How do you mend a broken heart?

WellNews

Victor Romulo Gallardo Dumaguing MD

    To fully understand the impact of emotions on the heart, it is worthwhile to look at the mechanics of falling in love, so that we appreciate and even commiserate with those souls, when love makes an exit from their lives. Sigmund Freud is popular and for some, notorious for publicly telling the world that human behavior is laced with sexuality, in various shades of gray - no pun intended. In simpler terms, the word “love" may start as lust, which obviously focuses on the physical attributes of a person.
    At a later stage, the lust evolves into attraction and in most cases, the finer aspects of humanity would commit the man or the woman into attachment- a more stable relationship from which both partners derive a sense of belonging, comfort, blissful joy and source of strength.
    Thus, it can be said that the transition from lust to attraction to attachment is associated with the persons involved owning up to being truly, deeply and take note, madly in love.  That' why, people in love are often called irrational bordering on being crazy, that they let their hearts rule over their minds, in short love is blind.
    Having said that, it is very clear that when we fall in love- romantic love especially- there is a lot of emotional investment, and taken from a business sense, if the emotional venture goes bankrupt, as in breaking up, it has catastrophic aftermaths.         Hence, the broken heart syndrome. The concept of a broken heart has for many years been the butt of jokes, not only among laymen but even among medical practitioners.
    However, through the years, cardiologists started to notice more and more cases of heart problems which cannot be attributed solely to the more common causes of cardiovascular disease like hypertension, congenital, rheumatic heart disease, dyslipidaemia and diabetes. In 2012, the American Heart Association has publicly acknowledge that indeed, there exist a broken heart syndrome.
    Broken heart syndrome is a form of cardiomyopathy- specifically stress induced cardiomyopathy- in which there is apical ballooning or swelling and thinning of the apex of the heart, thus significantly affecting its ability to generate enough force of contraction, therefore greatly reducing the amount of blood it ejects to supply the 75 trillion cells of the human body. Stress, be it physical or emotional; and there is a long list of causes- break ups of lovers, death of a loved one, infidelity of a spouse, loss of job, even mere transfer of work, cancer or a serious illness- all these factors lead to the secretion of the stress hormone adrenaline and related adaptive chemicals like nor-epinephrine, cortisol.
    All these, working singly or together lead to changes in the blood vessels as well as activity of the heart- vasoconstriction or narrowing of opening of arteries, very fast heart rate, elevated blood pressure which obviously exacts a very heavy burden on the heart, so much so that broken heart syndrome is called Takotsubo syndrome, in reference to the size and shape of the patient's heart resembling a ceramic pot used by the Japanese to catch and store squid and octopus.
    The author was able to watch the interview of cardiologists Dr. Daniel Lipayon and Dr, Romeo Lipayon who stated that the signs and symptoms of broken heart syndrome mimic or are the same as an impending heart attack- chest pains, heaviness in chest ,shortness of breath, palpitations, cold sweat, nausea and vomiting. During the acute phase, the EKG may even confirm the so-called tell-tale signs of heart attack, accompanied by abnormal enzymes like troponin. The good news is on angiogram to visualize the coronary arteries supplying oxygen to the heart, the blood vessels are patent and normal.             Fortunately, prognosis or chance of recovery is good.
    So, how do you mend a broken heart? Probably run to you BFF- best friend forever on whose shoulders you can cry on, talk with a priest or a pastor, don’t forget your family whose love, next to God's is the most accepting and unconditional, or in severe cases a psychiatrist  who might just work with a cardiologist to manage your problem.
    On more practical terms, when love knocks at your door, tell him/her, please be gentle with my heart. HAPPY VALENTINES, CHEERS TO LOVE!