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Strap on a heart rate monitor and hit the threadmill, pick a pace that's hard but doable in 30 minutes. Monitor your BPM over time. I mean months and years though expect some decay in this just with age.
Sorry, this is kinda a hot button for me. Have lived in Florida for over 40 years, and the healthcare here is mostly horrible. When I had this surprise clogged artery thing, the first thing I did was contact my siblings. I'm the youngest so I had a sense of urgency . Big bro and big sis kinda blew me off. Big bro ran it by his primary doctor, but no money there for his PCP (PCP practice group had just invested big bucks in a stress test center).
They let my brother twist in the wind for several months, then finally shaved his chest before 6 hours of stress tests, charged him and his insurance a boatload of money, and guess what, they claim he is fine.
I'm glad he is fine.
Apologies in advance, but I hate our medical system. To summarize, if you have questionable blood cholesterol, and care about avoiding CABG, consider getting a CT Calcium score. Or if you like TV commercials, go to a local church and get a lifeline screening.
Any major city in USA should have many options to choose from.
Stents are on the way out, due to the COURAGE trial as it showed no benefit to patients with stable coronary artery disease.
You know precisely how well your heart works if you exercise. I'm now 56 (as of last week lol) and I regularly (daily) bring up my BPM to 180, something considered dangerous by medical professionals for my age.
Running HR of 180 BPM should be fine I suppose? It’s the resting HR that matters.
Your numbers are fine, your health seems fine. If you're concerned you can go up for a workup and stress test, but imo it's just a waste of time.
As you get older, monitor your cardiovascular output (can be crudely done by measuring your BPM for a fixed difficulty level) and as long as you're hitting your goals, you should not pay attention.
Cholesterol's role in plaques and blockages is far from clear. Is it correlative or causative? What cholesterol is important for is your brain, which has 70% of your body's total cholesterol. Artificially lowering it via statins present themselves with many numerological and muscular problems as well as diabetes.
And for your profile, there is no benefit from statins in terms of living longer or having less heart attacks. In patients who already had a MCA, statins prevent 1 MCA for around 25 treated for 5 years IIRC. These are not great numbers.
My understanding is that a "stress test" has two phases. A stress phase (exercise wearing ekg sensors, dye injection and imaging) and also a rest test phase. Can't imagine how much they charge you or your medical insurance company. Actually, I went through that and the lost money was insignificant compared to the physical damage. I know that money is just a method of exchange, but I think 'murican healthcare is horrific and a bankrupting force for some.
I wouldn't be researching Physician assisted death if I didn't have other morbidities and now regret my meatball CABS.
Again, to the OP, get your effin arteries scanned. Stents are better than a CABS.
Doesn’t matter what they charge to insurance. Your out of pocket is all that matters. How does it bankrupt you? So I need a CT Calcium scan?
Your numbers are fine, your health seems fine. If you're concerned you can go up for a workup and stress test, but imo it's just a waste of time.
As you get older, monitor your cardiovascular output (can be crudely done by measuring your BPM for a fixed difficulty level) and as long as you're hitting your goals, you should not pay attention.
Cholesterol's role in plaques and blockages is far from clear. Is it correlative or causative? What cholesterol is important for is your brain, which has 70% of your body's total cholesterol. Artificially lowering it via statins present themselves with many numerological and muscular problems as well as diabetes.
And for your profile, there is no benefit from statins in terms of living longer or having less heart attacks. In patients who already had a MCA, statins prevent 1 MCA for around 25 treated for 5 years IIRC. These are not great numbers.
Do you take any medications? I always had great blood sugar and cholesterol numbers until I started some meds which are known to drive it up.
Good point. Statins are contraindicated for people with higher blood sugar, or who have any degree of insulin resistance. Doctors push them anyway, for pts. with elevated cholesterol.
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