Hi there - I don’t post too much but find this site amazing and so supportive. What a great community for everyone. It’s so nice to hear everyone sharing their stories and getting some great advice back. I do have one question tho. I had a stent last year, for a 99% blocked artery. I have another narrowed to 45% and one at 55. I believe you are not stented unless the narrowing is 70% or over 🤔 Anyhow, I have never smoked, am vegetarian, gave up all sweets, cakes, biscuits after my procedure and only have the odd sweet treat on a birthday or whatever. I also cycle and walk etc. I was on 80mg statins until a month or so ago but my doctor halved them as I was getting muscle cramps. My cholesterol has gone right down as a result but I constantly worry that as my condition is hereditary, and lifestyle/food alone won’t stop it, how can I ever know if my arteries are still narrowing. I also wonder how they even know it’s hereditary? Sorry to waffle on but I just thought someone else may be in same boat and know more than me? Thank you 🙏
Narrowing Arteries: Hi there - I don’t... - British Heart Fou...
Narrowing Arteries
Hello 
I think without tests they cannot really say if your arteries are blocked any more but there are signs like been breathless and so on that would alert them I could be wrong others may come along and be able to tell you more
Hereditary is usually when there is a history in the family of heart conditions like there is in mine
I had to half my atatin to 40 mg and it is doing the same as what 80mg did and my cholesterol is fine
I hope others will come along and have more of an explanation for you x
Oh thank you. Did you have muscle cramps when on 80, or was it for other reasons they halved them? I guess I worry as I got to 99% block before my symptoms really showed. Even then I was told it may be my age or stress as all my other stats were good. Bit of a challenge to get an angiogram. I guess we can only listen to our bodies and try to do the right things with our diets etc. My Mum had the bypass but was a heavy smoker, liked her pastries and cream cakes etc., and her only exercise was housework really. Though, to be fair, she did a lot of that bless her. I constantly question whether it’s actually hereditary as I also have a big family who all have great cholesterol. I guess things will pan out as they should tho 😍
Hello
I had muscle aches and could not tolerate them but on 40 mg I am a lot better and as I said it has not caused my cholesterol to go higher
Try not to overthink things to much I know it is never easy and you are right we should listen to our own bodies
Not sure if you have spoken with your Doctor and asked if they can get you for a referral for a angiogram but they only tend to do them if they think they are needed and I am sure because you are already under their radar so to speak if they thought you needed one they would have you in to do one
Sounds like you keep fit and healthy so you are doing all the right things x
I’ve been offered genetic testing for my premature coronary heart disease. I was 51 when I had a full blown heart attack which is quite unusual for a woman. I was referred to the lipid clinic from cardiology and after taking a family history they said I met eligibility requirements. They’ll be testing my lipoprotein (a) levels as well as for Familial Hypercholesterolemia (FH). If you have a family history of early heart attacks or strokes then it may be that you are eligible for testing, it’ll be worth asking your cardiologist or GP. I’m glad to hear that statins seem to be working for you and that you are doing all the right things to keep well.
Oh that is so young but great you are getting your genetic tests. Actually I only stumbled across lipoproteins a few days ago. My doctor said our surgery can’t do that test but I was thinking I may look into it further. From what I read, if your lipoproteins are high, they make your cholesterol sticky, which can cause more narrowing. Good luck with everything and thank you. I will look into this more closely myself 🙏
Hello
Yes, I'm in a similar place as you, and will be very interested in what you find out.
My calcium score is lowest 90% of my age range, silent HA & all arteries moderately blocked, with mild heart damage yet I've been a health addict, non smoker, non meat eater, normal BMI my whole life🥺
At this point I'm really grateful the first HA didn't knock me out, but lifestyle modification is going to be tricky, and that's that number one thing we're told to do.....
