The syndrome is a wound to the soul. It requires an unconventional approach— shamanistic practitioners and ethneogens under a guided journey may be the best hope for these suffering souls. “Change your mind”, by Michael Pollan offers hope.
4
@Marcus
Agreed. I tried everything to heal the grief over the death of my two-year-old son. Like so many have commented here, it's an intense journey, one our society (in the US) isn't equipped to support. It wasn't until nine years later when I worked with a shaman that I was able to get my life back.
@Carolanne
A Shaman?? seriously - theres no such thing
I think I have this condition. I've been what they call mentally ill my whole life. No family left, no friends left. I can't work anymore. When people say, "Don't hesitate to ask for help," I want to laugh, or cry. There is no help. I have two choices: get through life on my own, or be warehoused in a psych ward for a couple of weeks, then be discharged so I can go back to getting through life on my own.
67
@katherinelalli
I'm in Connecticut, I've suffered from tremendous grief. It is difficult, life can be very lonely, but please please please don't think you are alone, or that no one will help you. We are all in this together, and we must help each other. Reach out, perhaps your needs will fulfill someone else
36
@katherinelalli
The hardest part is when you finally ask for help and help is refused. It was all just empty words.
10
@Vegan in NYC
I'm just so afraid. Afraid to leave the apartment. Afraid of being locked up again. This world is terrifying.
6
Jesus died of a Broken Heart. I understand the connection between the two brain & pain & feeling the lack of strength from love. Sense of Anomy is how society is left feeling bc even if you do not understand we are all connected. What effects one effects ALL.
3
What?
Jesus was hung on/nailed to a cross without food or water for days. That would kill just about anyone without medical intervention.
While I agree with the sentiment to a large extent as a personal belief, saying that Jesus died of a broken heart & making the article a stepping post for religious diatribe is odd at best.
How our bodies function, especially under times of grief & stress, is something that needs to be scientifically studied further. No, not because of Jesus, but because the more that is known, the better doctors will be able to adequately treat depression, PTSD, anxiety & a whole host of other disorders as it all ties together.
I respect religious beliefs & I certainly hold my own. I just don’t know that this is the right forum or story on which to miss the bigger picture, even if well intentioned.
5
@Christiana Glover
Curious where you got information about his cause of death.
5
@Jay George I agree. Jesus was crucified. He died a physical death. But his heart bled for his people whom He loved so much. Not for himself.
My God some of the comments here are tragic. It brings home that life can be just horrible for some people more than others. That we can be let down terribly. And if it happens enough the body and mind become etched with grief. Too many it appears come to feel they are alone, and are left to put up or shut up. I really found some of the things readers said here more gut wrenching than the points the article was trying to make.
1
I have had two episodes of Takotsubo Syndrome, occurring 10 years apart. The first was at about age 48 when after a period of being sedentary for approximately two weeks, went up skiing at about 6000-8000 feet. I think it was the physical stress after my period of inactivity that brought it on. Cardiac cath showed completely clear coronaries. The second occurrence was after being bed ridden for almost 3 weeks from severe bronchitis, and then getting up and doing something fairly strenuous. Again, clear coronaries, and echocardiography showing classic Takotsubo Syndrome. Unfortunately, the second episode was followed two days later by a stroke. I am now on a beta blocker.
4
@danf I too have had 2 episodes. One at 39 yo and another at 43 yo (about 4 mo ago). Mine were not caused by emotional stress either. I’m in the 30% or so of patients with an unidentified cause. It’s a scary place to be not knowing what caused it, but I think provides more evidence with a faulty neurological wiring system. I plan to do more yoga, acupuncture and mindfulness to try to balance out and improve neurological connections.
How does Takotsubo Syndrome differ from Stress Cardiomyopathy?
1
@H Munro...I also have the same question. I originally was diagnosed with a heart attack in 2007 immediately after the death of my father. After the heart cath, it was found my blockage was minimal. They later diagnosed me with broken heart syndrome / takotsubo syndrome. After another event occurred several years later including AFib, they changed the diagnosis to stress cardiomyopathy. I was told that stress and emotions trigger the release of certain hormones which stun the heart. I plan to ask my cardiologist your question at next month's check up.
