SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — After researching women's health issues, one man in Scottsdale, Arizona, is feeling like an "honorary woman."
Todd Hartley is the director of news for EmpowHer.com, the Internet's first multimedia medical encyclopedia for women, and he's been interviewing renowned doctors across the country about women's health issues including menstrual cycles, cramps, pregnancy, and heart health.
No question is too embarrassing for Hartley, who doesn't mind asking doctors things women themselves may be too afraid to ask.
He explains, "I've talked to doctors about periods, labia reductions, irritable bowel syndrome, and how women deal with men's erectile dysfunction. I'm not embarrassed by anything anymore — it's lunchtime conversation for me now. I feel like an honorary woman."
And while Hartley's research is helping save women, it also helped save his own life.
Recently, Hartley was interviewing heart specialists and women with heart conditions when he realized he had similar symptoms.
Hartley had been experiencing fluttering in his chest, a racing heart, and tightness around his shirt, and was diagnosed with cardiac arrhythmia.
He says, "I was the first person saved by the women's online encyclopedia, and I'm a man! I'm scared to see what happens when I research ovarian conditions. I don't want to be diagnosed with any of that!"