When I asked my dr the best thing to prevent progression he said "exercise" 😂 which of course I shall do (after I've taken my aspirin)
(I remain optimistic the Dr would be more concerned if he feared an imminent adverse event)
All the best 🙏🏽
It’s very un-nerving isn’t it. On the plus side, cardiologist said not to beat myself up about not smoking, eating healthily etc. He said if I hadn’t done those things we would have been having our appointment 10 years earlier! Which I guess is true. I have read that we should be doing as much exercise as possible, with the recommended weekly exercise being our minimum. I do cycle and walk, bit of Paddleboarding too. But I find it hard to motivate myself into gym and intensive training at the moment. Guess I should try much harder is bottom line. Come on High_fives, let’s do this 🙌
Love your attitude! Wonderful you've found activities you enjoy, and I'm sure they'll be others too....Yes we can 🙌🏽
And we will 💪🏻 Good luck with everything and thank you 🙏
Hi L&L , family history, life style, diet , BP, smoking, lipid profile, sex, genetics, race& profession etc do play their part in progression of blocking arteries ( CVD)
Centeries old mumy of iceman showed arteries blockage of 40-50% clear signs of ( CVD). As he was a hunter gathers( very active life style) we are sure certainly it was not due to cakes, candies & fast food, smoking or tensions of modern life.
Reason of why heart disease happens are all hypothesis & theories. However no one know why it happens. Some genes are more prone than other males are more affected than females. Men generally develop CVD at a younger age and have a higher risk of coronary heart disease (CHD) than women.
So interesting to hear this. Some days I just think I should just stop worrying and accept that when my numbers up, there’s no stopping it anyhow. Maybe some of us are here for a good time, not a long time 🤔
I have the same concerns. I had a heart attack and 2 stents for a 100% blockage. No damage caused but they did a second angiogram to check two other blockages. They were found to be 64% blocked but said blood was flowing freely so they were not quite bad enough to stent. Now 5 years on, my cholesterol is well down but I am very breathless and constantly worry whether those two blockages have got worse. I've had echo scans and have been told they are fine but it doesn't stop me worrying. I also worry about the hereditary thing. My paternal grandfather was the youngest of 13 children and the only one to reach older than 50. All his siblings died before 50 of what was back then called dropsy. ( fluid retention and heart failure)
Oh we are in very similar positions and it is the worst thing not being able to just check our arteries from time to time. I’m so sorry to hear about your family history, so sad and such a worry. There are always exceptions tho, and hopefully this will be you. So very difficult 🤦🏻♀️
As you say, it's the not knowing but another angiogram is too invasive just to check. I have to believe the echo scan.
Hi,
I’m in a similar boat. I’m 50 and I have a 70% blockage, which is 94th percentile for my age.
Clearly there is some driver there that I should identify or it will keep driving the disease.
I’m no angel but didn’t have a 94% bad lifestyle compared to others. Ex smoker, plenty of running and vegetarian.
The cardiac nurse said this has been caused by smoking. I gave that up 8 - 10 years ago and angina only presented in March so yes but / no but.
So what am I left with? Much of the below is my opinion so take with a pinch of (no salt) salt and your milage may vary etc etc.
Booze for a start. I was certainly over the 14 units a week so that’s my new normal, and I’ve managed it most weeks.
I was doing plenty of exercise but not quite as religiously as the equivalent of 150 min of moderate a week. Since diagnosis until last week I was running about 120 min a week which probably is good enough since vigorous minutes count twice that of moderate.
The NHS cardiologist has banned me from that though so now I’m using my iPhone’s Fitness app to motivate me to close my Move rings each day which means I am waking about 30min 7 days a week. I peg it though, GTIN in pocket to try and get the minutes to count as moderate exercise.
As soon as I am allowed to do vigorous exercise again I’m getting an indoor bike and a fitness tracker and am going to convert the recommended minutes a week into the heart zones those things report and get religious about it. I’ve put this on hold for now.
I’m a vegetarian like you but have discovered that it’s quite possible to have a very unhealthy veggie diet. The trouble it seems is a lot of veggie food, like veg sausages, Quorn, cooking sauces, even supermarket bread are all highly processed.
It’s early days still but there is emerging thought that this stuff kills your gut microbe. There are some interesting videos on YouTube from a company called Zoe and also this chap has written a book that’s more than likely going to get consumed pretty soon. Read not eaten, that is.
