A minute amount was found that can’t be seen by the naked eye of a cardiologist. A computer picked it up.
My hospital doctor told me that this is the same thing that can cause runners to drop dead while running. They never even know that they have a problem. An article said that mostly older women get it who don’t exercise, are overweight, diabetic, have high cholesterol, high blood pressure, smoke etc.
Poor diet.
I have had diabetes for 60 yrs, and have normal cholesterol with supposedly high LDL for a person with heart stents. None of the other reasons hold true for me.
Other than that my heart looks very healthy. I don’t think anything can be done about this except for less exercise, and to somehow lower LDL. My diabetes has been very well controlled for almost 40 yrs. after 20 yrs of very poor control when urine testing.
Not a happy camper, but it could be worse.
Diabetes strikes again. Doctor also said that my genetics aren’t helping me since a grandfather died of heart disease in his 60’s.
Now I have to talk with a cardiologist or two and do a lot of research.
Nobody? A friend just told me that it is great that I hurt my ribs, because it kept me off the exercise bike which could have killed me. I had to laugh.
I guess I am finally ready to admit that my need for stents and my new dx of microvascular artery disease is because of being a long term diabetic and maybe family history.
What bugs me is that nobody could find a better controlled diabetic. I guess that my first 20 yrs of bad control when urine testing has caught up to me. When A1c tests became available decades ago, my A1c was 10. I quickly got it down to about 6.5.
Instead of neuropathies I have developed heart disease. What I don’t like is the feeling that I may be judged by medical professionals or myself for doing something wrong along the way.
I ate what I wanted for years but had an A1c between 6-7. If I wanted a piece of pie, I just dosed for it, The last 20 yrs of tight control brought my A1c range down to between 4.7 to 5.7. I was and am meticulous about my food intake. I try to flat line as much as possible.
Do I regret the more normal way of living and eating which maybe brought me here? I don’t know. I just don’t know.
Now I have to figure out if I want to take the injectable cholesterol meds. No, definitely not, but I seem to be out of choices.
I too have decent control, but from 78 to 96 my control was lacking. That caused a few issues such as peripheral neuropathy for which I take Lyrica 3x a day or I’d be beyond miserable. I also have had mild retinopathy (sp?) for a number of years. And 2 trigger fingers. I’m sure there are other hidden changes lurking throughout my body. Diabetes is an insidious disease.
Yes, diabetes stinks. I have had all kinds of problems with my hands, trigger fingers, carpel tunnel, frozen shoulders etc in my earlier years, but I knew lots of people who didn’t have diabetes who had the same problems including family members, so I didn’t focus on them being caused my diabetes. They were probably due to my early bad control.
I know this wasn’t the answer you we’re hoping for. Just another item to add to the crappie list of stuff one has to juggle having diabetes. I am hoping and praying they can find a way to keep you doing all the things you enjoy doing.
I understand the wondering why me, I work so,hard at this? Life is just not fair.
I had that same conversation with myself back in my early 40’s when I was having chest pains and having breathing issues. Ended up in the hospital for an angioplasty. I was in the cath lab in tears looking at all the seniors in there thinking, I don’t belong here. But my Dadhad his first heart attack and stroke at 42. His Dad dropped dead in the driveway shoveling snow. So family history sucks. And I was almost 20 years into the diabetes. Thankfully for me as bad as the family history is, my heart is looking good, angioplasty, stress tests, echos etc etc etc. been there done that.
I have finally started to realize, I can’t change things just my attitude towards dealing with it. I know you will take this new challenge on like you have with your diabetes. You’ve got this! Maybe not right now but you will. You still have a lot to do, places to see and people to meet. Keep fighting and keep asking for help! Whenever you need to vent or complain, we are here for you! Lots of love!
Thank you for the very thoughtful post Sally. I am so sorry that you lost your dad when he was so young. It sounds like he died very suddenly and I can’t imagine how hard that must have been for you and your family.
I know I will handle this new challenge once I adjust to the new news. I am just so tired of handling my dear family’s health challenges. Just when we are beginning to relax we are hit with another one. We do all keep going though and realize that we are very fortunate. I will stop being mad soon.
@Marilyn6 You might find this website to have helpful information for you although it is not diabetes specific. As far as i know it is the best website for women and heart disease. For more specific info, you can put microvascular into the search bar on that site.
One post by the author Carolyn Thomas says: " When I was at Mayo Clinic five months after my heart attack, cardiologists there referred to MVD as a “trash basket diagnosis” – not because the condition doesn’t exist, but because this disorder of the tiniest blood vessels in the heart is so often missed entirely. A correct diagnosis usually happens only after all other possible diagnoses are thrown out. It’s far more common in women and in people who have diabetes. It’s treatable, but can be very difficult to detect."
No, I do not have personal experience (that I know of) with microvascular disease. But as someone who works in health care, though not a doctor, I have learned that diabetes damages both the macro and microvasculature. And nephrologists say that the eyes and kidneys are the easiest places to tell what’s going on with the microvasculature. The eyes because the vasculature is so easily visualized and the kidneys because you can measure the a/c ratio and the protein in the urine (Jason Fung). I read your other postings about your eyes. About your kidneys, are they getting checked now? BTW, have you had an echocardiogram of your heart? I am wondering how the microvascular issue was diagnosed.
Having “lurked” for a few days now on your comments, I see what you’re going through as more a reflection of your pro-activeness as opposed to a fall into “disease,” no matter how reluctant you’ve been.
As far as injectable cholesterol medication - I do not have personal or professional experience with this, and would be curious to know what class of medication it is (statin? pcsk9 inhibitor, etc). I do have thoughts and mild but barely formed opinions on these, but better not to share, as my knowledge generally and of course specifically is not where it should be to offer anything worthwhile.
