🎯Three Content Types · One Force Field
Every square belongs to one of three content types — not three levels you climb. Track personal progress in your Course and Skills Lab.
📘 Learn It Content type
Concepts to absorb.
🛠 Live It Content type
Daily skills and habits.
📣 Share It Content type
Teach, advocate, carry forward.
🛡️Your Force Field — 16 Squares
Read each square. Deeper detail lives in the Prepared Patient Cardiomyopathy course.
What Cardiomyopathy Is
Heart muscle weakened or abnormal. Multiple types — dilated, hypertrophic, restrictive, others.
Learn ItGuideline-Directed Medical Therapy
Foundational meds reduce mortality. Adherence matters daily.
Learn ItSpot the Red Flags
Fainting · ICD shocks · chest pain · severe shortness of breath.
Learn ItTriggers
Sleep loss, missed doses, alcohol, dehydration, new infections.
Learn ItKnow Your Numbers
EF, NYHA class, BNP trend, device status. They drive your care.
Learn ItMedication Stack
Beta-blocker · ACE/ARB/ARNI · MRA · SGLT2. Each adds survival benefit.
Live ItDevices
ICD or pacemaker for some. Check schedule + battery life.
Live ItCardiac Rehab
Safe, supervised exercise improves capacity and mood.
Live ItMake Every Visit Count
Bring weight log, symptom log, and any device alerts.
Live ItYour Care Team
Heart-failure cardiologist or EP cardiologist + PCP + sometimes psychology.
Live ItTelehealth & Remote Monitoring
Device data flows automatically. Telehealth for adjustments.
Live ItInsurance & Cost
Devices covered. Some newer meds expensive — assistance programs exist.
Live ItActivity & Driving
Activity tailored. Driving rules tighter post-ICD shock.
Live ItTeach & Mentor
Newly diagnosed patients benefit enormously from your reality check.
Share ItAdvocate
Family screening for genetic cardiomyopathies. Spread the word.
Share ItResearch & Trials
Gene therapy, advanced devices, novel meds (mavacamten for HCM).
Share ItThree things to learn before you actually need them.
This is the teaching. Workflow lives in the Prepared Visit Tool. Trackers in your Course.
Which door do I use?
Cardiomyopathy patients live with a thin margin. The ladder helps you respect that.
Handle at home
- Stable baseline; usual fatigue at end of day
- No new symptoms
- Following your med schedule
Log it. Meds and follow-up are everything.
Call the office / message the portal
- Mild new shortness of breath
- Running low on meds
- Weight up 2-3 lb
- Skipped doses
Same day. Cardiomyopathy decompensates fast if untreated.
Urgent / Acute care
- Worsening exercise tolerance
- Palpitations lasting hours
- Lightheadedness with effort
- Swelling spreading
Urgent care. Bring your med list.
ER NOW / call 911
- Fainting
- Severe shortness of breath at rest
- Sustained palpitations with lightheadedness
- ICD shock (call team after; if multiple shocks, 911)
- Chest pain at rest
- Stroke signs
Call 911. Cardiomyopathy + symptoms = high-risk situation.
How to describe a new symptom in 30 seconds
Six questions clinicians listen for every time.
What is it?
Plain words.
How bad?
0-10.
When did it start?
Time + what you were doing.
What made it worse?
Movement · food · meds.
What helped?
Even a little.
What else was new?
Fever · med · supplement · stress. The forgotten detail often shifts the diagnosis.
“Lightheadedness on standing, a 5, started yesterday, worse in the morning, sitting for a minute helps, and I doubled my diuretic over the weekend after my weight ticked up.”
Questions worth asking
Four for every patient, every condition, every visit:
- “Could this be a side effect of one of my medications, a supplement, or something else I’m doing — and should we change that?”
- “Would any non-drug therapy help — physical therapy, meditation, rest, ice or heat?”
- “If I can’t afford this medication or this test, can we talk about samples, alternatives, or a social worker who can help?”
- “What should I be watching for between now and my next visit — and when do I handle it myself, when do I call your office, when do I go to urgent care, and when do I go to the ER?”
Questions specifically for Cardiomyopathy:
- “What type of cardiomyopathy do I have — dilated, hypertrophic, restrictive, infiltrative?”
- “Should I have or do I need an ICD or other device?”
- “Am I on guideline-directed medical therapy?”
- “What activity restrictions apply — especially for HCM?”
- “Should my family be screened?”