'Broken Heart' Syndrome: Real, Potentially Deadly But Recovery Quick

[benburch]

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2005/02/050210235901.htm

'Broken Heart' Syndrome: Real, Potentially Deadly But Recovery Quick

Shocking news, such as learning of the unexpected death of a loved one, has been known to cause catastrophic events, such as a heart attack.

Now, researchers at Johns Hopkins have discovered that sudden emotional stress can also result in severe but reversible heart muscle weakness that mimics a classic heart attack. Patients with this condition, called stress cardiomyopathy but known colloquially as “broken heart” syndrome, are often misdiagnosed with a massive heart attack when, indeed, they have suffered from a days-long surge in adrenalin (epinephrine) and other stress hormones that temporarily “stun” the heart.

“Our study should help physicians distinguish between stress cardiomyopathy and heart attacks,” says study lead author and cardiologist Ilan Wittstein, M.D., an assistant professor at The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and its Heart Institute. “And it should also reassure patients that they have not had permanent heart damage.”

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[serryjw]

1. Fear not

the pharmaceutical companies will come up with a great drug for it.

[benburch]

2. "Love is the drug"

LOVE IS THE DRUG LYRICS - Roxy Music
 
(ferry/mackay)

T´ain´t no big thing
To wait for the bell to ring
T´ain´t no big thing
The toll of the bell
Aggravated - spare for days
I troll downtown the red light place
Jump up bubble up - what´s in store
Love is the drug and I need to score
Showing out, showing out, hit and run
Boy meets girl where beat goes on
Stitched up tight, can´t shake free
Love is the drug, got a hook on me
Oh oh catch that buzz
Love is the drug i´m thinking of
Oh oh can´t you see
Love is the drug for me
Late that night I park my car
Stake my place in the singles bar
Face to face, toe to toe
Heart to heart as we hit the floor
Lumber up, limbo down
The locked embrace, the stumble round
I say go, she say yes
Dim the lights, you can guess the rest
Oh oh catch that buzz
Love is the drug i´m thinking of
Oh oh can´t you see
Love is the drug, got a hook in me
Oh oh catch that buzz
Love is the drug i´m thinking of
Oh oh can´t you see
Love is the drug for me

[imenja]

3. I believe it

Look how many people die shortly after the death of a spouse. One's mental outlook, a will to live, is crucial to health. The correlation between clinical depression and many other illnesses: stroke, heart disease, obesity or malnutrition, etc... are also high.

[serryjw]

4. My dad died

11 months after my mom...You are correct. I saw my elderly grandfather take care of my grandmother even so he was not doing well. When she died, he fell in the shower, broke a hip and died shortly after.

[kcass1954]

5. My mom and aunt both had late stage breast cancer..

They talked on the phone a couple of times a week, always about how they were both going to get better and be able to see each other again. My aunt died on February 28, 2003, and my mother when downhill immediately and died on March 19 of a broken heart.