@H Munro
From what I've read, the names can be used interchangeably. I'm sure it's what my husband died of.
He died very suddenly and the autopsy found nothing wrong except the cardiomyopathy.
After working with his dad for 15 years on the farm and asking his father to buy in, he was told no. Then his ten year younger brother, who had not stayed around to work on the farm, pushed his way in and bought into the business. My husband never got over it.
1
@H Munro, it's the same thing.. Takotsubo, or stress cardiomyopathy, can be caused by physical or emotional stress and in approximately 30% person of patients, the cause is not known.
There must be a mild version of this from ridicule by a loved one. Sickness, depression, and pain in the chest become almost deathly toxic with scorn from a soulmate. And a scar seems to remain. Be kind, just in case.
11
In the early 1970s, when today’s advanced cardiac care wasn’t even a dream on the horizon, my 47-year-old uncle, the youngest of three siblings, died of a massive heart attack. My grandfather—his father—passed away five months later. I have never doubted that my grandfather died of a broken heart, but I always thought it was metaphorical, describing the overall effect of grief and trauma on his health. Amazing that it’s so much simpler than that!
2
About five years ago, when I was 70 years old, I was coming home from a lovely walk with my dog. It was a beautiful fall afternoon. About a quarter mile from my house, I was suddenly breathless and felt tightness (not really pain) in my chest. I stopped and bent over to rest, then walked a bit further. I turned onto my street and found that I simply couldn't take another step. I sat down on the grass and dropped my dog's leash. She ran to the end of my street, a cul de sac where my neighbor and his son were walking. My neighbor called out, asking if I was okay. I called back, "No." They came and held me up while I got home.
After I rested a while, I felt pretty much okay, but I called my doctor and made an appointment for the following morning. I drove myself to the appointment, having a bit of breathlessness as I walked from the parking lot. Long story a little shorter, I was hospitalized that day. The doctors kept asking me about stress and grief and anxiety and so forth, but I hadn't been experiencing anything negative. They diagnosed me with Takatsubo but never identified a cause.
I did, though: With my doctor's consent, I had stopped taking my beta blocker a few weeks before--cold turkey. That was the only change in my life. AND my intuition was validated when, in an episode of House, House mentioned something about beta-blocker stoppage in one of his differential diagnoses of a heart problem.
I was lucky; I recovered completely.
6
Excellent illustration by Celia Jacobs.
4
I like it as well. It reminds me of Gaugin- a Polynesian woman with hibiscus flower. Such a clever and striking trompe l'oeil.
Last year I got sick with a virus, which was severe. The night I initially got sick, I probably vomited violently about 25 times and strained my stomach muscles. When my symptoms wouldn't resolve after four or five days, I went to the ER, and I was immediately admitted to the Intensive Care unit, where I spent the next week. Tests seemed to indicate one or multiple heart attacks, heart failure, and related maladies. The cardiologist ordered a cardiac catheterization, to rule out blockages, and said that she was near certain that I had no blockages and that the stress of the virus on my body likely caused Takatsubo Syndrome. She was right, though I'll add that a lifetime of being scapegoated in a narcissistic abuse situation, leading to a CPTSD diagnosis, probably set the stage for that to happen.
At the time I got sick, I was fit, vegan, and a near daily runner for decades, with zero health problems. Stress sickens and kills people, for real. It almost killed me.
16
Joy triggered Takatsubo. I had read my poems to a small group and was happily excited. However I do have SAIDH ( my body does not retain salt in a normal way) and had become dehydrated. My nephrologist said low salt plus dehydration causes elation! I had wondered why I was so extremely happy that evening.
Then I had Takatsubo again while wildly dancing at a wedding. (Age 77) I tend to be happy almost all the time, but also have chronic tension. Have done biofeedback for relaxation in the past. Trying to remember to be mindful.
5
Grief is physical and manifests in the body.
That's much I know .
12
This article implies that prior to this study, health scientists did not know that emotions affect the heart. However, the connection has been known for decades. Stress very often results in high blood pressure and increased heart beat rate. Even people without Takotsubo syndrome can have heart attacks or strokes from severe acute stress or chronic stress. The syndrome is a variation on a theme.
