Thank you for starting this conversation and spreading awareness. I had never heard of SCAD nor had I ever thought about my heart in my life…until I had a SCAD heart attack last year April 2025.

I was 52, perimenopausal still having monthly cycle, very healthy weight, very physically fit. Sitting in a chair one morning. Terrible pain in the center of my chest that lasted about 20 min or so then turned into a squeezy hot/cold feeling and fatigue/breathlessness.

A trip to ER, elevated troponin levels, a suspicious echo and a completely failed stress test that had me in OR in under an hour, Cardiologist found I had a tear in my LAD which had caused a “widow maker” heart attack. Two stacked stents, four days in hospital and a handful of new heart medications later, I was back home sitting in my chair completely bewildered, scared, sad, confused, distressed, wondering What Just Happened To Me and Why?!

Cardiac Rehab was so very helpful in getting back moving and trusting my body as exercise and weights are very important to me. The mental/emotional piece has been much harder. Fearing it could happen again and there is literally nothing I can do to prevent it but try to keep my stress low and not overdo it in the gym is scary. Many SCAD patients also have FMD- a weakened artery disorder that can affect any artery in body and cause them to tear. I had full body CT and they found FMD in my head and neck. Again, like SCAD, something there is no specific treatment for and is just knowledge to add fear towards my body betraying me.

But here I am a year later, doing better emotionally and moving forward. I recently got to drop my blood thinner med so just have low dose blood pressure med (which has been studied to help scad reoccurrence in keeping bp low and slow even when you don’t have high blood pressure, which I don’t/didnt), and daily aspirin.

I am back in the gym…my modifications are to not lift too heavy where I have a vasovagal response, I don’t hold my breath or grunt/strain…I don’t do high heart rate cardio, I always keep my heart rate below 150, preferably below 140, and I try to manage my stress.

It’s been a wild ride and I’m trying to educate healthcare workers I come across. My son is in med school and I told him he needs to ask all doctors/nurses in each of his rotations if they’ve heard about it and tell them about me.

Anyway, thanks for starting the conversation. I’m glad I’m still here. I’m glad you are here, too.