If you’ve ever had a scary experience, you may have something to do with Maria Caravallo’s experience when your adrenaline is pumping up, when you deal with threats and shocks.
While on vacation in Puerto Rico, 75-year-old Caravallo was swimming with two young grandchildren.
“I held the boys and put my head on the water,” she recalls. “It was such a despair,” she thought they were about to own.
Luckily, a nearby swimmer helped, and once safely back to the shore, she thought the event was over. However, a few hours later, she went to the emergency room with chest pain and shortness of breath.
She was also diagnosed with stress cardiomyopathy Damaged cardiac syndrome. You might think of a broken heart as a phorical idea, but this is a real state that can lead to a sudden, dramatic weakening of the myocardium after a stressful event.
“She’s a kind of classic case,” he says. Dr. Joy Gelbmana cardiologist at the New York Presbyterian and Weil Cornell Medicine, who treated Carabalo after returning to New York. Usually people are fully recovered and are often prescription drugs, such as beta blockers.
My mind seems to be overworked
Broken Heart syndrome, also known as cardiomyopathy, can be difficult to diagnose. Some of the tests performed in the emergency room can produce the same results as those suffering from a heart attack. For example, you may have changes in your ECG or EKG, similar to your heart attack.
Injured cardiac syndrome can cause an increase in cardiac enzymes called troponins in the blood, which can also be elevated by heart attacks. “And echocardiograms that create images of the heart usually show distinctive balloons in the myocardium,” explains Gelbmann.
The important difference is that if a person has a heart attack, the artery is blocked by one or more coronary arteries, but patients with injured cardiac syndrome do not have the artery blocked.
“It’s one of the most decisive features. There is no serious blockage of the cardiac artery,” says Gelbmann. In the case of injured cardiac syndrome, weakening of the myocardium can be caused by a sudden burst of stress hormones that fill the heart, she says.
“The best understanding we have is that our heart responds very strongly to adrenergic surges.” Dr. Grant Reeda cardiologist at Cleveland Clinic. “That adrenergic surge causes the myocardium to weaken, which appears to be overworked as a result of a stressful event.”
When the heart is weak, blood and oxygen cannot effectively circulate around the body, helping to explain the symptoms. It is not clear why some people develop this condition after a stressful event. Although it is still considered rare, studies have pointed to an increase in cases.
Recorded by leads from Cleveland Clinic and his colleagues More than four times increase Damaged cardiac syndrome in 2020 during a stressful COVID lockdown. It reminded me of how the mind and body were woven together. “Emotional stress can lead to physical consequences,” he says.
Most people recover completely
Reed talks to patients about the importance of caring for themselves, both physically and emotionally.
“Brushed cardiac syndrome is a truly amazing example of the intersection between the two,” he says.
Fortunately, most patients recover completely.
“The good news is that injured cardiac syndrome is usually easier to treat and does not require surgery.” Dr. Sudip Saha, Kaiser Permanente cardiologist.
He feels relieved when he realizes he hasn’t had a heart attack.
“In most cases, it’s reassuring to hear that this can be reversed in almost every case (time and medication),” Saha said, saying the risk of recurrence is very low.
This syndrome is most common in women over 50 years old, but cardiologists report seeing a wide range of patients, including middle-aged men. In about 3 cases, there are no specific events that cause cardiomyopathy. Sometimes, the start is linked to a stressful or anxious period.
Saha says it is important for people to know their symptoms and recognize the benefits of managing anxiety and stress when the condition appears to be on the rise.
Maria Fabrizio/for npr from NPR
Stress management is key to heart health
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Edited by Jane Greenhulg
