About The Book

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Mitral Valve Prolapse Syndrome (MVPS) took medical journalist Joan Anderson on the most frightening ride of her life. A mild flutter in her chest escalated to a living hell.

 

Sick, scared, confused, and alone, she battled a wide range of symptoms. Faced with chest pains, arrhythmias, migraines with stroke-like symptoms, irritable bowel syndrome, blood pressure spikes, fibromyalgia, anxiety and extreme fatigue, Anderson ultimately took matters into her own hands.

 

Determined to regain her health, she developed a personal action plan after receiving little to no help from the medical community. Rather than accept drugs that would mask her symptoms and elevate her health risks, Anderson faced down her fears and took control.

 

Searching outside the usual protocols, and leaving uncaring doctors behind, Anderson unearthed new information and better, more effective treatments not only for her MVPS symptoms but also for the symptoms of what she calls the MVPS “Sister Syndromes,” Fibromyalgia and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome/Myalgic Encephalomyelitis ME/CFS.

 

In My Personal Action Plan--Stopping the Symptoms of Mitral Valve Prolapse Syndrome Dysautonomia, Anderson shares the methods that changed her life. The book details her research and provides helpful resources for others taking the same journey.

 

Anderson, an award-winning medical reporter and healthcare system administrator, recounts the 5 Patient Principles she developed to help her effectively navigate the medical system.

 

“Even though I have had experience researching medical issues in the past,” she writes, “I am still an MVPS patient, not a medical professional. If I can research and find answers that helped me, anyone can.” 

  

Please Note: The author has no underlying structure or functional problems with her heart. She was diagnosed with Mitral Valve Prolapse when a physician noted a benign click as her heart’s mitral valve closed. The author has what is called Mitral Valve Prolapse Syndrome—Dysautonomia, a problem with the autonomic nervous system.

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About The Author

 

From Medical Journalist to MVPS Patient 

Joan Anderson began experiencing symptoms of Mitral Valve Prolapse Syndrome before the medical community seemed to know or acknowledge the condition existed. Her doctors just patted her on the head, told her that her palpitations were perfectly normal for an over-stressed mother of two and sent her on her way.

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Although there was no Internet to answer her growing questions, Joan was an award-winning medical journalist who was experienced in researching health issues and cutting through barriers to find answers. Joan’s approach as a medical reporter was to learn as much as possible about a health problem and then inform the public about its impact on their lives and what they could do to combat it. She took on her personal assignment about MVPS with the same vigor.

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Joan began her 40-year career as a journalist, when, as a mother, she exposed the dangers of chemicals in children’s sleepwear. That led to a position as a medical/consumer reporter with KERA, the PBS affiliate in Dallas, Texas, and the eventual banning of the chemicals.

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Joan served as a healthcare administrator with a major Texas healthcare system. Her responsibilities included overseeing the city-wide clinic network,  a health and fitness center, and implementing and coordinating health programs with the hospital. She also developed and implemented a public education program with an emphasis on prevention that included offering health education seminars and community health screenings.

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Joan has also co-authored two health books with a nationally recognized physician.

 

Joan currently has a company that distributes the Clarity Chair, a revolutionary medical device she helped develop to improve brain function and help overcome challenges caused by injury and dysfunction. 

 

She now adds this book on MVPS to her list of investigative reports. The text chronicles what she’s learned in the effort to take back her life from the grips of MVPS. Joan knew she had to have an action plan to do that.

This is hers.

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