8
@Rodrick Wallace
An interesting part of this is that it didn't require high blood pressure as a precursor; it can afflict those with normal or low pressure as well. It does suggest that anyone who has a disposition towards anxiety,or phobias really should get treatment to learn techniques to calm their bodies.
5
I had a grandfather who used to hunt for birds. One day he shot a bird and watched when its mate flew down to where the dead bird was and died right next to it soon after. Since then, he could not hunt anymore.
48
@ART
Relevant to this or not, I'd love to know more about your grandfather.
4
Ten years ago I suffered through a bout of takotsubo syndrome. I had had an upsetting argument with my only child. I was in my 60s and had a mitral valve replacement several years prior to the incident. I've also been extremely anxious all my life and suffered with migraines since I was 13. I fit the profile.
During the ride to the hospital the ambulance driver was sure I was having a heart attack. I wasn't so sure. I knew something was wrong with my heart, but what? I had never heard of this syndrome before, luckily my doctor did. I did recover-- but not completely. I now have a pacemaker/ defibrillator implanted in my heart.
I remember feeling achingly sad-- like my heart was breaking-- way beyond tearful--but how do describe that to an ER worker or the PA in the hospital?
I've consciously learned to let things go. That along with meditation has kept me relatively healthy. Listen to your heart.
35
After three years of taking steps to recover from the loss of my spouse, my best friend, who spoke the language of souls with me ... I can say that this article resonates. I was sure I was going to die, my pain was without resolution, and I found relief by sleeping a lot. Slowly I realized that I was not going to die, as had my spouse, and that I needed to take care of myself ... as my spouse would have wished could have been a reciprocal act of love from my spouse to me. Slowly I found that there was still a relationship in place, and slowly I found coping skills that helped me to take care of my loss, rather than to proverbially throw in the towel. That was not our way of taking care of my spouse, and so I was reminded that the reciprocation was based on the love that my spouse had for me. It's circuitous thinking, but it is my spouse's thought process ... and that made me better. And all of this was invisible to anyone but me. To the world, I was grieving but there were no words that made sense to anyone. So they thought I was fine. This article explains the process. Thank you.
26
About 5 years ago, I was in the beginning stages of a marital separation and had also bought a house. I was still living in my marital home, but went to a party one Sunday evening up the street from my new house, and was having fun, laughing and joking, and then suddenly, it was like I had a knife in my back. I thought it was a shoulder blade muscle cramp and so I blew it off, went home that night after the party, and took some aspirin and went to bed. 2 hours later jaw pain woke me up. I woke my (then) husband up and said "I think I'm having a heart attack". He took me to a satelite ER and they didn't see any signs of heart attack. While I was in the ER, my heart jumped again, so they were able to see what I was experiencing. They transported me to the main hospital and kept me overnight and did a 'dye test' only to find that there were no blockages. The cardiologist came in after reading the results of the test and said my heart was in great shape with no blockages. Then he asked me if I was under any stress. I explained about my pending separation and grief over breaking up my family and the party the evening before. He said that it was likely that the positive and immediate stressor of the party under the extreme stress of a pending divorce caused the emotional stress which lead to a surge of blood flow into my heart, i.e., the octopus trap of a surge of bloodflow - which caused the Takotsubo.
19
the interplay within the human organism is no less connected than our dependence upon the earth we abuse. the 'mystics' and sages of many cultures delved better into the wholeness of life than these picky, quantifying scientists ever will.
9
There are some glaring omissions in this article: exactly what symptoms does the person experience, and are there specific treatments for it?
17
Wendy, still after fifty years my heart still remains broken.
I never stopped loving you and I suffer daily without you.
28
@New World
I am sorry for your loss.
8
There is no time when heartbreak exceeds the boundaries of ok,.
3
My mother was sent home after painful same-day surgery, and collapsed that evening. Diagnosis was Takotsubo. I have often wondered if it might be related to her taking zoloft, rather than surgical stress? She may also have had a second attack, a year later, when she collapsed in a "faint" again.
Note that less sophisticated Emergency Departments may take this event for a standard heart attack, and proceed to catheterize and stent, where it isn't actually needed. (A dangerous procedure in itself.)
