I am a 26 year old female, 115 lbs, athletic and VERY active (I was a competititive swimmer through college and upon moving to CO picked up running). I moved to Colorado from Georgia in 2002 and was married in August 2003. Shortly after our wedding, I began having difficulty keeping my blood pressure under control. I was put on up to three meds a day, but nothing seemed to slow down the increased blood pressure. I frustratingly accepted this, having doctors tell me that I must 'just get nervous when I go to the doctor' or that 'it must run in your family and you don't know it'.
Then in late 2005, I began having severe pain in my right arm. The pain progressed despite nearly four months of PT. By the end of the PT, I had spells where I could not control fine motor skills in my right hand. Suddenly, typing, writing and even opening the blinds in the morning became huge feats to conquer and I was basically unable to use my right side.
This progressed for nearly four months before my physician agreed to do a brain scan. I also generally did not feel well and noticed a decrease in my ability to recollect names--even of people very close to me or that I had known all my life. I told my husband on the way to the appointment that I knew it sounded crazy, but that I knew they would find something (and secretly, I hoped they would find SOMETHING--I wondered by this point if I was just imagining some of these things).
Sure enough, the brain scan showed many areas of ischemia. All over, not just in one region--"multiple small infarcts"--I'll never forget hearing that phrase. In late August, I had a TIA (mini-stroke), followed by a few more. At this point, I was a mess--unable to function on my right side and just generally feeling lousy. I felt that I was unable to keep up with my work in the City's communications office and simultaneously continue to pursue any doctor that would take me seriously. So I left my job, with my boss knowing that I had to begin taking care of myself and chase this down. A few specialist consults later, we came up with a preliminary diagnosis of FMD. But the story doesn't end there. I was referred up to Denver Health Sciences for a renal angioplasty (to relieve FMD in renal arteries and decrease blood pressure). Three hours into the procedure, the Doctor came out and said to my husband, "We need to talk." It seems that they had discovered the FMD also in both of my carotid arteries, with a 90% occlusion on the left side. So needless to say, they did not open up my renal arteries that day, they instead took care of the left carotid. We now know that if they had done the renal arteries without looking elsewhere, it would have caused a massive debilitating stroke. Furthermore, I had been at VERY high risk for the massive stroke just from the carotid occlusion itself. (An interesting point is that none of this had been visible on carotid MRA done just weeks prior.) Add to that the renal stenosis and I was lucky to be alive, much less working, running and doing all my normal activites that I had pushed through the last few years. A week later, I had a second angioplasty performed on my renal arteries. My blood pressure instantly went to 105/50--much more in line with what it should have been for a healthy 26 year old.
I am now feeling better than I have in years, back to swimming and running 5-6 days a week. I now feel great and I want to help spread the word about this disease. It is thought that up to 1 in 20 women could have this and not know it. For me, I was lucky to have symptoms that persisted long enough to get a diagnosis. For many other young, healthy women, it is diagnosed only after they die of an unexpected stroke.
I have always believed in the causes of the American Heart Association. Before, it was because I wanted to encourage women to live healthy lifestyles. Now it's because I know that education and awareness is important even for those that DO live healthy lifestyles.
There is also a link to FMDSA on my website. Explore and educate yourself!
Then in late 2005, I began having severe pain in my right arm. The pain progressed despite nearly four months of PT. By the end of the PT, I had spells where I could not control fine motor skills in my right hand. Suddenly, typing, writing and even opening the blinds in the morning became huge feats to conquer and I was basically unable to use my right side.
This progressed for nearly four months before my physician agreed to do a brain scan. I also generally did not feel well and noticed a decrease in my ability to recollect names--even of people very close to me or that I had known all my life. I told my husband on the way to the appointment that I knew it sounded crazy, but that I knew they would find something (and secretly, I hoped they would find SOMETHING--I wondered by this point if I was just imagining some of these things).
Sure enough, the brain scan showed many areas of ischemia. All over, not just in one region--"multiple small infarcts"--I'll never forget hearing that phrase. In late August, I had a TIA (mini-stroke), followed by a few more. At this point, I was a mess--unable to function on my right side and just generally feeling lousy. I felt that I was unable to keep up with my work in the City's communications office and simultaneously continue to pursue any doctor that would take me seriously. So I left my job, with my boss knowing that I had to begin taking care of myself and chase this down. A few specialist consults later, we came up with a preliminary diagnosis of FMD. But the story doesn't end there. I was referred up to Denver Health Sciences for a renal angioplasty (to relieve FMD in renal arteries and decrease blood pressure). Three hours into the procedure, the Doctor came out and said to my husband, "We need to talk." It seems that they had discovered the FMD also in both of my carotid arteries, with a 90% occlusion on the left side. So needless to say, they did not open up my renal arteries that day, they instead took care of the left carotid. We now know that if they had done the renal arteries without looking elsewhere, it would have caused a massive debilitating stroke. Furthermore, I had been at VERY high risk for the massive stroke just from the carotid occlusion itself. (An interesting point is that none of this had been visible on carotid MRA done just weeks prior.) Add to that the renal stenosis and I was lucky to be alive, much less working, running and doing all my normal activites that I had pushed through the last few years. A week later, I had a second angioplasty performed on my renal arteries. My blood pressure instantly went to 105/50--much more in line with what it should have been for a healthy 26 year old.
I am now feeling better than I have in years, back to swimming and running 5-6 days a week. I now feel great and I want to help spread the word about this disease. It is thought that up to 1 in 20 women could have this and not know it. For me, I was lucky to have symptoms that persisted long enough to get a diagnosis. For many other young, healthy women, it is diagnosed only after they die of an unexpected stroke.
I have always believed in the causes of the American Heart Association. Before, it was because I wanted to encourage women to live healthy lifestyles. Now it's because I know that education and awareness is important even for those that DO live healthy lifestyles.
There is also a link to FMDSA on my website. Explore and educate yourself!