'Broken Heart Syndrome' Has Increased During COVID-19 Pandemic, Small Study Suggests (cnn.com) 123
Rick Schumann writes: Researchers at a Cleveland clinic performed a study with 1,914 patients into a phenomenon called "Broken Heart Syndrome," where someone can be experiencing heart attack-like symptoms, but it's not a heart attack or anything related to blocked blood flow to the heart. Turns out that it seems likely that the aggregate stresses of the pandemic (so-called "social distancing," lack of contact with fellow humans, enforced isolation, and so on) appear to create emotional stresses that manifest with physical symptoms that mimic a heart attack.
"The pandemic has created a parallel environment which is not healthy," said Dr. Ankur Kalra, the cardiologist who led the study. "Emotional distancing is not healthy. The economic impact is not healthy. We've seen that as an increase in non-coronavirus deaths, and our study says that stress cardiomyopathy has gone up because of the stress that the pandemic has created." The study didn't examine whether or not there could be a medical link between this phenomenon and the coronavirus, but all the participants in the study were tested for infection and were found to be free of the virus. The study has been published in the journal JAMA Network Open.
"The pandemic has created a parallel environment which is not healthy," said Dr. Ankur Kalra, the cardiologist who led the study. "Emotional distancing is not healthy. The economic impact is not healthy. We've seen that as an increase in non-coronavirus deaths, and our study says that stress cardiomyopathy has gone up because of the stress that the pandemic has created." The study didn't examine whether or not there could be a medical link between this phenomenon and the coronavirus, but all the participants in the study were tested for infection and were found to be free of the virus. The study has been published in the journal JAMA Network Open.
Sounds like someone needs a hug (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:A hug... (Score:1)
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I missed the part about how saying that means you won't be doing anything else, too.
Probably because it wasn't there. Oh, but here's something. [wikipedia.org]
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You seem to have forgotten something important in your comment.
When posting sarcasm, you need to properly close your comment with the "</sarcasm>" HTML tag. Otherwise people might think you're serious.
You wouldn't want people to make that mistake, right? If they did, they'd think that nonsense you just posted was real, and that would be bad.
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Yes, a few days.
Come again when you've spend 10 years like that and we'll talk about it.
Re:People have gone weaker and weaker (Score:5, Insightful)
Frankly, as someone who lived in a poor, filled with junkies, neighborhood with 7 people in a 3 room apartment, I would still prefer that over living completely alone. Human company is a basic need, much more basic than Internet.
Re: People have gone weaker and weaker (Score:2)
40 days without people is pretty easy. Jesus, if he existed, seems to have been a major attention whore, so you would consider him just as weak.
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You left off the "and without food" part.
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No wonder he was hallucinating in the end.
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Pretty much this. I mean, I admire how much adoration so many people have for their gardener, but somehow they can't be assed to learn how to properly pronounce his name.
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Can I opt to survive 3 years without humans so I don't have to go 3 weeks without food?
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Another self-hating liberal...
The same people who claim they'll do anything for this country and tell people if they don't like it they are free to leave, are the same people vehemently whining they won't wear a mask for the few minutes they go grocery shopping or stop in a store.
Re:People have gone weaker and weaker (Score:5, Insightful)
This is a democracy. I, for one, am not going to put up with some tiny minority of people telling me what the fuck to do
People doing random things on impulse to spite others is not a hallmark of democracy but of anarchy. You're not the demos, only one of its parts.
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This lock-down is coming to an end, by hook or crook. Every day I see less and less people wearing masks..
And I'm positive it just a coincidence that every day the death toll is getting higher and higher...
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Coincidence, the death toll is going down.
That was true three or four days ago, but now the death count is starting to move up in a lot of states.
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You don't say? 2 weeks after infection rates went up again, the death toll went up again? In an infection where we know that it takes about 2 weeks from first symptoms to death?
Who could have possibly guessed that!
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Please go out, get the virus and die. You will do your country, and the world, a great service.
Re:People have gone weaker and weaker (Score:5, Insightful)
You fucking hypocrites are always going on about "you don't have the right to endanger me". Fuck you.. You endanger me every time you get behind the wheel of your car.. You never know if/when you'll have a blow-out that causes you to lose control and kill someone."
Unless they neglected their tire pressure or tread depth checks, or drove like they're on a race course, that's not them endangering you. That's the tire manufacturer, and the people whose vehicles are scattering screws across the highway (mostly old white guys in old beat down trucks who put shit into the back that shouldn't be there. My dad was one of those assholes.)
Real problems? Like being stripped of your job by some bureaucrat's edict? Loss of income isn't a problem? You think unemployment covers the average wage?
Democrats wanted to give people money. Republicans gave it to corporations instead. I'm glad to hear you're mad at the Republicans.
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Funny. The Chinese can do it, the Koreans can do it, even most Europeans somehow manage to do it, but Americans blow their lid off over it.
So much for "greatest country", the biggest washouts you are! Fuck, where did the US go that I came to admire in my youth? When was it replaced by this whiny bunch of whimps?
Fuck that shit (Score:1, Flamebait)
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Hey, all they want you to do is die for the Dow. Is that really too much to ask? ;)
Re:Fuck that shit (Score:4, Insightful)
I am concerned by how much "Die For Dow!" sounds like a legitimate political slogan.
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I'll be standing next to that guy with a "Die For Dow People, Line Forms Anywhere" sign.