Highly recommend that if you've had a diagnosed case of it once, you get yourself a medical bracelet and wear it always, to prevent hasty heart procedures. (I've met lots of MDs who have never heard of the syndrome, though I think lately the word is spreading.)
11
Anyone with severe anxiety or depression knows the degree to which those symptoms manifest in the body. This is a particularly striking example, but when I have severe anxiety attacks, it's announced entirely by symptoms such as chest pains, shaking, cold sweats, loss of feeling in my hands, tingling in my mouth, dizziness, nausea, rapid heart beat, dry heaving. The first time I experienced this I went to the emergency room - it didn't even occur to me this could be a "psychological" problem. The symptoms aren't invented, or illusions. They are a real response in the body to a psychological stressor.
27
@reader - I don't discount your symptoms but Takotsubo causes physical changes in the heart (reduced functioning). Anxiety can produce chest pains, sweats, etc., but does not reduce your heart's ejection fraction nor change the shape of your left ventricle.
13
People who suffer from this condition, or might think they do, might be interested in taking a mindfulness-based stress reduction course. It lasts 6-8 weeks, and teaches people ways to reduce their feelings of anxiety and stress and helps with many chronic physical conditions as well. It was pioneered at scientifically tested at UMass Medical School over 30 years ago, by Jon Kabat-Zinn and others. It has been demonstrated to reduce cortisol levels and to improve outcomes and coping for many people. Medical schools and hospitals often offer such courses, which may be covered by insurance, or there are audio and visual recordings for those unable to participate in an actual workshop/class. The course entails some daily practice, and the effects have been proven to be long-lasting and beneficial. No medication is involved--so no side effects.
23
When my younger son died in a car accident 5 years ago, I felt really desperate and was afraid I would never get up off the sofa again. I remembered that my deceased son had been very interested in mindfulness, and had started practicing it shortly before he died. So...one day, about 3 months later, I looked up Mindfulness classes in my area, found one through UVA, and immediately signed up, and started that very day. This step helped me more than anything to start rebuilding myself. It gave me some much-needed Peace, which then led to Hope, and here I stand today, and I still practice it, along with another form of contemplation called Centering Prayer. I highly recommend Mindfulness for Stress Reduction for anyone who has suffered, and is grieving a loved one. It is Incredibly helpful!
64
Not rare. I highly recommend finding a good cranial sacral therapist (ie: Upledger trained). Your body, brain and overall well being will improve. Creates restful brains and bodies.
5
I bet this condition is nowhere near as rare as it is thought to be.
23
@polymath - I've had two episodes myself... first four years ago and it stifled the doctors in the ER - second go 'round, they knew a bit more but not much...
7
@Cari
I have had two Takatsubos, probably 3.
1
@Marilyn and Cari,
I've had 6 episodes. I've tried everything to reset my autonomic nervous system because I'm triggered by everyday stimulation now (which causes many other issues too). Last episode was 3 years ago, but I still get close to having another at times.
1
My heart was broken in 1980 when I was only 32 years old. The love of my life simply walked away with no explanation. I never saw him or heard from him again. I don't know if I had this syndrome but I can say that I have never gotten over this event in my life. Slowly I have come to terms with it but I don't understand why I was never able to let go. I believe there is a strong connection between the heart and mind that, in some people, cannot be broken ever.
27
@Gloria B. a broken heart is painful and can last a lifetime - but Broken Heart/Takotsubo Syndrome is a recognised medical condition which can be fatal just like a heart attack - i'v had both and i knew the difference when Takotsubo hit me, i hope you never experience it as emotional heart-break is quite enough to live with
9
@eva stickyfingers - same here - I've had both and the Takotsubo is very distinctive!
3
@eva stickyfingers Correct - and I wish it was not called this... but maybe as more and more discoveries are made, they will revise the name...
3
My grandfather died of a heart attack the day after my grandmother’s funeral. They had been married for 45 years and in all that time had never spent a night apart. As she was dying, he kept saying he wouldn’t want to live without her. There was no talking him out of that belief, even though my mother and aunt professed their love and caring for him.
