{"id":72860,"date":"2013-02-14T06:00:19","date_gmt":"2013-02-14T11:00:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/?p=72860"},"modified":"2013-02-15T09:16:54","modified_gmt":"2013-02-15T14:16:54","slug":"on-this-valentines-day-beware-of-broken-heart-syndrome","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/2013\/02\/on-this-valentines-day-beware-of-broken-heart-syndrome\/","title":{"rendered":"On this Valentine\u2019s Day \u2013 Beware of Broken Heart Syndrome"},"content":{"rendered":"

Let me introduce to you on this Valentine\u2019s Day – \u201cBroken Heart Syndrome.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Dr.
Dr. Runjhun Misra<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

It\u2019s known to the medical folks as \u201cTakotsubo cardiomyopathy\u201d or \u201cstress cardiomyopathy.\u201d Like most people, I am not a fan of big fancy words that only appear sophisticated on paper, but are more like white noise to the ear; so let me explain what happens to the heart in this peculiar case.<\/p>\n

The heart is not only the most powerful organ, but it is, surprisingly, also the most sensitive. And it\u2019s sensitive not only to chemical imbalances, but also to emotional ones. Under extreme emotional stress, some individuals have experienced a sudden, temporary weakening of the heart muscle which causes them significant medical distress. In some documented cases, lovelorn men and women have experienced a broken heart (literally) after their love is strewn apart. It is a scientific phenomenon, and skeptical as you may be, you\u2019d better believe it.<\/p>\n

So why, today, on the holiest of love days am I presenting this depressing condition?<\/p>\n

February 14 is one of the most loved (and hated) days on the Gregorian calendar. Women expect Hallmark channel romantic movies to transform themselves into reality, while men just want the Mayan calendar to predict the end of the world on this day (every year). Although it\u2019s become one of the most expensive and commercial holidays in existence, it\u2019s worthwhile to put aside the roses and to acknowledge this day for what it stood for originally.<\/p>\n

Love.<\/p>\n

As a character once said in a Hindi movie \u2013 \u201cinfatuation may happen often in a lifetime, but love only happens once.\u201d While some people will find this to be true in the way of a soul mate, others believe that finding love is about finding the right person\u2026at the right time. In any case, it\u2019s about finding love, and believing that we will. The most earnest and genuine desire innate within all of us, is to love, and to be loved. Newborn infants can be provided with the best nutrition, but if they aren\u2019t given love and human touch \u2013 they may perish. I do not dramatize the facts. This is a reality.<\/p>\n

So when a lot of women (especially) and men are forlorn today because they didn\u2019t receive the dozen red roses and chocolate covered anything, let\u2019s try to appreciate instead, the love we\u2019ll continue to get from everybody else. Love in any form is a blessing, whether it\u2019s from our \u201csoul mate,\u201d our \u201cright mate,\u201d moms, dads, brothers, sisters, friends, patients, or the elderly janitor who takes care of you like your own grandmother would; cherish the outpouring of this emotion which multiplies in quantity every time it\u2019s divided.<\/p>\n

I know a lot of people who will be single and perhaps unhappy today\u2026so this is for all of you. There are worse things than broken heart syndrome \u2013 not surprisingly, medicine can fix this phenomenon, too. Imagine if you ceased to feel love, something most of us can\u2019t even fathom. I know it\u2019s better to have loved and lost rather than to have never loved at all. Just because there isn\u2019t a guy or girl out there you can shower with superficiality today, don\u2019t despair \u2013 because there\u2019s love around you, and there always will be as long as hearts continue to beat.<\/p>\n

So love with every cell in your body, and never apologize for believing in love. Show your love, not only today, but every other day of the year. And if anyone laughs at you for being a hopeless romantic (like I will forever remain), educate them in the words of a wise wizard from the Land of Oz, \u201cHearts will never be practical until they are made unbreakable.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

Follow\u00a0the UConn Health Center<\/a> on\u00a0Facebook<\/a>,\u00a0Twitter<\/a> and\u00a0YouTube<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

UConn medical resident, Dr. Runjhun Misra, describes a very real condition that impacts the heart. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":27,"featured_media":72863,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"wds_primary_category":0,"wds_primary_series":0,"wds_primary_attribution":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[179,1],"tags":[],"magazine-issues":[],"coauthors":[45],"class_list":["post-72860","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uconn-health","category-uncategorized"],"pp_statuses_selecting_workflow":false,"pp_workflow_action":"current","pp_status_selection":"publish","acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-17 03:59:38","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72860","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/users\/27"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=72860"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72860\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":72887,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72860\/revisions\/72887"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media\/72863"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=72860"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=72860"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=72860"},{"taxonomy":"magazine-issue","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/magazine-issues?post=72860"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=72860"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}