Seems like one, but it isn't
Broken-heart syndrome feels like a heart attack
In spite of its name, broken-heart syndrome isn't usually caused by a romantic breakup. Its technical name is takotsubo cardiomyopathy.
Cardiologists at NYU Langone Medical Center are studying the possible causes of the syndrome, which resembles a heart attack, but it's not caused by coronary artery disease.
It generally strikes women in their 50s or 60s. Emotional or physical stress are common triggers, but many patients don't have them. One woman's attack was brought on by excitedly watching her son play in a football game, according to The Wall Street Journal.
A California woman was driving when she suddenly felt her heart pounding. She pulled over at a cafe and became intensely ill. Taken by ambulance to a hospital, she was told she had a heart attack, but tests proved negative.
She was under stress, planning to attend a close friend's funeral. She had an upper respiratory infection and was also dealing with upsetting plans for her son's wedding.
Doctors say broken-heart syndrome can also be brought on by intense joy and excitement.
There were 6,230 cases of people in the U.S. with the syndrome in one recent year. Patients usually heal within days or weeks without residual damage to the heart. But complications can occur as well as fatalities.
Believing that it was linked to the sympathetic nervous system, doctors often prescribed beta blockers. But a recent study published in the New England Journal of Medicine checked hundreds of patients at 26 medical centers in Europe and America. They say beta blockers didn't help and those who took them had reoccurrences.
Cardiologists welcomed their new findings. They say focusing on the parasympathetic side of the nervous system is shining a light on potential explanations for the underlying cause of takotsubo.
Physicians are advising patients to change their lifestyles in order to avoid very stressful situations and try to be more mindful of stressors. But in some cases, the trigger is physical.