Some people are remarkably bonded. I like to imagine that they reunited - wherever their souls traveled.
70
@Kathryn
Grief can be as powerful as love.
20
as someone who has experience Takotsubo Syndrome unconnected with emotional stress, i feel it is important to clarify that the term Broken-Heart Syndrome is inappropriate - the same team that produced the paper referred to in this article have also published data which indicates that most cases of Takotsubo Syndrome have causes other than sudden emotional stress
42
@eva stickyfingers Oh, I can definitely say that my two episodes WERE in fact due to an unusual amount of lifelong stress that had never been dealt with head-on - I just thought I was very strong and could handle ANYTHING - well, surprise, surprise... My first was in direct response to a bad event and my second - two years later - was (I believe) in response to the on-going stress and huge build ups which I thought weren't going to be problems... Very hard to change at 60 years old, how you handle things - I'm not good at being careful and mindful all the dang time...
5
I am certain this somehow connects to how heart rate variability is a good litmus test for the health of a person's stress response.
And early ACEs are probably a factor, as the brain develops so rapidly in early childhood...
6
@Megan I've wondered if enough ACEs can erode your body's ability to deal with stress as an adult. But emotional triggers only are responsible for a third of takotsubo cases.
@Megan I've wondered if enough ACEs can erode your body's ability to deal with stress as an adult. But emotional triggers only are responsible for a third of takotsubo cases.
Presumably, there is a range in humans reactivity to particular stressors.
Perhaps a fundamental aspect of human biology affecting our personality and behavior.
Also, contributing to differential susceptibility to various disorders.
Wonder how much research has been done on brain MRI and variations in response to specific stressors.
9
Perhaps it occurs mostly in women because they generally live longer than men, outliving their partners? Widows abound, but widowers are rarer.
16
@Barbara Leeway
Although the pressure on men to contain their feelings may have lifted somewhat, they probably remain less likely than women to share them freely.
This is clearly a significant difference in terms of how male and female bodies handle stress. While men have less inhibition when it comes to anger, they may be less able to express grief openly.
Is a puzzlement!
Due to the complexity of the human organism, its various functions have been separated for study and treatment.
There has been, fortunately, a necessary recognition of the very interconnection of the parts. While focus on individual elements of the body has provided greater local understanding, science cannot neglect the important task of investigating interactions and seeing the body as the marvel of complexity it is.
1
@julia
We don't know the interactions on either a small or a large scale. Understanding has been limited in what would seem to be key connections between neurology and cardiology, be it degrading grief and stress or beneficial peace and calm, because the medical community only deems males worthy of research. This is especially true of those critical areas of life saving research. This skews the larger biologic view and the smaller sampling. Whatever data the research indicates is narrower and limited to one size fits all gender (and narrowly within that one gender), reducing the effectiveness of treatment in males and, of course, females.
1
The article suggests that "stress" causes the disconnect; it doesn't maintain the argument that grief is the causative factor. I've watched the disconnect from grief where it took us two years of daily visits to get a surviving, female spouse to move, return to her art. But symptoms described also suggest depression. I suspect that just as there are different levels of depression, there also are for grief/stress. I would also think that the causative factor, its level, and its duration are related to brain transmitters; what part the receptor for a particular pill biomolecularly plays; plus social interaction.
13
Yes or no?
" Men have died from time to/ time and worms have eaten them, but not for love." (As You Like It)
5
@Concerned Mother: Romeo.
6
@Concerned Mother Absolutely no.
"Love is not all: it is not meat nor drink
Nor slumber nor a roof against the rain;
Nor yet a floating spar to men that sink
And rise and sink and rise and sink again;
Love can not fill the thickened lung with breath,
Nor clean the blood, nor set the fractured bone;
Yet many a man is making friends with death,
Even as I speak, for lack of love alone.
It may well be that in a difficult hour,
Pinned down by pain and moaning for release,
Or nagged by want past resolution's power,
I might be driven to sell your love for peace,
Or trade the memory of this night for food.
It may well be. I do not think I would."
-- Edna St. Vincent Millay
26
@cds333
Thank you.
