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One of the first books that I read after being discharged from the hospital with post partum cardiomyopathy was The Healthy Heart Program. It was an excellent read and in the crucial first weeks provided a practical plan to recover and an understanding of the action of inflammation in the body as the cause of heart disease. While not specifically targetted towards post partum cardiomyopathy, the information in this book and No More Heart Disease

One of the most touching stories about how the gift of a heart that united two families. Taylor Storch, a thirteen year old girl who died in a skiing accident, donated her heart to Patricia Navarino-Winters, a women whose heart was broken because of PPCM. In the video below, NBC interviews Taylor's mother and father, Todd and Tara Storch and Patricia Winters and tell the story of how they found each other and

It sounds like the work of a novelist or science fiction but in a real life story of survival, a woman who goes into heart failure during pregnancy has a heart attack, is shocked, goes into a coma, is stabalized while put in a state of hypothermia for an hour, is revived, has a device implanted during a 10 day hospital stay, returns to work a month after being discharged from hospital, and then delivers

The use of bromocriptine to treat severe cases of PPCM remains controversial and has not been fully studied. In a medical journey, there is a report of a woman with PPCM and in severe heart failure receiving 2.5mg of bromocriptine and recovering from an EF of 15% to 60% in 2 months. http://eurjhf.oxfordjournals.org/content/10/11/1149.full Bromocriptine and cabergoline, prolactin inhibitors can have dangerous side effects, even fatal, so

Women with PPCM are generally given a few months to recover before further intervention like ICD or LVAD are implanted. An LVAD is a heart pump that is operated with a battery that helps the heart to pump blood but unlike an artificial heart, it only helps the heart to do its job of pumping blood around the body. LVAD is abbreviated for Left ventricle assist device. Women with PPCM may have an LVAD implanted

Below is a video from the UPMC discussing why it is important to know the signs of heart failure in pregnancy. PPCM is a diagnosis of exclusion and it affects from 1 in 3,000 to 1 in 4,000 women in the US. Doctors should consider the possiblity of PPCM, if a women reports symptoms of fatigue or shortness of breath. Other symptoms can include: * Difficulty breathing while lying flat * Cough * Shortness of breath

We are very much looking forward to releasing the New Members Profile Page, which will make it easier to connect to members. Currently the site, is dependent on the map where you need to hover over each pin or use the side navigation bar to click on individuatl heart sisters and then go to the map and then be able to connect with a heart sister. I think we got a little fixated on the

Welcome to all our new heart sisters. We probably need to explain how all the like buttons work. The "like" at the top corner likes the website and is like a share link and anyone can click on this link. The "Join with Facebook" link registers you to use the site. The "like" on the my heart sisters community page http://www.facebook.com/myheartsisters subscribes you to the

The following studies discuss PPCM, Peripartum Cardiomyopathy as a vascular disases and the possible role of anti-angiogenic signalling in its development, potentially explaining the role of pre-eclampsia and multiple births in the development of PPCM. Harvard University Study A Harvard Medical School–led team has shown that a soluble form of FLT1 causes about one-third of peripartum cardiomyopathy cases—those associated with pre-eclampsia. Ongoing studies are seeking to identify small molecu

Lecture by Dr.James Fett On Saturday, May 20, 2012, Dr. James Fett presented a lecture about peripartum cardiomyopathy (PPCM) at the Berlin Cardiac Problems in Pregnancy. The link below provides you with a page where you are able to download the Powerpoint of the presentation. http://www.hashaiti.org/alumni-stories/ppcm-presentation-has-alumnus-dr-james-fett PPCM is seen throughout the world but the incidence of PPCM in Haiti is 1 in 350-400 births and the mortality rate up

When I developed PPCM in July 2011, I trawled the internet for information about PPCM and found a lot of conflicting information and out of date websites. It was confusing!! When I left hospital, I believed that I had a 50% chance of dying in 5 years or recovering completely but understanding PPCM and how it happened was very difficult because it was so unlike any other forms of heart disease. It was very difficult

Researchers team at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) have uncovered important new clues suggesting that peripartum cardiomyopathy (PPCM) may be a vascular disease, brought about by an imbalance of in the heart during the peripartum period, just prior to and immediately following delivery. http://www.bidmc.org/News/InResearch/2012/May/Arany_PPCM.aspx Angiogenic Proteins: Intercellular signaling peptides and proteins that regulate the proliferation of new blood vessels under normal p

To edit or add a description field, so when hovering over a pin on the Locations map, go to Add/Update a Location link. You will see the description field, where you can enter in text. This is a great place to put a little bit about yourself, so when someone hovers over your pin, they are able to read this short description about you. About Myheartsisters.com Myheartsisters.com has been developed to raise

Myheartsisters.com can be set to post back to facebook. To find out what your settings are, go to your Facebook page and then Go to Account Settings (under the  Home link - right hand corner) Then Click on "Apps" Then the 'edit' link in the 'Heart Sisters' APP area. Go down to "Posts on my behalf" and select the option that you wish to use. You

Site updates are continuing. Issues with like buttons and we found some errors on signups with post backs to Facebook. There was also a world wide Facebook outage with the like buttons and post backs..which meant some people were able to join the APP but not complete the sign up to membership to the site. So a few members are in limbo and if this is the case for you, then simply to back