Table of ContentsView AllTable of ContentsSymptomsDiagnosisCausesTypesWho Is at Risk?TreatmentCoping

Table of ContentsView All

View All

Table of Contents

Symptoms

Diagnosis

Causes

Types

Who Is at Risk?

Treatment

Coping

Close

Stress cardiomyopathy is a condition in which severe emotional or physical stress causes the heart muscles to weaken quickly and sometimes severely.

Emotional stressorsthat cause this condition could begrief, fear, or surprise, while physical stressors that may lead to stress cardiomyopathy include asthma or pain from an accident.

Stress cardiomyopathy is also known as “broken-heart syndrome” or takotsubo cardiomyopathy. Although complications might occur, people with this condition are usually able to make a full recovery in a couple of weeks. It also causes no permanent damage to the heart, unlike other heart conditions.

It can occur at any age but has been observed to affect more women than men. It’s a rare form of cardiomyopathy. According to the American College of Cardiology, 15 to 30 cases of the condition occur in every 100,000 heart conditions, each year in the United States. However, this number could be higher, as milder forms are less likely to be reported or receive medical treatment.

Can Your Heart Hurt From Stress?

The most common symptoms of stress cardiomyopathy are very similar to the symptoms of a heart attack and can occur suddenly.

Unlike a heart attack, which kills heart cells, this form of cardiomyopathy temporarily stuns heart cells. This makes recovery from the condition quicker than recovery window following a heart attack. Common symptoms include:

How Prolonged Stress Impacts Your Health

When being diagnosed, stress cardiomyopathy may be mistaken for a heart attack because of its shared symptoms. In some cases an electrocardiogram (ECG), may even show similar abnormalities in the heart of a person with stress cardiomyopathy as in the heart of a person who has had a heart attack.

In most cases the condition isn’t fatal and people who get it only need adequate rest and support to make a full recovery. However, in rare cases, it can cause complications such as heart failure or low blood pressure.

To ensure that a proper diagnosis is made, a medical professional will lookout for the following:

The exact cause of stress cardiomyopathy is unknown. Research shows that a sudden surge in stress hormones like adrenaline is capable of stunning the heart’s muscles.

This causes changes in the cells of the heart muscles and causes the left ventricle to balloon and change shape, preventing the heart from working properly.

The word “takotsubo” is derived from a Japanese octopus trap. The shape of the left ventricle is similar to that of the trap when this occurs. This is why the condition is also known as takotsubo cardiomyopathy or takotsubo syndrome.

Physical stressors like an illness or undergoing surgery are also a leading cause of the condition. Some of them include:

How to Cope If You’ve Lost Your Job Amidst The Coronavirus Pandemic

Stress cardiomyopathy can be split into two subtypes—primary and secondary:

Primary

A person with the primary form of stress cardiomyopathy isn’t already under healthcare supervision and can typically be treated with anticoagulant agents like aspirin.

Secondary

A person with the secondary form of the condition, would usually already be under healthcare supervision as a result of another condition like hypotension or acute pulmonary edema. This often makes diagnosing stress cardiomyopathy more difficult.

Stress cardiomyopathy is up to nine times more prevalent in women than in men. Age also plays a great role in determining who is at risk of developing the condition.

People over the age of 50 are thought to be the most at risk, although it can occur at a younger age.

Postmenopausal women are also thought to be at a higher risk of developing the condition especially shortly after they’ve experienced sudden and severeemotional stress.

Some conditions that might put you at risk of the disease include:

Is Marijuana a Depressant?

People who’ve dealt with stress cardiomyopathy experience no long term damage to their heart. Recovery from this condition usually takes a couple of days to weeks.

Treatment for this condition differs from person to person and typically depends on the severity of a person’s symptoms. Medications such as beta-blockers and ACE inhibitors might be prescribed for patients with more severe symptoms.

A combination of alpha and beta-blockers might also be prescribed as a long-term treatment plan to prevent a reoccurrence. The alpha and beta-blockers help to reduce the effects of stress hormones on the heart.

It’s possible for the condition to reoccur, even after you’ve made a full recovery. The condition can be life-threatening in certain cases. The weakening of the heart muscles might cause other complications like heart failure and low blood pressure.

Stress cardiomyopathy is a reversible condition. This means for many people your heart will return to normal in a couple of weeks with little or even no medical intervention.

It’s important to recognize the things that cause stress and manage them. You should also minimize stressful triggers until a full recovery is made. 10 to 15% of people who have had the condition develop it again.

