Start Here: Why I Created HEART RESERVE

Start here

If you've ever left a medical appointment thinking, I still don't know what this means for me, this is where I want us to start.

You deserve an explanation you can understand, and a plan you helped make.

I'm Lisa. I'm a physician assistant, a mother of four, and the founder of Heart Reserve. I've worked in medicine since two thousand three, beginning in heart care.

Today, I want to tell you why I created Heart Reserve, what the new guidelines mean for women, and how we can use that information in everyday care.

My pregnancy, my heart

In twenty eighteen, I was pregnant with identical twins. My boys shared a placenta, the organ that provides oxygen and nutrients during pregnancy. They developed a serious condition called twin-to-twin transfusion syndrome. Blood was passing unevenly between them through their shared blood vessels.

During that complicated pregnancy, I had fetal laser surgery. I also experienced heart failure and needed intensive care.

Heart failure means the heart isn't meeting the body's needs for blood and oxygen as well as it should. The name can sound like the heart has stopped. That isn't what it means.

My boys were born at twenty-eight weeks and five days. They spent nearly three months in the newborn intensive care unit.

I understood the medical language. And I still needed help. I needed our medical team, my family, prayer, and other mothers' stories. Those stories helped me find care and understand what we were facing.

That experience is part of why this work matters so much to me. I know what it is to be the person providing care, and the person who needs it.

The mother's story matters too

Here's the question that stayed with me. What happens to the mother's health story after the pregnancy is over?

Your baby has a birth history. You have a pregnancy history. Both deserve attention.

Maybe you remember being told your blood pressure was high. Maybe you had diabetes during pregnancy, or your baby came early. Years later, those details can feel like something from another chapter of your life.

But studies have linked several pregnancy complications with a higher chance of heart disease later. One large study followed more than two million women in Sweden and found those connections could last for decades.

That doesn't tell us exactly what will happen to any one woman. It gives us a reason to ask better questions and look at her whole health history.

What the new guidelines mean

So, what do the new guidelines actually say?

Guidelines are recommendations that help health professionals use research when caring for people. The twenty twenty-six cholesterol guidelines include pregnancy and reproductive history when assessing a woman's future heart risk.

For example: high blood pressure during pregnancy. Diabetes that developed during pregnancy. Giving birth early. And preeclampsia, a pregnancy-related condition involving high blood pressure and signs of injury to organs. Early menopause also matters.

In everyday words, your cholesterol number needs to be considered alongside the rest of your story. That information can help you and your care team decide how to protect your heart.

Another set of twenty twenty-six guidelines looks at how heart health, kidney health, and blood sugar are connected. After certain pregnancy complications, it recommends checking risks such as blood pressure, cholesterol, blood sugar, and kidney health within the first year after birth, with continuing care afterward.

Some checks need to happen much sooner. Within the first year does not mean waiting a year. Your own care team should explain the timing for you.

And if your pregnancy was years ago, you can still bring that history to your next appointment.

Turn the information into care

Let me make this practical.

You could say: I had high blood pressure when I was pregnant. It got better after delivery. Does that change what we should watch now?

Or: My baby was born early. Is that written in my health history, and does it change my prevention plan?

Then ask: What do my current blood pressure, cholesterol, and blood sugar tell us? What should we check, and when should we follow up?

A pregnancy complication does not automatically mean you have heart disease or need a particular medicine. Your history is one part of the decision. Your current health, family history, priorities, and treatment options matter too.

And if you are planning another pregnancy, ask your care team to review your health and medicines with you before you try.

What HEART RESERVE is here to do

This is what I want Heart Reserve to help with.

Heart Reserve is a place where I share free education and tools to help you understand your health and prepare for conversations with your care team. Our Heart Story helps you gather the pieces: pregnancy history, menopause, health conditions in your family, your blood pressure and blood tests, symptoms, and the questions you want answered.

You bring what you know about your life. Your care team brings medical expertise. Together, you decide what deserves attention next.

And you belong here whether you've had children or never been pregnant. Women's heart health includes all of us.

On this podcast, we'll look at studies, explain what they found, and talk about who the findings might apply to. When the research leaves a question unanswered, we'll say so.

My goal is for you to finish an episode understanding something you can use. Maybe that's a term you finally understand. Maybe it's a question you've been trying to find the words to ask.

Your next step

Here's a place to begin. Write down one part of your health history you're unsure about. Add one question: Does this change what we should do for my heart? Bring it to your next visit.

And because we're talking about pregnancy, one thing should never wait for a routine visit. If you're pregnant or have given birth within the past year, chest pain, trouble breathing, fainting, or a severe headache with vision changes need immediate medical attention. Tell the team that you're pregnant or recently gave birth.

You can find our free resources at heart reserve dot blog. This podcast is here to help you learn; your own care team can help you make a plan that fits you.

I'm Lisa, and this is Heart Reserve. Your health history matters to your heart. Know your story. Build your reserve.