Countless authors, poets and bards wrote about broken hearts, and how much they hurt… undoubtedly, a powerful metaphor, universally understood, regardless of age, culture and upbringing. Who didn’t feel the sharp emotional pain and distress of losing a loved one? But can hearts really break, physically?
With so much emphasis on emotional pain in popular culture, that a broken heart really hurts physically is less known. Researchers have found that some people are more at risk of feeling physical pain from a broken heart than others… not because the former are more sensitive and the latter being superficial insensitive and uncaring heartless brutes, but, apparently, because of a specific genetic mutation of the OPRM1 gene. Grieving and social rejection are among the most common stressors and triggers of this condition. Actually, some 1% to 2% people are affected, and the proportion of women suffering from a broken heart is even higher, up to 6%!
Feeling real pain in the chest is scary, to say the least. After all, heart attacks are common, and at the very first signs of chest pain, one should immediately seek emergency medical treatment… provided there’s still time to act. But what happens to those few patients who are hurting from a broken heart, yet showing the typical symptoms of a real full blown heart attack (chest pain, transpiration, weakness, dizziness, collapsing…)?
Imagine being hauled to a hospital in an ambulance, because you collapsed on the street from this sudden searing chest pain — maybe shortly after having felt the shock of your life. Since a heart attack is usually due to an obstructed artery, paramedics would immediately inject some drugs to counteract this condition. Isn’t that kind of wrong treatment potentially dangerous, if not outright lethal?
Fortunately, despite it being relatively unknown to the general public, medical personnel are increasingly aware of the broken heart syndrome, a.k.a. takotsubo cardiomyopathy. We can expect them to at least think of this possible cause, before subjecting us to the dangers of an inadequate therapy.
In a nutshell, people suffering physically from a broken heart are experiencing a heart whose muscles have been “stunned” by an excess of adrenaline, which is released every time we feel stressed. Since emotional stress can be very intense, so is the amount of suddenly released adrenaline. People suffering from this condition, given appropriate medical care, usually recover rather quickly, without any lasting damages, for the simple reason that no heart tissue has been harmed by lack of oxygen as would have been common with a usual heart attack.
So, combine high levels of adrenaline with this specific genetic mutation, and your heart may break too some day. Sometimes, it pays to be insensitive and superficial, or doesn’t it? Trading off a world of hurt and emotions for a healthier heart condition may be a valid excuse for most people. Next time you’re angry at or sad about your friends being so insensitive, try not to hold it against them: they may just be trying to survive by avoiding excessive stress.
Still, they’re missing the depth of true love and hopeless despair that life is all about.
February 16th, 2010 at 10:26 pm
When you have a heart attack, or are suspected of having one, digitalis is administered intravenously. It won’t hurt you if you are not having a heart attack.
Been there, done that.