2
Two yrs. ago I lost my sister to cancer. She tried to light a candle
and accidentally set fire to her apartment. The scene I found when I took her home to recover from it was horrific. She stayed
with me for a few weeks, in shock, weak from illness and finally
died in hospital. After that my stress level and grief was unbearable - I loved her and cared for her during her last years.
while meeting with a lawyer to make a new will, I suffered an attack of takotsubo. Wound up in the hospital overnight with lots of
tests and finally released. My doctor is a cardiologist and I am
given an EKG every 7 or so months to check my heart. So far so
good. However, I still grieve the loss of my darling baby sister - talking to her ashes each day, crying when I think of
her and suffer from loneliness ( I am 87 and have lost most of my
friends ). I'm reasonably healthy for my age but I have noticed a tendency for physical pains and aches when I am stressed and as I age ,the small stuff stresses me out more than it used to. It's been a strange experience - Takotsubo,but I'm glad to have survived it., so far.I'm glad it's come to public notice now more than before and is being analyzed.
98
@pkay I hope you continue to do well! My heart goes out to you.
39
@Techgirl- Thanks for the kind thoughts.( I'm a pretty strong woman, so I'm told.)
19
@pkay there is an international Facebook group which offers support and information to people affected by TTS - you are not alone in having this unusual experience, many of us find it helpful to share our concerns with others and learn more about how to live with them
14
They may say she died from a burst ventricle, but I know she died of a broken heart - Abe Simpson
27
I have this .....
Stage1/2 heart failure.
Started with the death of my mom and with each subsequent loss event worsened over 20 plus years.
I often wonder if there is correlation with pre eclampsia in women.
A retrospective longitudinal study would be welcome by many suffering from this cardiac chronic condition.
7
An interesting addition to this study would be to question the participants about Adverse Childhood Events. These are childhood traumas that are now understood to be associated with adult illness. More than 4 ACEs correlates with higher rates of diabetes and cardiovascular disease. Perhaps the brain changes noted could be caused by ACEs.
Read a good book: The Deepest Well, by a pediatrician.
27
@memosyne Once it becomes psychiatric trauma vs. Resilience issue, treatment and interest fade. It's better to emphasize the physical aspects lest patients take the blame.
13
memosyne, the correlation you mention may have nothing to do with cause and effect.
It is obvious, for instance, that increased poverty leads to both items: a) adverse childhood effects, and b) higher rates of disease like diabetes and cardiovascular problems.
Most likely a) does not cause b).
1
Why must the illustration be a
woman ? The power of stereotypes...
3
@citizennotconsumer
This may be why the illustration is a woman. Some visual people may be attracted to read an article if they think it applies to them. "Researchers have suspected that the disorder — which mostly strikes women and which, while occasionally fatal, tends to resolve over time —"
19
@citizennotconsumer around 90% of those diagnosed with Takotsubo Syndrome are women so the stereotype currently fits - that might change though!
5
@citizennotconsumer - this stereotype is supported by data - current data from, the same team that published this paper, indicates that around 90% of the people who have takotsubo syndrome are women
9
Hopefully we will look at our hearts both physically and metaphorically. The heart is considered to be the "great connector", both within our body and with other living beings. There are no long term survivors with an artificial heart. Why so?
5
A good friend had this happen, brought on by the stress of worrying about money. A former nuclear medicine technologist had been downsized, her physical and emotional health and finances spiraled downward, and the accumulated excess cortisol triggered this syndrome. Being admitted to a low-quality hospital didn't help. I had to suggest to the doctors this was what was going on. Finally, a cardiologist got involved. Since then the fear of recurrence haunts her.
37
@Anne Hajduk
A course in mindfulness-based stress reduction, pioneered 30 years ago by Jon Kabat-Zinn and others at UMass Medical Center, has proven that mindfulness meditation with body-awareness reduces cortisol levels, pain, and anxiety and helps with many chronic conditions. Your friend might want to look into it. It takes 6-8 weeks, and daily practice, but the effects are long-lasting. The Univ. of VA offers the course: https://med.virginia.edu/mindfulness-center/programs/mindfulness-based-stress-reduction-mbsr/ It can also be done at home, with video and audio recordings.
