My heart disease story: How I cured my heart

My passion today is fitness, working out, creating super fun workout routines and helping people discover their best potential inside and outside their bodies. But I wasn’t into fitness nor fit all of my life. As a matter of fact, I didn’t like anything physical in my schooling days. My real fitness journey started when I was 18 years old when I got the news, which shook my grounds.

I was diagnosed with an aortic valve insufficiency, which simply means there is never enough blood circulating in my body thus lack of important oxygen in my main blood flow. In short words: My heart is not working properly and it is sending only around 70%-85% of blood back to my body circulation. If your heart is healthy, you heart pumps 100% of your blood volume to your body. 

What is actually happening inside my heart?

When my blood from one-chamber moves straight into aorta, the leaflets (valves) do not close completely and my blood returns into the chamber and thus my blood component is withdrawn. On the next squeeze, the ventricles try to press the blood, which has returned in addition to the brand new blood coming in. However, the blood component returns. As a result, the left ventricle regularly deals with added blood (new and returning) and also regularly experiences the stress of the blood that is still in it. Thus the location is hypertrophied, its muscle mass is pressed and ventricle is enlarged. Because of this error, there is an absence of blood in the great circle of blood flow from the very beginning. Accordingly, the body lacks oxygen and also nutrients with completely typical respiratory system.

There are 3 stages for this condition. Stage 1 and 2 are not as serious as stage 3, where surgery is needed. I was diagnosed with stage 2. Stage 1: 15 % of returning blood volume Stage 2: 15-30 % of returning blood volume Stage 3: 50% of returning blood volume There are also other serious side effects of this condition such as: shortness of breath, loss of consciousness, pain in the heart, and pulsation in the arteries, pulmonary edema … I remember when i was in my teens and a bit further i felt dizzy when i was jogging, going uphill or going for simple hikes, i felt pulsation and heart in my neck and sometimes pain in my heart. The scariest part in the beginning was that i didn’t know what was wrong. I just thought i was really unfit and not healthy.

I was only 18 when doctors told me that I would need an operation on my heart in just a few years. So I was in a stage 1-2 going towards stage 3 in the future. At that time I wasn’t into sports so much. I was avoiding it as much as I could simply because I was always dizzy, I would faint, I felt pulsations in my heart and it was scary. But doctor’s news totally woke me up. I said to myself there must be a way to fix this and to avoid the surgery.

So I took control over my health. I started with my healthy lifestyle transformation. I started jogging 4-5 times per week, eating very healthy and I have discovered meditation and yoga. Eventually I discovered vegan diet and I cut all meat, fish, eggs and dairy products out of my diet. It didn’t take me long time when I noticed some positive changes in my overall health. I lost around 8 kg, I had more energy, I was more relaxed, positive and happy. My skin looked fresh and clean. I felt really good, both mentally and physically.

At my next doctor’s appointment I got the news, which confirmed my current path was worth it and it was somehow working. Doctor told me there is no need for my surgery anymore because condition is stable and it is not getting worse. She told me: Keep on doing what you are doing!

I knew that this has happened because I completely changed my lifestyle. Doing sports, eating healthy and listening to my body was a key. This encouraged me to get involved into sports as much as I could. I have discovered amazing training approach, functional fitness, and I got into best shape of my life, using only my body weight and few free weights. I started doing High Intensity Interval Trainings and this type of training gave me amazing results in just short amount of time. Everyone who has ever done HIIT, with weights involved, they know this is not an easy workout. It is challenging and hard. But every drop of sweat and struggle was worth it. It made my heart super strong and with consistent training I have increased my total blood volume with more red blood cells and thus more oxygen.

Now I don’t get dizzy anymore and can pull through the hardest training with no issues what so ever. Besides that I cannot stress enough how diet is important in our lives. No matter how hard you train if your diet is not on spot you cannot succeed with your goals.

In the beginning of my fitness journye I was training only for myself but later more and more people were asking me about my trainings and workout regimes and if I could train them as well. I decided that I would like to train people professionally so I enrolled into fitness courses to get my license as a personal trainer/ sport nutritionist/ yoga and pilates instructor.

And now here i am. Training people all over the world with my fitness platform.

My goal is to get people into the best shape of their lives, to deliver an amazing and effective workouts for all levels, to make them feel good inside-out, to show them healthier way of eating through healthy diet variations and to have fun while working out.

My passion for fitness is growing every day and the most rewarding feeling is a feeling that you can help somebody. I try to encourage people, to make them believe that impossible is possible. They just have to try and be consistent with it.

If I could and can do it with not 100% healthy heart, so can they.