coronary artery disease at 34 - how's it possible?

[nobody067]

i am a 34 year old male. my total cholesterol is 185. HDL 37 LDL 128. my average blood pressure is 130/90. i have never smoked,drank alcohol or done drugs. my BMI is 29. i have no real family history of early heart disease.

what happened..i have been experiencing shortness of breath for the past 4 months and it was really bothering me. i went to the dr. and got an ekg and it showed a new onset left bundle branch block. the dr. was concerned so he scheduled me for a stress test. i could only go on for 1:36 because i was so out of breath and felt like i just ran a marathon. after that,the dr. told me to get a coronary angiogram.

well to my surprize,when the results were told me..the cardiologist said that i had coronary artery disease. there is stenosis all over my LAD artery ranging from 80% or 95% blockages. my RCA has a 70% blockage in just one area. the cardio suggested that i get bypass surgery for the severe LAD blockages,but there is no way that i am going to allow to have my chest cracked open.

i want to know,how is it possible for someone my age with almost no risk factors to get such extensive CAD?? i do not eat sweets or pasta or many carbs. the only one thing that i have doing "wrong" i guess is i have been drinking coca cola everyday since i was 15,but i feel like that alone should not give me CAD. can anyone here give me advice as to what i should do. am i really at risk for suffering a heart attack at my young age? i have recently felt a little left shoulder and back and jaw tightness that comes and goes. i dont know if it is related or not. well,that is my story guys,i hope that someone can advise me.

[Vprlock]

I would just like to say that the cause is unknown.  They tell you it's diet, weight, exercise, smoking....truth is they don't know. I was 30 for my first 2 stents, 99.9 LAD and 95 in the RCA.  Cardio 7 times per week, new diet meds cholesterol low.  3 years later 2 more in the RCA so heavily calcified the stent only opened it 30%. 4 years later another in the LAD ,restenosis in all previous stents and 80-90% lesions throughout.  I'm 37 with about 3 years until bypass (if they can punch through my RCA) .  Please live your life and not in the gym running from this disease. Do what you enjoy.  I have accepted that I can't stop it, but I can spend time on things I enjoy until then.  

[Cyn2006]

I also have coronary artery disease also known as two vessel disease. I was diagnosed at the age of 28 and they told me bypass surgery isnt an option for me because they dont feel as though they will be successful. My biggest fear is having a full blown heart attack and dying. Im praying for anybody who is also dealing with this disease.

[ed34]

2 things.

1. exercise
2. Healthy diet including no high sugar drinks

[ZASaifi]

What should i do to increase my HDL level & To lower LDL level. Plz comment.

[ed34]

Sounds like your doctor is correct.

[ZASaifi]

Yeah.. I feel a mild pain in center of the chest & near heart when i get a deep breath. The pain get worst in the winter.

[ed34]

So is it correct to assume that you get pain when you take deep breaths? or do exercises involving the chest, such as bench presses?

[ZASaifi]

Hi frnds..
I am a 30 year old male. I have pain in my chest & some time B.P goes High (140/90) i am not taking any medicine for blood pressure. Dr. Dignosed the pain as costocondritis. After that i get a lipid profile, i found my total cholesterol is 175, HDL is 34, LDL is 119 , triglyceride is 109 & VLDL is 21. Would sombody tell me if i am at risk of CAD or Heart attack. I am very tens these days due to my health.

[achillea]

Ouch, what a shock it must be to get the study results and diagnosis you have received at such a young age!

You do not seem to have done anything that realistically should have brought this on.  No family history, and no dramatically bad blood work, either.  However, there are small signals that something is wrong:

Your HDL is 37.  The standard drill is that this should be around 51 for a man your age, a level which is considered 'protective.'  The fact that it is in fact quite low points to toward a genetic possibility in your condition.

Your LDL of 128 is a tad high, which again may signal a genetic component.  The number for your age should be around 117.

Also, your average BP of 130/90 is also a bit high for your age.

And finally, although your BMI of 29 isn't bad, to square with the charts, it should be 25 or less.  25 to 29 is considered 'overweight,' technically.

You ask how it's possible for a person your age, with a good diet and so on, to have significant CHD.   First, even though the  genetics of coronary heart disease are not fully understood, researchers suspect that they are of great importance, as mentioned here:

http://www.chg.duke.edu/diseases/genecard.html

(and Duke University appears to be asking for subjects to participate in a study of this very subject)

It's possible that in your case, the relatively minor blood abnormalities I mentioned, plus your slightly elevated BMI, plus some as yet not-understood genetic factors, might just have combined in an evil way to make you vulnerable to CAD.

To answer your other questions, with the blockages you describe, you are indeed at considerable risk for a heart attack.

I'm sorry to tell you that the left shoulder and back and jaw 'tightness' (especially the jaw tightness) are signs of angina:

http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/health-topics/topics/angina/

You should get back to your cardiologist and report this set of symptoms right away.  I'm afraid you can't really avoid this.

[ed34]

You could have hit the nail on the head. Research seems to be showing a trend between high processed sugar consumption and heart disease. Soda drinks contain a high level of processed sugar. Heart disease is gradually increasing in younger individuals now, when it was once a disease of the elderly. Jaw, back and shoulder pain are common symptoms, as is a throat discomfort.
With regards to options, I am not sure there is any option apart from Bypass. My LAD was a mess at the age of 46, ranging from 30% to 100% down the complete vessel. I had a triple bypass but unfortunately it collapsed after 3 months. This left me with just 2 options. Either try to stent the vessel, or transplant. I opted to try the stenting and I had 5 very long stents put down the vessel. There is a very high risk such stenting would re-block, but so far they have remained open 3 years on. So, I've been very lucky so far. If they block, then I will be on the transplant list. I don't know if it's coincidence but I limited my sugar intake from the time of stenting. I have to admit I don't watch the fat intake, mainly because my personal view is that fats have little or nothing to do with it. Fat just creates the large light LDL lipids, whereas it is showing in research that sugar and high alcohol consumption causes the Liver to produce the heavy small LDL which causes the disease. A good clue to lots of the bad LDL (small ones) is low HDL and high Triglycerides. All I can suggest is not to rush into anything. Talk about your concerns with your cardiologist and if he doesn't seem to be listening, be blunt, ask for a cardiologist who WILL hear you. It's your body.

[nobody067]

i should also add that i do not have diabetes,my fasting blood sugar is 87 and my a1c is 5.4.