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Carotid artery plaque

I'm a 31 year old female, 5f 8inch tall and 58kg.  Last year I stood up and my back wouldn't straighten like I had a cramp or something.  I went to the hospital and they asked if I felt ok as my blood pressure was 180/118!  Well from that day on I did not feel ok...I was riddled with panic for obvious reasons!

I smoked (don't anymore) around 5-10 smokes a day for 15 years and drank a bottle of wine once a week.  My father died at 54 of heart disease and had bypass surgery at 47. He too did not look the part and had not smoked since he was 34 years old.

It took about 6 months to get my blood pressure under control with medication and now I'm on a very low dose to keep it around 130/80.  I asked my doctor to test me for heart disease and that I wanted a scan on my carotid arteries...well he laughed and said "you not going to find plaque in your neck arteries at your age!". Anyway, I went to another doctor and he agreed to refer me for test (just for 'piece of mind' he said).

Well sure enough 15% was found in both left and right carotid arteries.  This may not sound like much but considering my age and being a mother of two young children, it has really scared me.

I get a mild chest pain that last anything from afew seconds to a minute once a week (especially in winter), and occasionally after eating...yet I passed stress test, echo scan etc.  

What is the prognosis for me?  How quickly can the carotid artery block completely.  I have just had my annual check and thankfully it has not grown.  Is it possible to stop the growth?

I'm I being overdramatic to think that my heart is very likely to be diseased as well?
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976897 tn?1379167602
Well, you would be surprised at how many people have a layer of plaque in some of their arteries and 15% is very small. It could be the result of your high blood pressure and accelerated by smoking. Due to family history of heart disease, have you had a cholesterol blood test? this is the next step. I think personally, if you get your cholesterol checked, keep your blood pressure under control, make life style changes such as regular exercise and a healthy diet, then there is no reason why your carotid arteries should get any worse.
There is a chance that you may have a small amount of disease in your coronary arteries, but then again, everyone has that chance.I think you would certainly know about it if the levels of disease were significant and making lifestyle changes will have a huge impact. One thing to remember, one of the risk factors is stress. To worry about these things continually will cause stress and make your disease worse, so although difficult, it's best to just come to terms with the fact you have a small amount of disease and move forward, knowing you can nip it in the bud now before it gets worse.
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