to convey. With the Apple Watch, ANYTIME I felt something I simply had the watch do a 30 second ECG then from my cell phone printed it out for the DR to see, the ECG is indisputable fact on what, if anything is going on with your heart at the moment you feel something in your chest, your doctor gets to look at what your heart was doing at the exact moment.
This doesnt mean you should use your watch to see if you need medical attention, it does mean, you should see your doctor right away and bring a print out that MAY help him/her.
Again, the watch is just an AID, a TOOL to maybe help a doctor figure out what you are feeling and what is going on.
I think you make some valid points. Maybe why the insurance companies won't pay for it. But if it comes back all zeroes then you are probably in the clear as far as plaque buildup. If it comes back with high numbers time for you to see a cardiologist. Other tests may be in order. Even if it's all zeroes that's only plaque. Heart is complex, lots of areas for cardiologist to look at. As I already mentioned, I have never noticed my heart rate to be anything but normal. It goes up with increased activity and goes back down at rest. But a heart monitor worn for a week shows I have AFib.
I will give one word of advice for people going through their 30s, 40s and 50s. Don't let the pounds pack on as you age. Keep your weight in the BMI normal range. As you age the extra weight is more of an issue for your body's various systems. Not saying you will live to 100 if your weight is in the normal range. But why tax your body's systems and possibly have to take Rx when you will have less issues with a normal range BMI. I am sitting at 69 and 5'10" and probably 50 lbs overweight. Doctors tell me I would have less issues with a normal BMI.
sadly no...just that our food has devolved such that some (vital) nutrients are discarded as rubbish essentially.So, eat more hot dogs? Because I could totally make that change…
If you are eating hot dogs then you have not been listening. No processed meats are good for you. None. Not even Kosher Hebrew National Frank's which are the best if I ate hot dogs. I don't.
Red meat. No.
Pork - once or twice a month.
Plaque in arteries builds up over decades. Saturated fat is main cause. Not very easy to get rid of once it's there.
I am sometimes surprised we (baby boomers) made it to adulthood. No real push to eat less sugar in 1950s and1960s in my family. Sugar cereals by the shopping cart full. Sugar on Rice Krispies. Confectionery sugar and cinnamon on toast. Fluff-er-nutter sandwiches. My brother and I for lunch on weekend might each have double cheeseburger then split a half gallon of ice cream for milkshakes. Apple juice & orange juice. Sugar industry had convinced people it was fat that was bad, not sugar. Then came transfat. No real diet soda except Tab which no guy worth his boots would drink as it was for girls/woman. The amount of sugar in one can of soda is staggering. Salt on everything including corn on the cob with butter and salt. Initial margarine was probably hydrogenated corn oil. Cook with Crisco. Cook bacon and use the leftover grease to cook eggs. Milk was milk. Probably 4% or 5% fat. If you wanted skin milk it was powdered (yuk,). Lots of Twinkies, Hostess Snowballs and similar baked good full of saturated fat and sugar. I had a paper route for a year. A lot of the time after delivering papers I would go to Dunkin Donuts and get a donut or two.
My Dad did bake his own whole wheat bread, ate a lot of vegetables and mixed up powdered skim milk. But mom did not push any of that on my brother and I.
I did make it to adulthood. But I wish I knew as much about nutrition decades ago as I do now. And how important it was to your health and long life.
My Dad did bake his own whole wheat bread, ate a lot of vegetables and mixed up powdered skim milk. But mom did not push any of that on my brother and I.
I did make it to adulthood. But I wish I knew as much about nutrition decades ago as I do now. And how important it was to your health and long life.
Huh I have a Apple Watch also with that. I'm going to do one today. I don't have any symptoms when Im active. This weekend the dizziness has been had since I've been working in the heat. I come in a rest and if I get up to fast wowsers!
Guess I'm reviving this thread. My scan is on the 18th, not sure if I can make it that long though. Never got the ecg to work on my watch, worked when I first got it and I've tried everything to get it to work but nope.
Pretty depressing I had to have a talk with my boys since my wife is out of town to make sure I went to work in the morning and what to do if something happens. Getting worse but still comes and goes but flat out hurts when it does, the new symptom is headaches and hard to think. The scan doesn't show anything not sure what I'll do, maybe it is GI related.
Pretty depressing I had to have a talk with my boys since my wife is out of town to make sure I went to work in the morning and what to do if something happens. Getting worse but still comes and goes but flat out hurts when it does, the new symptom is headaches and hard to think. The scan doesn't show anything not sure what I'll do, maybe it is GI related.
Just a shot in the dark here, but, did you have covid at some point? All of your symptoms have been found in people who have had covid, and covid has been known/documented to attack the heart. We still don't have a clear understanding about all of the organ damage that covid can cause (including brain damage).
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