Woman's heart conditions took her from dancing to despair – then a new direction

32岁的艾莉森·格拉夫(Allison Graff)视自己的生命为珍宝. 她喜欢她在佛罗里达的工作. 她拥有自己的房子. She discovered the delights of dancing, which she did at clubs as often as possible. Working up a sweat and getting all tired out just seemed to be the price she paid for having fun.

But when the sweating continued long past leaving the dance floor, 甚至连洗个澡都让她精疲力尽, 她知道出事了.

她去了急诊室，证实了她的担心. And while that trip to the ER in 2008 started an often-exhausting journey of high hopes and devastating despair, she still considers what she did that fateful day "the best decision I could have made."

血管造影显示没有堵塞. 当然，这是好消息. However, an electrocardiogram showed the electrical system of her heart wasn't working correctly.

We can put our time and energy into figuring out why it happened, 心脏病专家告诉了她, 或者我们可以花线上电子游戏飞禽走兽和精力让你变得更好.

格拉夫选择了后者. 她搬回了西门罗, 纽约, where her parents helped her develop and maintain healthy habits. She started taking prescription medications, stopped smoking and cut sodium from her diet. 她和她父亲一起长线上电子游戏飞禽走兽散步. 最终，她变得更强壮了.

“亲情是一剂良药，”格拉夫说. "When you're recuperating and surrounded by people helping you do the right things, 这样你就可以退一步说, “嗯, 现在对我来说什么是最好的?'"

她做了一份兼职工作, 压力小的工作, 后来开始在艺术界全职工作, 她很喜欢. 她一直在好转. 她结婚了，并在2013年生了一个孩子，她给这个女儿取名为艾弗里.

"My heart had really responded to the medication and the new understanding that life wasn't about how much I could do in a day,她说. “我专注于我的家庭和健康. 我练习瑜伽. 我为我的身体做了很多有益的事情."

2016年，她的父亲去世了. He had been battling amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, also called Lou Gehrig's disease. 格拉夫帮助她的母亲和姐姐照顾他, 这是一种爱的劳动, 但压力也很大. Her health began to decline again and her marriage took a downturn. She and her husband separated in 2019, and Graff and Avery moved in with her mother.

格拉夫又开始抽烟了. 压力吞没了她.

In 2020, 就在她离婚的第二天, 格拉夫在拜访一位朋友时站起来昏倒了. 在急诊室，她被诊断为房颤. 医生植入了一个循环记录仪来监测她的心脏. 她被送回家，并被告知要放松.

她试着. 但她出现了心悸, 变得消沉, 她失去了食欲，不知道该怎么办. 然后她得了轻微中风.

格拉夫说:“我觉得我的嘴唇麻木了. "When I reached out to touch my face, I had no control over my arm."

Tests at the hospital confirmed 小中风 in four areas of her brain. 另外, 她被诊断出患有烟雾病, 血管收缩输送大脑的血管收缩. If one of those vessels were to pop, she'd have a hemorrhagic stroke.

For someone with atrial fibrillation, strokes and 小中风 are "quite common," said Dr. 杰弗里·阿森佐，格拉夫的心脏病专家.

"This is 特别是 true when the arrhythmia occurs only intermittently and sometimes without any other symptoms,他说. "The underlying stroke risk is why atrial fibrillation is such a dangerous arrhythmia."

It's also the most common arrhythmia, he said, but not so much in a woman Graff's age. 她的另一项诊断:心肌病也不是. Graff couldn't do anything about why she developed these conditions. She could, though, have brain surgery to correct moyamoya disease.

So, 一年前——在专注于减轻压力之后, 为自己和艾弗里创造稳定的生活, 她采用了“用柠檬做柠檬水”的咒语——她做到了.

格拉夫未来可能需要更多的手术. But for now, she's focusing on living life to the fullest, moment by moment. 包括教瑜伽, 识别她的感受, 倾听她的身体, 在她需要拒绝的时候拒绝.

“她一直很活跃, 正确饮食, 特别是, staying compliant with her medications and regular follow-up visits,阿森佐说. "I see no reason why she cannot live out and fulfill a normal life span."

格拉夫说，这些天她的情绪更加稳定. And while she may not be dancing the nights away as she was before her heart issues began, 她找到了另一个快乐的源泉.

“我在做倒立，”她说. “在这一切之前，我太害怕了，不敢尝试."

发自内心的故事 chronicles the inspiring journeys of heart disease and stroke survivors, caregivers and advocates.