HEART FELT -- Kastan Fills Emotional Gaps for Women With Heart Disease
By Mary Powers / powers@commercialappealcom

She never smoked.

She wasn't overweight.

Her blood pressure was normal.

She exercised regularly.

But at age 41, Kathy Kastan of Cordova started having symptoms of heart disease.

It would take two years, visits to two Memphis heart specialists and a trip to the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., to get the correct diagnosis and relief from crippling chest pain. Before it was over, she'd undergo five heart procedures plus emergency heart bypass surgery.

During her search for information, she found plenty of books about how to prevent or reverse heart disease. Most were written by physicians. None addressed the emotional roller coaster she was riding.

So she wrote that book.

"From the Heart: A Woman's Guide to Living Well with Heart Disease" is what she was looking for when she was diagnosed. Its official publication date is Sunday, but the book ($25, Da Capo Press) is in book stores now.

"I would have realized I'm not alone," Kastan said, explaining how the information would have helped her. "I would have felt more hopeful. I would have had something to direct me in a positive way and help me understand why I was floundering."

Instead of the physiology of atherosclerosis, in "From the Heart," Kastan writes about body image and sex. Instead of low-fat meal ideas, she details her own struggle to digest the diagnosis.

Along with strategies for navigating the health system, Kastan outlines the healing power of activism.

Kastan, whose father and husband are both physicians, is a licensed clinical social worker who had worked as a psychotherapist before her diagnosis. She now devotes herself full time to advocacy.

She is in her second term as president of WomenHeart, a national coalition for women with heart disease. She's also chairwoman of the American Heart Association's northwest region. In 2005, Kastan and the the foot-long bypass scar bisecting her chest were featured in a national public-awareness campaign about women and heart disease.

It's work that has her traveling, sometimes several times a month, lobbying elected and government officials or speaking to medical, consumer and other groups. She talks about the still under- appreciated risk heart disease poses to women as well as the need for more research about women and heart disease.

Her message to doctors: Take seriously female patients and their heart disease risk. Although she said more research and education are needed, she is hopeful. "We are getting there. We are moving in the right direction," she said.

She got serious about writing the book three years ago after surveying WomenHeart members. What they told her about their experiences with heart disease reinforced her belief that her story wasn't unique.

Kastan had a family history of heart disease and elevated cholesterol, but she wasn't considered an obvious candidate for the problem.

So when her left arm would tingle during a swim or a bike ride left her short of breath and nauseated, she blamed her age and asthma.

The first doctor blamed a leaky heart valve. The next one found a blockage in one of the main arteries supplying blood to her heart and vasospasm, a cramping of the blood vessel that temporarily reduced or halted its blood supply. But it took a trip to the Mayo Clinic's women's heart clinic before more aggressive treatment of the vasospasm brought symptom relief....[MORE]