When Alan S. was referred to New Horizon by his primary care doctor, he had no idea how much the practice would change his life.  When he first started at New Horizon, his blood pressure was high, his diabetes was out of control, and he wanted a lifestyle change.

After spending some time with the New Horizon staff and following his treatment plan, Alan began to lose weight and his health began to improve.  However, after only being a part of the program for a short time, he and the New Horizon staff began to notice new problems.  Eventually, Alan and the staff decided that it would be best for him to take a break from the program.

“I couldn’t do the full program like I should so we decided I should stop… which was probably the best thing that could have happened to me,” he said.

Soon after, Alan was diagnosed with a knee infection, and while in the hospital for treatment with IV antibiotics, he began to have chest discomfort.  “When they did an ultrasound of my heart they found out I had aortic stenosis,” he recalled.

Aortic stenosis, a narrowing of the aortic valve, prevents the heart valve from opening correctly and causes the heart to work harder.  The condition can be dangerous and is aggravated by excitement or exercise, which is why Alan went into surgery to correct it and had a heart valve replacement and bypass.

Today, Alan is doing great.  “I’ve kept the weight off… and even lost more weight,” he said.  Even though Alan is no longer a patient at New Horizon, he can’t say enough good things about the clinic that kick-started his lifestyle change.  “I’ve been talking up New Horizon… telling them all about you… even in cardiac rehab… I told them all about New Horizon and what they did for me,” he said.

SOURCE: http://www.medicinenet.com/aortic_stenosis/article.htm