Post Valentine’s Day heartbreak? Broken Heart Disorder is a real thing

PHOENIX — Did your Valentine’s Day weekend not go as planned? Experts say extreme emotions can take a serious toll on the heart.

It’s called, Broken Heart Condition and it is actually a real thing.

“It’s a condition where a patient suffers intense chest pain, shortness of breath, and mimics a heart attack,” Cardiologist Jaskamal Kahlon at the University of Arizona College of Medicine told KTAR News 92.3 FM on Friday.

There’s no sure way to prevent a broken heart aside from trying to protect your heart and it’s emotions, literally.

Dr. Kahlon said, “Curve your emotions and avoid extreme stress or extreme response to any situation where you lose control of your emotions.”

Because those emotions are what eventually take a toll on your heart. Resulting in a sustained rise in adrenaline which can cause over stimulate the heart muscle.

“When you are extremely emotional you generate these hormones which are stress hormones that are usually reserved for fight or flight response,” Kahlon added. “When you have overwhelming concentration of such emotions it can lead to significant stimulation of your heart muscle which can cause it to weaken.”

But the biggest question, can you die from a broken heart? It may feel like you can but it’s extremely rare.

“Broken heart syndrome can rarely result in death. The mechanism of death relates to the fact that when the heart is very weak, it can generate a fatal type of arrhythmia called ventricular tachycardia,” Kahlon added.

Aside from chest pain and shortness of breath other symptoms include jay pain, pain in the left arm or back, with associated excessive sweating.

But who is most at risk? Other than lovers…

The condition is said to effect women far more often than men. It appears that most people who have broken heart syndrome are older than 50.

People who have neurological disorders like epilepsy have a greater risk of broken heart syndrome. If you’ve had disorders, such as anxiety or depression, you probably have a higher risk of broken heart syndrome.

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