Senator, I am waiting to see a cardiologist now. The echocardiogram taken yesterday was the best the hospital doctor has ever seen in anybody.
I had my eyes checked a few months ago, but I certainly haven’t seen any retinopathy. Years ago when I had a tiny amount, I noticed it right away. I had blood tests for kidney heath and the results are always impressive to my GP. I have never had more studies on my kidneys because the blood studies are always so good.
The cardiologist wants me on a Pcsk9 inhibitor. From what I have read this needs to be taken along with a statin which I can’t take. The statistics aren’t impressive to me at all with just a tiny percentage of people doing better even though the LDL is often lowered. The list of side effects are lengthy.
My ldl now that I can’t exercise has risen to 136. My trigs are quite low, and my HDL level is good. I eat 10 to 15 percent fat in my plant based diet. Up to a few months ago I was exercising a lot.
Ok, just saw the cardiologist who is the same cardiologist I complained about last week. He was wonderful today. He gave me all the time I needed. He has seen the reports and says that my heart is in great shape. He doesn’t know why my blood pressure dropped but says it wasn’t because of my heart. He doesn’t trust what the computer said that it saw. He was very impressed with my heart health.
He does want me to take the injectable cholesterol med, but he said that it is his job to get my LDL levels lower. He is aware though that there is a lot of info that we don’t know yet about cholesterol levels. I will try to get it lower by taking a huge amount of fish oil which is supposed to help although he has very little experience with it.
He wants me to get through the cancer screening and talk to my GP about causes of why my blood pressure bottoms out on me.
I am very relieved.
Please tell me your thoughts about the injectable cholesterol meds.
Thank-you
Hi again, the other day during your stress test, your blood pressure dropped to, I believe you said, 50/0? First, is that correct? I just want to make sure I was reading that right. Second, did you feel anything at that time? That’s what I did not see in your account of the stress test being stopped when a lot of docs suddenly showed up - how you felt at the time. Maybe I need to go back and re-read it. Third, your cardiologist is saying to talk to your GP about why your BP dropped? Again, am I reading that correctly? Why doesn’t he or she know? Or investigate?
He was very impressed with my heart health.
Things have changed - are they no longer worried about microvascular artery issues? Was that wrong? Was it a misinterpretation? I’m just a bit confused. How was that diagnosis (microvas. artery disease) made?
As for the injectable PCSK9 and statins, the best I can do is reflect back to you the back-and-forth (and very polarizing) debate as I’ve followed it among the likes of Ivor Cummins, David Diamond, and Dave Feldman, and Peter Attia. It’s better if I don’t give my own opinion. I hate to say that, it’s just that you know more than I do! Seriously. Our understanding of the role of lipids is one that is constantly evolving, and people are nonstop fighting over it. Some say LDLs are innocent bystanders, others say they have a definite role and the more LDL you have the worse things are. My bottom line is to listen to a doctor you think is enlightened, and stick with him or her. I will add that I understand your reluctance and frustration. But you don’t know me from Adam, and truly the only worthwhile thing I can do is - perhaps - ask a couple of questions.
I asked about the echo to make sure they ruled out cardiomyopathy or enlarged wall of the left ventricle. Often times this is diagnosed by transesophageal echo, although thoracic may be able to tell, too, I don’t know for sure.
Thanks Laddie. I will watch this tonight. Just got back from the cardiologist who said that my heart test results look great. He is ignoring what the computer found because he said that computers often make mistakes and he isn’t concerned with the computer findings. Everything else looks great.
He doesn’t know why my blood pressure dropped but thought it could be from dehydration. Once I find out whether or not I have cancer, I will try to figure out what is causing other symptoms.
This is very interesting Laddie and certainly seems to fit my treadmill experience. I am going to save this so that I can show my cardiologist in 6 months. I will show my GP now.
I have no angina though, so no severe heart pain. I seem to have inflammation from my rib injury which is causing a dull ache. If the ache doesn’t go away in a few weeks, or if I experience angina, I will have the cardiologist run this test or travel to a heart center where this test can be run. My blood pressure was normal when I was pregnant.
went from doing fine to collapsing. My husband was amazed at how fast it happened. I went from talking and walking quickly uphill, to losing all of my strength. I could no longer stand and was caught before dropping onto the mat. I felt awful. As soon as I was off my feet, I could start talking again, but I was very scared. The doctors brought me water and put me on a bed. Then I started shaking. I felt fine soon after.
Yes, I was surprised by the cardiologist’s reaction too. Because the reports of my heart function look so good, and because nothing can be seen by the naked eye, it is making him ignore what the computer showed. He has seen too, many incorrect computer dx.
He agreed with me that neuropathy might be causing my blood pressure to fall, but doesn’t know enough it about it to comment.
Several cardiologists looked at my studies and not one could see microvascular artery disease only the computer picked it up. The cardiologists just saw a healthy heart. I don’t know enough to know if a computer report can be ignored.
I had a chemically induced EKG the next day and, although not a great experience, partly because I was frightened,it was fine.
I have no angina symptoms.
I like to get different opinions about cholesterol lowering meds. I argued with my cardiologist about them and he said that it is true that we don’t really know enough about the importance of lowering cholesterol, but he would still like to see mine lower. He wrote a prescription for a large amount of fish oil. We shall see.
You are so very sweet but my Dad actually survived that first heart attack and a few more along with multiple heart surgery’s. He pasted away a few years ago due to complications from Parkinson’s. Heart just kept pumping! Hopefully mine will go the same way. Thanks again for the kind thoughts. It amazes me how compassionate us PWD can be to others!
Keep up the positive attitude. You’ve got this!
