This Week's CC: ER Examines Broken Heart Syndrome
On last night's ER, Neela has to give a woman the news that her husband has just died in the operating room.
Upon receiving this news, the poor woman collapses to the floor and appears to be having a major myocardial infarction... a heart attack.
As panic ensues, Neela climbs onto the woman's chest and continues to perform CPR, insisting that the woman is experiencing Broken Heart Syndrome and it is reversible. After 20 minutes, everyone is urging her to stop compressions.
And then the woman's heart begins to beat again.
It's one of those magical TV moments that leaves you thinking... what the??? Can this REALLY happen?
Yep. Broken Heart Syndrome is a real phenomenon and this week's Crazy Condition. WebMD reported on Broken Heart Syndrome last year:
Related Topics: 'Broken Heart Syndrome' Mimics Heart Attack, Many Emotions Can Damage the Heart
Technorati Tags: heart attack, broken heart syndrome
Upon receiving this news, the poor woman collapses to the floor and appears to be having a major myocardial infarction... a heart attack.
As panic ensues, Neela climbs onto the woman's chest and continues to perform CPR, insisting that the woman is experiencing Broken Heart Syndrome and it is reversible. After 20 minutes, everyone is urging her to stop compressions.
And then the woman's heart begins to beat again.
It's one of those magical TV moments that leaves you thinking... what the??? Can this REALLY happen?
Yep. Broken Heart Syndrome is a real phenomenon and this week's Crazy Condition. WebMD reported on Broken Heart Syndrome last year:
Researchers say the potentially lethal effects of emotional stress are well known in folk wisdom, as demonstrated by the phrases "scared to death" and "broken heart." But new evidence shows that broken heart syndrome may be an actual medical condition brought on by a surge of stress-related hormones that temporarily "stun" the heart.
All of the participants [in the study] had evidence of what was an apparent heart attack after sudden emotional stress, including news of a death, shock from a surprise party, fear of public speaking, armed robbery, a court appearance, or a car accident.
But unlike in heart attack patients, researchers found these people had no evidence of blockages in the arteries supplying blood to the heart. Blood tests also didn't show elevated levels of muscle proteins typically released after a heart attack from damaged heart muscle.
Related Topics: 'Broken Heart Syndrome' Mimics Heart Attack, Many Emotions Can Damage the Heart
Technorati Tags: heart attack, broken heart syndrome
4 Comments:
What about fibromyalgia? That condition is widespread, disabling and painful. Patients go from dr to dr before they find out that what they have is an incurable illness, treated with lots of different medications, and very much due to stress. Similar to Gulf War Syndrome, the body cannot tolerate chronic stress, and thus this condition occurs.
This is exactly what happened to my father. At the age of 68 his wife of 25 years divorced him and threatened to take so much of his money and assets that he would be left homeless. Five weeks later, he was in the hospital with a stroke. He is still alive and has recovered quite nicely (although he will never be exactly the same) and we continue to talk about how someone as healthy and health-oriented as my father, a doctor himself by the way, could have had a stroke.
I've been sick with similar symtoms since Thanksgiving. All test show nothing is wrong with my heart. My father passed away a year ago and I'm still having trouble accepting that? I guess this could be related in someway??
It could be a factor in many things, break ups, death, and so on. Sometimes you can have a broken heart and die from it because of refusal to eat, drink, sleep, and it tears the body appart adding to the stress until your body gives out. My boyfriend and I have been having problems for months, over him being in love with his ex girlfriend still, and all my friends, myself included, have noticed a drastic change. I don't eat, I don't sleep, I hardly talk. It's stress on the mind and body taking over to the point of giving up. People can deal with it in many different ways.
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