Right at the beginning of this year, I found myself ringing in the new year by being hospitalized for 2 weeks and being diagnosed with Class D, advanced heart failure at just 30 years old. It sounds just as crazy as it feels.
I had gotten sick around Thanksgiving and did not feel better until entering the hospital on January 4th. My symptoms were shortness of breath and a mucus-heavy cough that kept me up most nights. I had gone to the doctor 3 different times and my worst fear was it having something to do with my lungs, like pneumonia.
My parents made me come home to them where they ended up taking my blood pressure and took me to the ER due to it being so high. I was admitted immediately and within hours I was told my heart was pumping very, very weakly and what I had was advanced heart failure.
As a person in heart failure, I have to stop binge drinking (no getting drunk like I used to) and follow a strict low-sodium, salt-free diet. As someone who considers herself a foodie and a tank, this feels a bit jarring. It’s more about the loss of spontaneity that gets me.
I do have a lot of fears (I get really personal here about them if you’re interested) as there’s a lot of unknowns around heart health in general and my condition in particular, but for the most part, I am just taking each day as it comes. I don’t really have any other choice.
It turns out that the matters of the heart organ are all so invasive. Coming to any conclusion takes a lot of time, as I learned the hard way in the hospital. Nothing is black and white…which is ironically good and bad. The fact that I’m young is good because I’m resilient. However, it’s also bad because young people have a tendency to feel healthy with no symptoms, and then all of a sudden crash.
I am currently at home with my parents with a PICC line in my arm with constant, intravenous meds, as well as a wearable defibrillator vest because I am at slight risk for cardiac arrest and have a nurse come weekly to do bloodwork. These are all temporary and the best care for me but it does force me to be quite stagnant until most likely the summer. I’m hoping I can walk away with just being on meds for the rest of my life, staying sober and eating healthy.
But there is still a chance I might need an LVAD wire in me and never swim in the ocean again. Or a heart transplant that could turn me into a bubble person. I can’t even begin to explain how existential I feel about having another person’s heart inside me. The possibility of living with someone else’s heart inside me is something I’m still learning how to sit with.
I don’t know what the future holds for me but what I do know is that they don’t know why this happened to me, really. It was not my lifestyle (first thing I asked – is this my fault?) nor a virus they can pinpoint. I have no family history either, but perhaps genetic testing will tell a different story.
That is my story so far but there are many stories about women and heart health. And this is where women’s heart health comes in. Heart disease is the leading cause of death for women in the United States, yet women, especially young women, are consistently underdiagnosed and undertreated. Symptoms are often dismissed, minimized or misdiagnosed. Many women don’t realize heart disease is their biggest health risk, and many doctors don’t initially look for it either. I didn’t.
Symptoms can differ from men’s: instead of classic chest pain, women often experience fatigue, shortness of breath, nausea, or unusual sweating. Many young women like me feel fine…right until they suddenly don’t. About 1 in 5 women die from heart disease each year, and studies show women’s symptoms are more likely to be dismissed.
Here’s what women can do to advocate for themselves:
- Ask your doctor about your risk. Get your blood pressure, cholesterol, and family history checked.
- Bring up your symptoms specifically. Ask if an EKG, echocardiogram, or genetic testing makes sense.
- Keep a symptom diary. Shortness of breath, fatigue, palpitations, even mild chest discomfort all matter.
- Don’t downplay anything. You know your body best.
Today is National Wear Red Day for women’s heart health and February is Heart Health Awareness Month. I’m sharing my story because awareness isn’t abstract, it’s personal. It’s advocating for yourself when something feels off. It’s taking women’s symptoms seriously. It’s understanding that heart health is not just a men’s issue, or an older person’s issue, or someone else’s problem.
I’m taking this one day at a time, because that’s the only way forward. But if my story encourages even one woman to listen to her body, ask questions, and get checked, then sharing it is worth it!
