Broken Heart Syndrome aka Stress Cardiomyopathy on Valentines Day

Today is Valentines Day.  Are you suffering from “stress cardiomyopathy” aka “Takotsubo cardiomyopathy” aka “Broken Heart Syndrome”?  Does it really exist? It does, according to webmd.

What is a broken heart syndrome

The term “broken heart syndrome” came about after researchers noticed that many people with the condition were grieving, says Ilan Wittstein, MD, a Johns Hopkins University cardiologist who’s been studying the condition for a decade.

“The first several patients we saw, many of them had [just experienced] the death of a loved one, a spouse, a parent. Some people started having symptoms at a funeral,” he tells WebMD.

But other patients had just gone through a trauma like a car accident or a mugging. Another woman landed in the intensive care unit on her 60th birthday after being startled by well-wishers shouting “Surprise!” Wittstein says.

These types of events can trigger your sympathetic nervous system, which is also called your “fight or flight” mechanism, says Peter Shapiro, MD, a professor of clinical psychiatry at Columbia University who studies emotional issues in heart disease.

Your body unleashes a flood of chemicals, including adrenaline, he says. This sudden flood can stun your heart muscle, leaving it unable to pump properly.

So even though broken heart syndrome may feel like a heart attack, it’s a very different problem that needs a different type of treatment.

Diagnosing a Broken Heart

Clues that may help lead your doctor to the right diagnosis are your age and gender. More than 90% of cases reported thus far have been in women.

It’s especially common after menopause. Lisa Wysocky was 52 when she had her encounter with broken heart syndrome.

Some research suggests that about 2% of people who seem to be having a heart attack actually have broken heart syndrome. Among women, the number may be higher than 5%, Wittstein tells WebMD.

If you’ve just gone through grief, stress, or emotional trauma, mention it to your doctor, Wittstein says. Also bring up recent physical stress such as an asthma flare-up or low blood sugar, he says. These can also trigger the problem.

To diagnose broken heart syndrome, doctors usually perform an angiogram. This provides images of the major blood vessels that supply your heart. During a heart attack, one or more arteries are often blocked. But during broken heart syndrome, these blood vessels look OK.

Your doctor is likely going to want to also perform an echocardiogram. This takes pictures of your heart, which may reveal the tell-tale fishing pot shape.

A Healed Heart

A remarkable aspect of broken heart syndrome is that “someone can be critically ill on a Monday, and by Thursday can literally be preparing to go home,” Wittstein says.

Their heart muscle also usually recovers fairly quickly. Neither is often the case after a major heart attack.