Since the Pandemic began in 2020, 'broken heart syndrome' has more than doubled with people under stress

 

Over the weekend, I received the news that a cousin of my mother died suddenly on Christmas eve. His son discovered him when he went over to help his dad prepare for the annual Christmas eve tradition of lutefisk. The following Christmas day I received a message that his wife passed away with speculation that it was due to a 'broken heart' syndrome. Jim and Mary were very much in love and according to his sister they did everything with their family.



One person said that the incidence of broken heart syndrome has more than doubled since March 2020. So why is that? Before the pandemic began, our lives were filled with interacting with people, but then we were told that getting together with people was far more dangerous and we should stay isolated while wearing masks and staying 6 feet apart from others we no longer had that natural support system readily available to help us process our stress. 

 As we all became isolated, we began internalizing our problems. This brought stress and caused our hearts to beat abnormally and when other stressors like the hospitalization of a grandson or the death of a loved one or the occurrence of other underlying problems this can create the perfect storm of stress for 'broken heart syndrome' to occur. 

One gentleman who was hospitalized with this condition said that when he lost all of his natural supports, he began internalizing his stress which was like a heavy wet blanket laying over his chest. He no longer could walk to the water cooler to process his momentary stress with work colleagues. 

But a broken heart is a real thing. It’s called Broken Heart Syndrome (also known as stress-induced cardiomyopathy or takotsubo cardiomyopathy). In broken heart syndrome, a part of your heart temporarily enlarges and doesn’t pump well, while the rest of your heart functions normally.” It takes on a different shape that doesn't send the oxygenated blood normally through the body. They assure us that broken heart syndrome is “usually treatable,” but occasionally can lead to death if other health conditions are present.

If there is ever a reason to seek help for your losses this is the big one. Even in this pandemic, there are grief share groups to join that have trained facilitators to walk with you and listen to you as you process your pain. 

 Broken heart syndrome is another reason why one must not bury their grief deep and never talk about this pain. If you are someone who has suffered a tragic loss of a loved one, I encourage you to check out this link for the nearest group near you. https://griefshare.org