Friday, February 18, 2011
“I Cannot Live Without You”: True or False?
Have you ever wake up in the morning and suddenly found there is actually no reason why you should freshen up and start a new day ahead? Most of us have experienced such situations in life… in other words losing normal urge of living, as if out of the blue there is no longer a reason to live.
This symptom is triggered mostly by loss of loved one. When the loss comes as a shock, you may experience a heart ache, which apparently quite similar to heart attack. This is a different type of heart problem named stress cardiomyopathy also dubbed "broken heart syndrome".
To understand broken heart syndrome, we need to know how the body reacts to stress.
The term "broken heart syndrome" came about after researchers noticed that many people with the condition were grieving, says Ilan Wittstein, MD, a Johns Hopkins University cardiologist who's been studying the condition for a decade. "The first several patients we saw, many of them had [just experienced] the death of a loved one, a spouse, a parent. Some people started having symptoms at a funeral. But other patients had just gone through a trauma like a car accident or a mugging. Another woman landed in the intensive care unit on her 60th birthday after being startled by well-wishers shouting "Surprise!" Wittstein says. These types of events can trigger your sympathetic nervous system, which is also called your "fight or flight" mechanism, says Peter Shapiro, MD, a professor of clinical psychiatry at Columbia University who studies emotional issues in heart disease. Your body unleashes a flood of chemicals, including adrenaline, he says. This sudden flood can stun your heart muscle, leaving it unable to pump properly.
Source http://www.webmd.com
This broken heart syndrome requires different type of treatment. First, let’s see what are the symptoms. According to Wittstein, under t his condition the heart muscles are extremely affected and so fails to pump blood out of the body with required force. It results in heart failure which is life threatening.
Broken heart syndrome has yet another name: Takotsubo syndrome.
A tako-tsubo is a pot that's used in Japan for catching sea creatures. When Japanese researchers looked at images of people's hearts during broken heart syndrome, they noted that the left ventricle had taken on an unusual shape resembling the fishing pot.
Common symptoms include:
- · Chest pain
- · Shortness of breath
- · Arm pain
- · Sweating
"If you're at home having chest pain, you shouldn't question whether this could be stress cardiomyopathy just because you're going through a stressful period. The take-home message is get to the hospital and let the doctors find out which one of these you’re having," Wittstein says.
A few research studies say that about 2% of people who seem to be having a heart attack actually have broken heart syndrome. So, when you know that you are going through or just have experienced grief, stress, or emotional trauma, you must reveal it to your doctor.
Most of the time a patient with broken heart syndrome recovers fast. The doctors normally perform an echocardiogram to see pictures of your heart if the shape is of fishing pot shape. In such cases the heart muscles recover quickly and afterwards people may need to take heart medications called beta blockers or ACE inhibitors for a limited time. It mainly depends on the patient and his history. Many of those with these symptoms never show any heart problem later and require only mild anti-depressants or anti-anxiety drugs.
Yes. You may die of broken heart...but why should you? Life is for living and Mother Nature herself will supply you with so many reasons to live...
Till then...
Wednesday, February 9, 2011
Myths and Facts About Depression
Myth: Hard Work Beats Depression
Depression affects nearly one in six people at some point in their lives, so folk remedies and half-truths about this common illness abound. One such idea: throw yourself into work and you'll feel better. For a mild case of the blues, this may indeed help, but depression is a different animal. Overworking can actually be a sign of clinical depression, especially in men.
Check out the interesting Slide Show on Depression!
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