So I’ve switched to a Med diet and zero junk. The emphasis being on good quality, fresh produce. I’m loving it, it feels like this is what my veggie diet should have been all along.
Actual veggies not products, loads of Olive Oil, nuts and cheese. Plenty of good gut food such as none pasteurised (organic) yoghurt (yum) and sauerkraut (ummm) I’m trying to buy organic food, which doesn’t turn out to be that much more expensive, and slowly cutting out processed food. I’m quite surprised how much of it was / is in my diet.
I’ve been reading this chap’s blog and it rings true with me. This page especially goes into ApoB, which some in the trade feel is a more accurate marker than LDL itself (disclaimer disclaimer, I’m not a Dr) :
theskepticalcardiologist.co...
If you can get through the video on that page, it’s very dense, there is quite a bit of info. Essentially it’s a recording of a meeting of a few drs. and contains suggested target ApoB levels.
This one talks about Lip(a) being a good genetic marker :
theskepticalcardiologist.co...
This page doesn’t have great news but mentions PCSK9 inhbitors which are available on the NHS. I’m not certain what the qualifies someone for that.
If Lip(a) is an issue for me it’s something to incorporate into the chat with my kids. Perhaps they will be better behaved than me not smoke, get tattooed or have any fun whatsoever.
This podcast illustrates some of the work going into genetic treatment and is interesting, but has no specific answers to your Q :
podcasts.apple.com/gb/podca...
Very soon I aim to get an advanced blood test for at least these two but others are also interesting :
docsopinion.com/apolipoprot...
To get a rough gauge of where I stand and I’ll probably repeat it every 6 months or so.
Blood tests are not too expensive to get done yourself provided the results are in some way useful to you. I intend to get a provider recommended to me by the private Cardiologist who did my CT scan. Let’s see how much he charges to reply to an email … 
This, in a nutshell, is how I intend to tackle this tricky situation.
It’s very theoretical, you could argue I’ve simply collected things from the Internet I like and that’s not very scientific. In the absence of anything else it’s better than doing nothing and is a big part of my coping mechanism.
Good luck with your mission.
Hi there…. Wow, this is so interesting, and informative… I have noted all the links and will be reading them with interest. I pretty much follow a mediterranean diet though I do fall down with condiments and sauces. I try to make dressings and sauces myself but find myself reaching for jars far too often, which are full of sugar etc. I know. And, like you, I do like the occasional drink. I gave up all things sweet and processed when I had my procedure, and alcohol for eight months or so. But I have decided the odd drink relaxes me and thats a good thing right 😂 I’ve not heard about Apob, and am very keen to learn more about that. You really do sound like you are doing everything you can to fight this, thank you so much for sharing. The internet is a great tool if you keep an open mind about things. I can only imagine how difficult it was for people in our situation before the internet - crazy how they just had to trust their GP’s. Anyhow, I have a lot of reading to do so thank you again and good luck with your journey 🙏
Those YouTube links are problematic. If you copy and paste them into a new browser window they seem to work.
Thanks.
I had CABG 8 weeks ago after only a couple on tests eg CT scan and Angiogram with intention to stent. They quickly decided this was not possible and referred me for urgent surgery I have/had severe disease in all arteries making stents impossible. Like you I have looked after myself played lots of sport etc. My disease is genetic as my father died at 52 and 5 of his six brothers died of heart related problems at an early age mid 50’s, The bad news for me is that the disease is progressive and although surgery was successful the disease will continue. I am told lifestyle changes will help but genetics are the problem, for me.
Good luck I hope you have better news.
Oh I am so sorry to hear this. My mum had a triple bypass at 52 and, sadly, she didn’t make any lifestyle changes at all. She was quite a heavy smoker, and carried on, she loved the fat off meat and cream cakes, butter, sugar in her tea…. But it was a different time and there wasn’t a lot of information around then. She died at 74, despite all of this. And it wasn’t her heart that took her…. She developed COPD due to her smoking. If she had made the lifestyle changes we are all trying, I wonder if she would have lived an awful lot longer. You could be the one that breaks the cycle on that front too. I do hope so. Take care and good luck.
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