“Broken Heart Syndrome”,applies also to people who suffer Sudden
Cardiac Arrest.It has been demonstrated,radiogrfically,how the heart”Breaks”,during Ventricular Fibrillation.
Once the heart electrical activity returns to normal,the “Broken Heart”
starts to heal itself.The Congestive Heart Failure starts to fizzle.
Conclusion:The faster one pulls a failing heart out of Ventricular Fibrillation,the better it is.

It never ceases to amaze that responsible news organization as CNN and others will write so irresponsible articles. The author writes

“In this state of health care, primary doctors often don’t have time to read all the medical journals and research out there. So, empower yourself and if you suspect your symptoms are something other than what they say – speak up and talk it over with your doctor”
So let me get this straight the author is telling people, don’t listen to the person who went to medical school and then trained for years to take care of patients and are required to keep up-to-date with continuing medical education. Rather, you are better off consulting de facto health advisers like Ms. Denice.
As a cardiologist in training, I strongly feel that Ms. Denice owes an apology to her mother’s primary care. The diagnosis of broken heart is a diagnosis of exclusion (i.e. you refer the patient to the cardiologist and then an angiogram should be done if it is indicated). The primary care doctor did exactly what any responsible physician should have done, referred the patient to a cardiologist to make sure that there was nothing dangerous (big heart attack) going on, rather than focusiing on a rare syndrome. Her mother could have been having a heart attack which could be potentially life threatening and may have been saved by timely intervention.
Don’t get me wrong, patient have the right to ask questions, know what is going on and decide on their treatment options. But, please know when to be critical of the healthcare system on appropriate times, rather than just publishing articles which may have no real sense.

What a great read this was. I believe it to be true, that this does happen. Thank you for sharing this.

To young doctor-in-training Haris: I hope that you overcome your medical arrogance before you begin practice. What Ms. Denice says is absolutely true. Even the smartest doctors are very busy. They have huge caseloads and limited time to spend on any one patient.

Patients of course need to listen to their doctors, but they also need to arm themselves with the knowledge to ask intelligent questions and relate their doctor’s advice to their own circumstances.

I could cite many examples of a patient alerting a doctor to a problem that might otherwise have been overlooked. The medical relationship should be an equal partnership between doctor and patient, with respect on both sides.

The doctor is not an all-knowing diety, but an educated advisor. He or she is the expert on medicine, but the patient is the expert on his or her own symptoms and circumstances.

Personally, I would not want to be your patient until you have had enough years of real-world experience to gain true wisdom. Right now you only have facts.

I can identify with this…back in 1996 I had some serious rhythm issues with heart….and it started right after my sister ’s car accident which left her severly brian injured and paralyzed . This was heartbreaking to ‘lose’ her this way (she’s still alive)..over time and acceptance of the new person she is ..the rhythm seem to correct itself…….
My Mom died only months after her baby (in his 70’s ) brother died…I know that impacted her..

Yup I agree with Haris.. we doctors go by symptoms and then come up with a list of differential diagnoses and depending on our clinical suspicion we make appropriate referrals in order for the appropriate work up to be carried out by the specialist so a final diagnosis can be made before targeting our managment.

Being an a High-Risk Pregnancy fellow, I usually get appropriate and timely referrals more than 99 % of the time.

I had a pregnant patient once with the ‘Broken Heart Syndrome’; and it was Cardiology service in the CCU who made the diagnosis; that is their area of expertise anyways. And yes it was the first time I hear about such a condition. It doesn’t mean I don’t update myself, I do in fact but in my area of expertise which is OBGYN and High-Risk Pregnancy. The patient was sick enough to consult cardiology and they’ve done their job properly and efficiently.

It’s OK for patients to surfe the internet looking for infos and all, and we recieve phone calls almost on daily basis from concerned patients just clarifying and rectifying some false knowledge that they’ve acquired by just browsing the net. One of our jobs is to educate patients and that’s what this site is doing. However I’ll be careful about comments that can break doctor-patient trust like the one made in this article that Haris has pinpointed to. After all, the primary care physician has done his job properly by referring the patient to cardiology which was all she needed at the time.

Good day all..

Really good article…speaks to me directly.
Only wish I could “print” it out…I save articles of interest. Thanks. V.

Thank you so much, since going into hopital for a suspected “heart attack”, my ECG showed that I was having a massive attack, although I only had shoulder pain and was well in myself,unfortunately, blood taken also showed I had received damage to the muscle.
The next day I had a angiogram and was asked if anything had happened on the day of the attack, I had no shock but had been under a considerable amount of pressure and stress for some time and that day also overdid my workload. I was told “good news” all your arteries are clear and it was “Brokenheart syndrome”. Unfortunately, a couple of hours later, a Doctor on the ward who didnt seem to have much faith in what the specialist had diagnosed and said because I had damage I must have had a heart attack. I still remain confused to this day, exactly what happened, they are treating me with all the heart tablets and will have a follow-up with the specialist in 3 months time. My Doctor and no-one seems to know about Broken heart syndrome and quite honestly, they dont seem interested either and I need to know. !! All my results showed very mild and very small amount of damage and I had a stress test and other tests and my heart coped well. I am looking forward to going to the specialist because some doctors will not accept Brokenheart syndrome as a “heart condition” and would rather just label it a heart attack.

Medical research tells us over & over that one’s state of mind
has physiological impacts on our bodies. Broken heart
syndrome probably affects anyone experiencing great personal
stress. When my young adult child died suddenly, with no prior
health concerns, whatever I felt then and feel now is focused in
my chest. Identifying my body’s reaction to grief, loss, and despair
as ‘broken heart syndrome’ seems perfectly reasonable to me.

Last December 2008, I was diagnosed at first with a heart attack. It happened at school when I was teaching. I had an EKG and an angiogram which showed no blockage. However, 60 percent of my heart had been stunned by stress hormones and was not pumping. I was diagnosed with broken heart syndrome by the interventional cardiologist the following day. He was very happy and said that eventually I would be back to normal. It took about 6-8 weeks, but my heart did normalize. I now tke a beta blocker daily. Those first 3 days were extremely frightening.