Why Self-Advocacy Is Critical in Women’s Heart Health
When it comes to women’s heart health, self-advocacy can be life-saving. If you’ve ever felt dismissed, uncertain, or unheard about your symptoms, you’re not alone. Proactive, women-centered cardiovascular care can make all the difference. Learn more at NitzaMD.com and take…
Prevention is Ownership
Eleanor doesn’t speak angrily about the system that missed her. She speaks clearly. “We screen everything,” she says. “Except the one organ that keeps us alive.” After her diagnosis, she stopped asking insurance what it would cover. She stopped waiting…
The “Stiff Heart” Most Women Have Never Heard Of
When people hear the words “heart failure,” they imagine weakness—a heart that can’t pump. But for many women, especially after menopause, the issue isn’t weakness at all. It’s stiffness. Diastolic dysfunction occurs when the heart muscle becomes less flexible and…
Perfect Labs, Quiet Risk
When Eleanor’s test results came back, she laughed before she cried. “Are you sure those are mine?” The words sounded technical and distant: diastolic dysfunction, stage two. They didn’t match the person she thought she was—the disciplined one, the strong…
When “Healthy” Isn’t the Whole Story
Eleanor, from The Villages®, did everything right. She walked every morning. She ate carefully. She drank red wine in moderation and knew exactly how many steps she logged each day. Her labs were clean, her blood pressure polite, her doctor…
Stress? Really, Mom? Stress?
My own mother is now part of the group of mothers diagnosed with a cardiac condition. Despite having me as her daughter, and having read my book (granted, she read the Spanish version), she never mentioned to me any of…