February is Healthy Heart month and, with Valentine’s Day today, some may feel they have a broken heart…but did you know there is such a thing as “broken-heart syndrome?”
Colleen Lane, a cardiologist at Aspirus Health, told WEAU news that the symptoms of broken heart syndrome are similar to those of a heart attack. People may experience sudden onset chest pain, shortness of breath, or lower extremity swelling.
“The medical term for it typically is takotsubo cardiomyopathy,” Dr. Donna Phelan of Capital Cardiology Associates in Albany, New York, told WYNT. “It’s caused by a sudden stress of some sort, like having your heart broken.”
Another term for the condition is stress cardiomyopathy. It is a temporary heart condition with treatable symptoms that usually reverse in a few days, but, according to the Mayo Clinic, the exact cause of the syndrome is unknown.
A surge of stress hormones, such as adrenaline, that causes temporary damage to some people’s hearts is one line of thinking, but it is unclear how these hormones may cause heart problems or if something else is to blame.
It is possible that the condition results from a temporary squeezing (constriction) of the heart’s large or small arteries or a change in the heart muscle structure.
However, what is known, is an intense physical or emotional event frequently precedes broken heart syndrome. It can be caused by an acute illness (such as an asthma attack or a COVID-19 infection), major surgery, or a broken bone. The condition can be triggered by anything that causes a strong emotional response, such as a death or other loss or a heated argument.
Ilan Wittstein, M.D., the Johns Hopkins Advanced Heart Failure Fellowship program director, said emotional stressors that often lead to the syndrome include grief, fear, extreme anger, or surprise.
Wittstein also said physical stressors that can bring on a broken heart include high fever, stroke, seizure, and low blood sugar.
Lane said that the best way to prevent broken heart syndrome is by not allowing stressful situations to become overwhelming. She recommends meditation as an effective way to deal with stress.
Per the Mayo Clinic, broken heart syndrome is more common in women than men and most people who suffer from the affliction are fifty years old or older. People who suffer from anxiety and depression also have a higher risk of suffering from the problem.
“Rarely, broken heart syndrome can cause death,” the Mayo Clinic says. “However, most people who have broken heart syndrome quickly recover and don’t have long-lasting effects.”
Other complications from broken heart syndrome include fluid in the lungs, low blood pressure, heart failure, and blood clots forming in the heart due to weakening heart muscles.
Heart.org recommends that people who think they may be suffering from broken heart syndrome talk to their doctors. A coronary angiography, a test that shows the insides of your coronary arteries using dye and special X-rays, may be required. Blood tests, EKGs, echocardiography (a painless test that uses sound waves to create moving pictures of your heart), and cardiac MRI are some of the other diagnostic tests available.
