I’m a 56 year old postmenopausal women, and have always considered myself healthy. On March 10, 2007 I suffered a heart attack I was seen at our local E.R. and after determining how serious it was, they flew me via air ambulance to Kelowna General Hospital for an angiogram. The angiogram showed a spontaneous dissection of the LAD (left anterior descending) along with a 99% blockage. I was then flown to Vancouver General for the angioplasty treatment where they placed 3 stents in the LAD. At this point no one told me about the FMD….just put me on Plavix and aspirin for life.

About 2 months later I started having shortness of breath and chest pain so they scheduled me for another angiogram. This time it showed that my RCA (right coronary artery) was 80% blocked, which had been totally clear 2 months ago, and the LAD also had 80% re-stenosis. This is when the Dr. actually informed me of the FMD disease. They put 3 more stents in the LAD artery, and 2 in the RCA. I now have a total of 8 stents in my heart.

At this rate of disease progression, I thought I’d be dead before the summer was out. I was also informed that I have FMD in both my femoral arteries, and in my iliac arteries as well. It’s been over a year since this all came about, and so far I’m doing well. If I get stressed, I sometimes will experience heart spasms, and I’ve been told not to participate in very strenuous activities as my coronary arteries are very friable.

I was off work for 6 months, but have been back part time for almost a year now and doing well. I struggle with the fact that I have this disease and it could re-occur. I’ve never been a smoker, but have suffered with migraine headaches and have been on fairly high doses of estrogen for years, which they think may be a contributing factor. I may also have a hereditary factor as my mother had 4 collogen type diseases. I wish there were more Doctor’s aware of FMD…..however, I’ve found web sites very helpful.