A couple of weeks ago I wrote an article about how I was diagnosed with Takotsubo Cardiomyopathy, otherwise known as Broken Heart Syndrome. This disease is something that I have lived with over the past two years. I am very open about it and I have shared my story with many people (obviously, I shared it on a public website), but whenever I have come to the part of my story where I explain my diagnosis, I have had an interesting assortment of responses. I’ve had people accuse me of making it up, I’ve had people roll their eyes in disbelief, but the worst response was when I’ve had people who have laughed. I mean, yeah sure everyone has said that something has broken their heart or have “had their heart broken” by something, but believe it or not, it’s an actual disease caused by severe anxiety and stress. I can see how it may sound comical just because of how abused those terms are, but I feel that it is extremely important to spread the word considering I have dealt with it for this long.
Takotsubo Cardiomyopathy is a temporary heart condition that mimics the same symptoms as a heart attack. These symptoms often include an interruption of your heart’s normal pumping functions causing severe chest pains, indigestion, nausea, blurred vision, and shortness of breath. This often happens over a period of time that it caused from bottled-up stress, anxiety, and severe depression. When I experience all of these symptoms and I was sent to the hospital, I had found out that I had cysts forming on my heart from the disease as well as shortened breath. Both symptoms being very common.
Luckily, this disease is treatable and even better, cures itself over time. Although it can take a couple of months to a couple of years, it goes away eventually. Of course, it can still come back and it returns every once in a while, but it improves over time. In my case, I feel bits and pieces of heartache quite often, even if it’s from the smallest things. I have watched a sad scene in Finding Nemo and I have had heart pains because it hurt my heart too much. Eventually they go away, but it is still a part of me that I am waiting to be cured. My heart has become more sensitive and I feel more pain than the next person with things that are normally sad, but I am trying my best to make it go away. Although the disease can be cured, it will unfortunately not be eliminated from my past, but I strive to have a painless future.
So the moral of the story I guess is to be aware. There are thousands of people around the work that suffer from Broken Heart Syndrome including myself, and it is something that has and will always be around. I speak for everyone else who has been diagnosed when I say that this disease is something that has hurt me in more ways than one, but it is not something that has slowed me down. I have become so strong in the past year and I am still learning to control the pain, but day by day I am feeling better.
Sincerely,
Someone with a Mending Heart
