Not only the "broken heart syndrome" can trigger heart attack-like symptoms.
Feelings of happiness can also put a heavy strain on our heart.
Difficulty breathing, severe pain, and chest tightness: Typical symptoms of a heart attack. But there are also some other triggers behind the symptoms, such as extreme back tension. Or emotional stress affecting the heart.
If negative stress triggers heart problems, doctors speak of "
broken
heart syndrome"
, which is technically known as Takotsubo syndrome or stress cardiomyopathy. The amount of the stress hormones adrenaline, noradrenaline and dopamine in the body skyrockets, which can put a lot of strain on the heart.
As reported by the Freiburg University Hospital, the heart contracts very unevenly in Takotsubo's syndrome (TTS).
The apex of the heart contracts too little, but the area above it near the base narrows very much.
The result is heart attack-like symptoms such as severe chest pain.
However, it is not a "real" heart attack.
This is usually triggered by a vascular occlusion, which leads to the death of heart muscle tissue.
Atherosclerosis is the main cause of a "real" heart attack.
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"Happy Heart Syndrome" as a rare form of heart disorder
Not only negative experiences such as the death of a loved one or extreme lovesickness can lead to Takotsubo syndrome.
In rare cases, particularly positive emotions also result in TTS.
In this case, doctors speak of the “happy heart syndrome”: “In about a third of those affected, strong emotional events preceded the symptoms.
This can be the end of a relationship or the death of a loved one;
In a small proportion of those affected, the triggers are also particularly positive emotions.
One then speaks of the 'Happy Heart Syndrome' ”, explains Prof. Dr.
Sebastian Grundmann, Senior Physician at the Clinic for Cardiology and Angiology I of the University Heart Center Freiburg on the University Clinic's website.
To what extent overwhelming happiness can damage the heart was analyzed in a study, according to the Ärzteblatt. Researchers from Switzerland and Germany examined 485 study participants in whom an emotional state of emergency had triggered heart problems, according to the Ärzteblatt. It found that 96 percent of the patients had been afflicted by severe negative events before they developed heart problems.
Four percent, on the other hand, had experienced strong positive feelings in the run-up to their heart attack
, according to
aerzteblatt.de
.
This included a surprising birthday party and the birth of a grandson.
"It can be assumed that happy and sad life events, despite their different character, have similar emotional effects that can ultimately trigger TTS," says the analysis published in the European Heart Journal.
The "happy heart syndrome" is a
seldom dysfunction of the heart
, according to the Ärzteblatt.
(jg)