re: Heart Calcium score- Anyone done it?

I am not trying to get into a best diet argument within this thread because there are pluses and minuses to various strategies. However, I need to point out that correlation in this case, does not equal causation in the least. Meat consumption is typically not a top contributor to auto immune disease. Dr. Wahls, who reversed the symptoms of her progressive MS through diet, postulated that her decades of vegetarianism most likely contributed to her condition. In fact, she added back meat to her diet protocol that helped her recover. You seem well intentioned and vegetarianism certainly can help lower LDL-C (not that this alone means anything but heart health was the topic of this thread), but it is not optimal for treating autoimmune disease. The primary drivers are gut irritants (gluten/lectins), other allergens (you are correct about the dairy being a potential trigger), certain vitamin deficiencies, viruses, Vitamin D deficiency (actually more of a hormone), lack of sleep, stress, certain mutations including MTHFR, and an overly active sympathetic nervous system. Veganism and vegetarianism have to rely on grains, soy, and legumes for protein sources, which have protein components that can cause “leaky gut” and can activate the immune system. Further, it is hard to get enough bio available Omega-3 fats given weak conversion of ALA (Walnuts, chia seeds, vegetarian source of Omega 3) to EPA/DHA, thus, these diets can potentially be pro-inflammatory (especially if large amounts of Omega-6 fats are in the diet). Meat, vegetables (sans night shades) and fruit are the foundation of an anti inflammatory diet that can help treat symptoms of autoimmune disease.

Denise Minger made some other great counter arguments to the China Study, which you can review here: LINK

According to study 2016 by Johns Hopkins,medical errors are 3rd ending cause of death in U.S.I personally don’t think it’s that high but I saw quite a few in my career.

How invasive is the test and how much radiation do ya'll think we are exposed to? I've heard about it and have a family hx of young men having heart attacks. I contacted doctor about having it done and he wants me to have a cardiologist examination first but agrees with family hx I should have it done. I'm not a big fan of getting stuck with 100 needles though And now I'm seeing people talk about the radiation exposure makes me have 2nd thoughts.

I'm in my late 30s and unfortunately was a 2 pack a day smoker and didn't quit till maybe 3-4 years ago. BP and cholesterol is usually fine but don't get it checked (cholesterol) maybe once a year. I did have a high hematocrit and hemoglobin count a year or so ago and it was higher back when I smoked. Doctor told me I wasn't drinking enough water and when I started doing that it was better results on next blood test. I understand people's argument about how relevant cholesterol checks are but just throwing it out there. HDL was 66, LDL 114, and triglycerides 102. BP was 89/57 but that's b/c I'm a bitch and don't like having blood drawn and bottom out. It usually runs 120s over low 180s or upper 170s.

Coronary calcium scoring is a decent assessment in low risk patients. The problem is it doesn’t detect mild to moderate uncalcified, unstable plaques which are the ones that rupture and kill relatively young people (usually men). It basically tells you if you’re someone who develops coronary disease despite not having any or most of the big risk factors.

It’s pretty useless in moderate to high risk patients with a history of diabetes or smoking, as they all will have some degree of coronary disease and a coronary CT only detects the extent of calcification, not the degree of stenosis. Lots of people have diffuse disease with only 10-50% stenosis and lots of people have a single 99% lesions with nothing elsewhere.

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Really? This is almost shocking to me.

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in a lot of ways i am behind on some of the science of the heart and a lot of it is based on i am only 36. Also most of what is out there is utter bullshite so it takes forever to find stuff that is worth a shite.

The problem is it doesn’t detect mild to moderate uncalcified, unstable plaques which are the ones that rupture and kill relatively young people (usually men).

For a doctor, you post terrible advice, and do it often. Are you a resident?

Calcium scoring is a $50 screening tool and has saved many lives through additional diagnostics after a positive result. I personally know several people whose lives may have been saved because they signed up for a free calcium score, had a positive result leading to a full CTA and then cath/stenting of significant lesions, sometimes all in one day.


The general public is not going to line up for an invasive heart cath to find soft plaque so you shouldn't dismiss calcium scoring as only being beneficial in certain cases and "pretty useless" in many.

Getting one done next week. PCP wanted me to consult with a cardiologist first. Even though my dad had a massive heart attack in early 40s and I’m late 30s, cardiologists just acted like I was retarded for doing it and wants me to get on cholesterol meds, even though mine was checked last month and were fine. We will see

Oh I just found a random one to order me the test. First time I’ve ever been to one. I don’t plan on getting on cholesterol meds anytime soon. He was just very dismissive and didn’t care to listen, even though I talked very little, I was just answering the questions asked and he tried to hurry me along, whatever.

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cardiologists just acted like I was retarded for doing it and wants me to get on cholesterol meds, even though mine was checked last month and were fine

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I'll reiterate what Mountaineer said. Find a new Cardiologist.

Who did you go to?

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just had to have a cardiologist appt to order the heart calcium test.

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My primary care doctor ordered me one. I didn't have to see a cardiologists