Better Homes & Gardens’ Heart-Healthy Living Magazine Features StopAfib.org and Our Founder
August 29, 2007 6:20 AM CT
Dallas, TX, August 29, 2007 — A feature in the Fall issue of Better Homes & Gardens’ Heart-Healthy Living magazine about Mellanie True Hills, founder of the American Foundation for Women’s Health and its atrial fibrillation patient site, www.StopAfib.org, details how her intense high-stress road warrior lifestyle brought her face-to-face with her mortality.
— Download and read the article at bottom of page —
As she was stepping off a plane in San Jose her heart gave her a subtle message and an EKG revealed a potential problem. It turned out to be an artery that was 95 per cent blocked, putting her on the verge of a massive heart attack and causing a brush with death on the operating table during placement of her stent. Mellanie got a second chance at life.
Her third chance came a few months later. As she was in her home office plowing through e-mail, her heart skipped some beats. She felt dizzy, and her right leg felt cold and her right eye was blurry. Blood clots left her dangerously close to suffering a stroke. The cause was atrial fibrillation (afib), a common irregular heartbeat that makes the heart quiver rapidly rather than beating steadily, and often leads to blood clots and stroke.
Living with atrial fibrillation was often terrifying, as was treatment with a blood thinner, Coumadin®, but Mellanie was fortunate to discover a surgery, called a mini-maze procedure, that returns the heartbeat to normal. This minimally-invasive surgery requires only a few small incisions rather than cracking open the chest, thus requiring less recovery time. Mellanie says, “It restored my life and freedom.”
After her first incident, Mellanie took charge of her health, making lifestyle changes that included losing weight and moving to a ranch. With her scientific background, she wrote the award-winning book, A Woman’s Guide to Saving Her Own Life: The HEART Program for Health & Longevity. She has created the American Foundation for Women’s Health and an atrial fibrillation patient site, www.StopAfib.org, to fulfill her mission of advocating for women and heart patients to take charge of their health.
Heart-Healthy Living magazine is a wonderful resource and the article provides a wealth of useful information, including:
- Discusses that women’s heart attack symptoms are different
- Lists the 4 symptoms that every woman must know, using the acronym “LIFE”
- Offers 4 quick diet fixes to protect your heart
- Alerts those with fluttering or irregular heartbeats to learn more at the foundation’s informational atrial fibrillation site
For more information or to interview Mellanie True Hills, including about the upcoming Atrial Fibrillation Month in September, please contact her at www.StopAfib.org
Read article In a Heartbeat — with permission of Heart-Healthy Living