Four years ago, I could not have taught this breakout session.
The 2013 ACBC Annual Conference fell between two trips to the emergency room. During both trips, I was sure I was having a heart attack. Without a doubt that’s what I believed and that’s what my wife believed. But we learned that it wasn’t a heart attack. It was what doctors called cardiomyopathy. The Mayo Clinic calls it “broken heart syndrome.”
This is a stress-induced condition that contains every symptom of a heart attack, but without permanent damage to the actual heart muscle. It can be provoked by stress. It can be provoked by the death of a loved one. It results in sudden chest pain and you feel as if you are having a heart attack. It can be brought on by the heart’s natural reaction to the surge of stress hormones that are rushing through your body. Part of your heart temporarily enlarges and doesn’t pump well, while the remainder of the heart functions normally or within even more forceful contractions.
Today, this is referred to as stress cardiomyopathy, and it mimics a heart attack. Common symptoms include chest
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