Can You Really Break Your Heart?

If you’ve ever had your heart broken emotionally, you know it also hurts physically. And the symptoms now have a medical name: Broken heart syndrome. According to the American Heart Association, broken heart syndrome, also called stress-induced cardiomyopathy or takotsubo cardiomyopathy, is more prevalent among women than men and is the reaction from a surge of stress hormones.

Sometimes a broken heart is thought to be a heart attack since it creates sudden, intense chest pain. The arteries are not actually blocked, but the condition can lead to short-term heart muscle failure. The good news is that the broken heart syndrome is treatable and patients usually recover fully. But heart pain is serious, so have any symptoms checked by a physician immediately.

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