Managing stress is not only a great way to cope with the condition, it’s great for your overall health too. Here are some ways you can do so:

18 Effective Stress Relief Strategies

8 SourcesVerywell Mind uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.Ramaraj R.Stress cardiomyopathy: aetiology and management.Postgrad Med J. 2007;83(982):543-546.Stress cardiomyopathy diagnosis and treatment. American College of Cardiology.Zidwick V.Stress cardiomyopathy symptoms| heart and vascular institute.Medina de Chazal H et al.Stress cardiomyopathy diagnosis and treatment: Jacc State-of-the-art Review.Journal of the American College of Cardiology. 2018;72(16):1955-1971.Publishing HH.Takotsubo cardiomyopathy (Broken-heart syndrome).Harvard Health.Ramaraj R.Stress cardiomyopathy: aetiology and management. Postgraduate Medical Journal. 2007;83(982):543-546.Medina de Chazal H, Del Buono MG, Keyser-Marcus L, et al.Stress cardiomyopathy diagnosis and treatment.Journal of the American College of Cardiology. 2018;72(16):1955-1971.What is Takotsubo (Broken heart syndrome)? Heart Foundation NZ.

8 Sources

Verywell Mind uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.Ramaraj R.Stress cardiomyopathy: aetiology and management.Postgrad Med J. 2007;83(982):543-546.Stress cardiomyopathy diagnosis and treatment. American College of Cardiology.Zidwick V.Stress cardiomyopathy symptoms| heart and vascular institute.Medina de Chazal H et al.Stress cardiomyopathy diagnosis and treatment: Jacc State-of-the-art Review.Journal of the American College of Cardiology. 2018;72(16):1955-1971.Publishing HH.Takotsubo cardiomyopathy (Broken-heart syndrome).Harvard Health.Ramaraj R.Stress cardiomyopathy: aetiology and management. Postgraduate Medical Journal. 2007;83(982):543-546.Medina de Chazal H, Del Buono MG, Keyser-Marcus L, et al.Stress cardiomyopathy diagnosis and treatment.Journal of the American College of Cardiology. 2018;72(16):1955-1971.What is Takotsubo (Broken heart syndrome)? Heart Foundation NZ.

Verywell Mind uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.

Ramaraj R.Stress cardiomyopathy: aetiology and management.Postgrad Med J. 2007;83(982):543-546.Stress cardiomyopathy diagnosis and treatment. American College of Cardiology.Zidwick V.Stress cardiomyopathy symptoms| heart and vascular institute.Medina de Chazal H et al.Stress cardiomyopathy diagnosis and treatment: Jacc State-of-the-art Review.Journal of the American College of Cardiology. 2018;72(16):1955-1971.Publishing HH.Takotsubo cardiomyopathy (Broken-heart syndrome).Harvard Health.Ramaraj R.Stress cardiomyopathy: aetiology and management. Postgraduate Medical Journal. 2007;83(982):543-546.Medina de Chazal H, Del Buono MG, Keyser-Marcus L, et al.Stress cardiomyopathy diagnosis and treatment.Journal of the American College of Cardiology. 2018;72(16):1955-1971.What is Takotsubo (Broken heart syndrome)? Heart Foundation NZ.

Ramaraj R.Stress cardiomyopathy: aetiology and management.Postgrad Med J. 2007;83(982):543-546.

Stress cardiomyopathy diagnosis and treatment. American College of Cardiology.

Zidwick V.Stress cardiomyopathy symptoms| heart and vascular institute.

Medina de Chazal H et al.Stress cardiomyopathy diagnosis and treatment: Jacc State-of-the-art Review.Journal of the American College of Cardiology. 2018;72(16):1955-1971.

Publishing HH.Takotsubo cardiomyopathy (Broken-heart syndrome).Harvard Health.

Ramaraj R.Stress cardiomyopathy: aetiology and management. Postgraduate Medical Journal. 2007;83(982):543-546.

Medina de Chazal H, Del Buono MG, Keyser-Marcus L, et al.Stress cardiomyopathy diagnosis and treatment.Journal of the American College of Cardiology. 2018;72(16):1955-1971.

What is Takotsubo (Broken heart syndrome)? Heart Foundation NZ.

Meet Our Review Board

Share Feedback

Was this page helpful?Thanks for your feedback!What is your feedback?HelpfulReport an ErrorOtherSubmit

Was this page helpful?

Thanks for your feedback!

What is your feedback?HelpfulReport an ErrorOtherSubmit

What is your feedback?