6
I experienced this a few years ago and was stunned to find out it was real. My stress levels had been through the roof with deaths in the family and illness of my husband. I was a very active person and walked over 3 miles easily a day in a hilly area. I did my first and now only 5K walk on a predominately flat area and came in dead last. Short of breath, very uncomfortable. The next morning symptoms of chest pain and discomfort which went up my jaw and was not going away made me make the call for 911. I am in general super health and was as said, stunned that this happened and the DX was Takotsubo. (Broken Heart Syndrome) Today I try to keep the stress level down although at the moment: 3 moves in less then 6 months, a severe fall resulting in a badly damaged foot and continued illness of my spouse....well, today I know I have to take care of myself and will. I was told that rarely does this condition happen a second time. I shall hope so.
25
@Sandi - there is a Facebook group which offer support and information for people affected by Takotsubo syndrome - you might find it helpful to look us up - the doctors tells us we will recover fully but some of us find we have ongoing symptoms and specialists are finally acknowledging that there is more to this condition than has previously been recognised
5
@Sandi
Many of us are told it will happen only once - that is not true - I have had it twice, documented with angiogram. I believe I had a third one.
4
I think my father died of a broken heart.
He had had a previous stroke some years before when my mother was first diagnosed with terminal cancer, and had one-sided weakness/disability.
On the morning of her funeral, we were at the home of his step-daughter who made no secret of disliking him - he tried to hug me in the corridor - a 15yo boy with no recollection of him ever hugging me before, I awkwardly shrugged it off and walked away as I was going to get my suit from my boarding school.
Got 10 yards away from the house - called back by his step-son-in-law - to see him dead on the floor - he'd had a massive stroke.
So I guess with the loss of his wife/life dependency - and feeling left alone in an environment where the next person hated him - everything dropped away - including his life.
19
@Frank When you say 'the next person,' who are you referring to?
Isn't it odd that research on stress is focused primarily on the heart? If stress releases biochemical reactions throughout one's body, isn't it be reasonable to assume stress adversely affects other organs than just the heart? If the answer is yes, then what happens to one's heart is not all there is to human pain and suffering? Is it not about time to avert one's research gaze from the cardiocentric prism that impoverishes all all?
35
@S. L. I agree with you entirely. In 2017 I had lymphoma in my neck. When I asked the surgeon who did a biopsy on the cells in my neck when he thought the cancer cells had activated, he referenced a timeframe earlier that year which coincided with my learning that the "love of my life" had just died. I was expecting his death but the actual news had such a devastating effect on me that I felt as though a seismic event had occurred in the upper part of my body. It wasn't a stroke and it wasn't a heart attack but I was certain it was something physical. It turns out that the type of lymphoma I had resulted from the fracture of two genes. My oncologist said it was not possible that this happened because I was profoundly and suddenly grief stricken, but I told him to remember my case because it could be that in the future, scientific research will find a connection.
50
While I’m not a medical professional, I firmly believe this is not outside the realm of possibility. Look at everything we know about stress & how it negatively effects our bodies. There may not be a study for everything, but knowing my own health struggles & how certain events have had a profound & lasting impact, I’m positive science has only reached the tip of the iceberg when it comes to what’s possible when we’re under extreme grief or stress.
Sending you much empathy & love. I am so sorry for your loss & for all you’ve been through.
11
@S. L.
Research on stress focused mostly on the heart? News to me. Is there a review article you can recommend?
1
This condition is sudden onset reversible heart failure caused by a severe life stressor - other conditions can also bring it on, such as grand mal seizures. It is an acutely life threatening cardiac condition. It takes careful medical care and rehabilitation to recover and emotional support is very helpful. Please don't be quick to diagnose yourself with it. What is remarkable is that, if it doesn't kill them, people can nearly fully recover from it.
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@Stacey McFarland-Smith - can i just add that while most people recover well and fully but it is now acknowledged that long term consequences are possible and should be investigated and followed up
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“Love is strong as death.”
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Love is eternal, as is spirit. Death is the end of a particular incarnation, but not the end of the consciousness (or spirit, or soul) that inhabited the body. So love is stronger than death.
"Though lovers be lost,
love shall not,
and death shall have no dominion."
(John Donne)
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