
IHSA Newsletter – March 2022
In this month’s issue, we celebrate our one-year anniversary since our launch in March 2021. Learn more about the IHSA, the CFA as well as the Microvascular Disease Summit.

In this month’s issue, we celebrate our one-year anniversary since our launch in March 2021. Learn more about the IHSA, the CFA as well as the Microvascular Disease Summit.

International Heart Spasms Alliance (IHSA) is a global initiative lead by experts through experience. These are patients who are living with coronary vasospasms and microvascular angina, while also working in a collaborative equal partnership with clinicians.
We have invited healthcare professionals from around the world to our alliance to work with us in an equal partnership. These are expert cardiologists and healthcare professionals who are interested in learning more about and further researching these NOCAD conditions. Together, we are looking to spread worldwide awareness to help further research and bring faster diagnoses to patients suffering from these often-overlooked heart conditions.

International Heart Spasms Alliance (IHSA) was founded by a group of four women which had a common goal: to do better. Terri Shumaker, Cindy McCall, Sarah Brown, and Annette Pompa all live in different parts of the world and have never met face-to-face.
Over a period of five years, these women have created and participated in different Facebook support groups which united them in a common purpose. They may have different backgrounds and experiences, but this medical condition appears to be as elusive as a unicorn in fairyland. There is no cookie cutter approach because each person is unique and does not present the same symptoms.

I consider myself one of the lucky ones.
I was a runner, triathlete, skier, scuba diver, etc. before my problems got severe enough to seek medical help.
Most doctors took my health decline seriously from the start.
Later, it was not uncommon for doctors who were unaware of my athletic endeavours to assume my subsequent lack of fitness was the cause of my condition rather than the result.

My name is Arthur. I am a Scot but have lived in London for nearly forty years.
In 2014, I had my first heart attack. In the following six years, I went to A&E at least twice a year. Every time, I was sent home and was told it was reflux.
My own doctor in about 2015/16 put me on half an angina pill. When I was in hospital, I was told by the cardiology doctors that I did not need it as I never had angina at all.

My first episode caught me completely off guard on a Sunday morning in 2014. I was an active, healthy 35-year-old mother of 3. It felt like what I imagined having a heart attack would feel like. After a minute or two it stopped as suddenly as it had started and I got out of bed to start my day, I had experienced palpitations before and brushed it off as a once off.
I had about 8 more episodes before lunch time and made a deal with myself that if it continued, I would call an ambulance. I was a busy mum and didn’t want to be ‘dramatic’! It resolved by 2 p.m.
Learn all about the symptoms, causes and triggers of these heart conditions.
Input your search keywords and press Enter.