Lisa Salberg Founder and CEO of the HCMA will be blogging about daily issues. Feel free to comment on the blog.

This area is where you can find out all that is going on at the HCMA by reading the ongoing discussions.

This is also a good area to vent concerns over the disease to share your thoughts, concerns and fears with others. However, we do ask that you please direct specific questions to the appropriate forum topic area.

Note: Topics may be moved to more appropriate forum areas if they become too specific.

Here is where you can discuss anything from current events to birthday wishes and caviar dreams. However, we request that any discussion about health or the HCMA be directed to the appropriate topic areas.

Note: Topics may be moved to more appropriate forum areas if they become health related.

This area is where you can ask any question and someone from the staff and moderator team will respond.

Note: this is area is limited to only posting new questions. Replies can only be made by HCMA Moderators and Staff. Any further discussion should be made in the appropriate topic areas.

Have you ever thought to yourself “what can I do to help educate the medical community about HCM”? We know many of you have and we have created a program to help YOU and your community “Get the Word OUT!” ™. Share your ideas on how to "Get the Word OUT!" in your community!

There has been a great deal of public debate on the role of screening children for HCM and other cardiac diseases. This is an area that would best be defined as evolving and controversial. This section of the message board is for the discussion of the concept of screening and all of the potential issues around this issue.

These posting are geared toward dealing with family issues surrounding living with HCM. Parents who are faced with the diagnosis of a child and dealing with the questions and concerns about participation in athletic events should post here. If your spouse or other loved one is diagnosed this is a wonderful place to meet others in a similar situation.

Nearly all of those with HCM are on some type of medical management. Share your thoughts, questions and concerns with others regarding medications here.

Those with implantable devices are invited here to share there stories of survival, implantation and life with a device. Those who may be evaluation there need for a device are welcome here to share their thoughts with those living with devices.

Choosing between which procedure can be very difficult, visit here to discuss your questions and concerns with those who have already been there. Those who have had these procedures done are encouraged to visit here and help those heading down the path to septal reduction.

This section is dedicated to those who are evaluating their need of a heart transplant, those currently on a waiting list for a transplant and those who have previously had a heart transplant due to HCM. It should be noted that transplants in HCM are rare; approximately 2-3% of those with HCM will need transplants. We hope this area is helpful to those facing this challenging topic.

This area of the message board is for use by our young adult/teenage users (14-23 yrs old - as a suggestion). It will be moderated by adults. However, posts are FOR young adults and teens. You older folks give them a little space - chime in if you can share some ideas or experiences...but give then the space they need to talk to each other. Keep the language clean, the topics appropriate and have a good time talking to each other!

It is nice to know when people are attending various centers for treatment, evaluation or for other reasons. This is NOT a forum for dialog it is for the purpose of letting others know where you are and helping you arrange meeting others, if you so wish. This will be a moderated portion of the site and only those posts approved will be posted here.

Example: Lisa will be at NEMC on January 9, 2006 for the day and would be interested in getting together with other HCM'ers after 6pm Please send a PM.

We all know that diet and exercise are important to everyone, but those with HCM face challenges in this area. This section of the forum is dedicated to discussion about weight loss, weight maintainence and exercise. This is not a forum for the discussion of competitive athletics in HCM but rather healthy diet and exercise discussion, tips and share experiences.

Discussions over your lifestyle issues from occupational matters to weekend recreation.

Face it this is heavy subject matter...but we all must remember to sit back and laugh from time to time! Please post your favorite, joke, stories or whatever it is that makes you laugh and share a smile with the rest of us!

While the HCMA does not subscribe to any one religious belief we recognize that there is a great need for spiritual healing and guidance when faced with a lifelong medical condition. We have asked several members of the HCMA, who happen to be religious leaders in various houses of worship to moderate this portion of the message board to assist you in any way they can.

IMPORTANT NOTICE - This area should not be used to forward the beliefs or practices of any one particular religion and all view points are to be respected.

The HCMA will keep you updated on events, news stories and all media issues relevant to the HCM Community.

Note: Only HCMA Staff may begin new topics here. Please forward any relevant information to the staff for consideration of posting.

This is an area reserved for our readers, members and friends to share stories of sudden death. We are seeking to assist the research community in gaining a better understanding of the true number of sudden deaths and as much detailed information about the person and activities they were involved with prior to the death.

We ask you to provide name, date of death, age, location, a brief discription of what the person was doing prior to the SD and any family history you may know. These deaths need not be related to you, please include news clippings from your local papers as well as family situations.

Note: This is not a discussion board. Any discussion of the events noted here should be placed in an appropriate area.

This is a area where the HCMA Staff will post relevant information on a regular basis. We will also post notices of research projects currently ongoing, therefore you may choose to contact these centers to participate in research.