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That's part of the long term stress. You can't be sure who has it and when you go out you can't be sure if people will behave responsibly around you. All these little bits of worry accumulate over time.
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In the name of profit or in the name of a job and an income?
Unless you of course don't care for a job and are happy for others to pay for your income. Seems to be the norm these days.
Re: Fuck that shit (Score:2)
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Talk is cheap, you pussy.
Which you just proved. Congratulations?
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I've never seen someone so triggered about an anti-republican post. Let me guess, if we cut you then you'd bleed red like a mad republican supporter.
extroverts? (Score:5, Interesting)
It would be nice if they did some basic psych profiles on the people studied so it could be determined. You might think this is silly but this is the kind of stuff that is going to be very important for things like Mars colonization. You don't want to end up sending people that crack under the pressure and suddenly have a mystery illness.
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At the very, very least I'd be interested in knowing if there's a difference between introverts and extroverts in this study.
Re:extroverts? (Score:5, Insightful)
Introvert doesn't really mean the thing that many people think it means when they use the word. Introversion is not about not needing people ever, it's about not needing people "all the time" and even needing some time without people some of the time. Many people who are introverts can be the life of the party when they choose to be. Many famous people who are quite comfortable being the spotlight some of the time are themselves introverted and so beside the spotlight, they also crave alone time to recharge.
I can tell you personally as an introvert that I struggle with this situation today. It's all but eliminated the time I do get to spend with the ones I love and I don't have a backup plan because unlike many of the extroverts I know, I do not find things like zoom to be a help, in fact, participating in zoom calls just makes me all the more despondent. It's like I'm starving and shown a table full of food I can't touch.
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I can tell you personally as an introvert that I struggle with this situation today.
It's because you build a wall between yourself and other people.
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Introversion and extroversion are really about where one gets their energy from.
Introverts generally get their energy from doing quiet things and being alone, contemplative and such. Extroverts generally get their energy from being out and about in groups.
Energy here being a more metaphorical sense than actual energy.
Put each in the other's group and it drains their energy, leading to time required in their "native" group to rejuvenate.
You can have introverted social butterflies - these people generally hav
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And as an introvert, I can tell you that this has been my life for the past 25 years.
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And as an introvert, I'm thinking of killing myself. Really only don't because my mother and sister are still alive. I know that we have years more of this shit to come.
Very few introverts are really happy with no human contact ever. Most of them just prefer to avoid big groups and focus on smaller ones, or groups that have higher personal connection. You may be one of the exceptions, but you're a fucking rarity.
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Well, before all this bullshit I did visit my friend once or twice a month for a LAN party with his nephew, we simply switch to online gaming (which we were already doing, as far as the computers are concerned).
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Talk for yourself. I have to go to work again tomorrow (as in, not telecommute anymore) and I'm seriously considering calling in sick.
The past 3 months were the best I had in a long, long time.
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There have been studies of the syndrome since it has resulted in death by deforming and stunning the heart, although at a far lower rate than actual heart attacks result in death.
It's officially called "Takotsubo Cardiomyopathy", named after a type of Japanese fishing pot, that resembles what the deformed left ventricle looks like in those that suffer from it.
There is a lot of subject material as it appears a few hundred prisoners die every month in US prisons caused by it, as medical care isn't available i
Welcome to my world, bitches (Score:5, Insightful)
Hey, how about giving back all the great advice I got so far, from "Hey, it ain't that bad" right to "C'mon, stop being such a crybaby".
Get used to it. I did too.
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Well, all you can really deduce from that is that I'm not one iota better. And I'm not. I have been turned into a bitter, antisocial asshole, and I enjoy watching those that made me suffer through my life suffer now.
If you goad a dog into being vicious, you only have yourself to blame when he bites you.
Re:Welcome to my world, bitches (Score:5, Insightful)
I get where you are coming from, I really do. But unlike a dog you are self aware enough to be able to decide not to be overly nasty. No reason to be antisocial when being asocial works just as well.
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Being antisocial makes it just that little bit more enjoyable.
Hey, everyone has a hobby. Mine is human misery.
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You weren't turned into a bitter antisocial asshole, you turned into a bitter antisocial asshole.
Big difference, now take responsibility for yourself.
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You forgot to include the bit where you explain why the fuck I should.
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Would you have the same attitude if it was a back injury? "Just get used to carrying 40kg packs, I did!"
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If they first told me to walk it off because it's nothing?
Yes. Yes I would. Yes, I'm petty like that. If you make me suffer, I enjoy watching you suffer.
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I think AniMoJo might have missed the part of your post where you CLEARLY are miffed about people reacting like this towards you instead of you actually thinking people with this condition are whiners.
It's kinda par for the course with him. Her? It? Ah, whatever.
I must admit I can empathize with you. It suck when everyone around you think your problem isn't worth mentioning, just "do what thesy did".
Mental blockades are a bitch. Whether it's depressions or any other mental illness. I am still wating for my
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Oh yeah, "go out and have some fun". Great advice. Got this one myself.
Unfortunately, I went out and did not have fun. Maybe I was having fun wrong.
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Tried that. Didn't work out so well. Now I don't internalize my anger anymore but let it go back to the world. Much, much more relaxing that way.
Internalized anger is depression. Externalized anger, that's me.
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Ever tried moclobemide? It will focus your anger ton important things and help you not giving a shit about the small stuff.
Raises the blood pressure, though.
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I'm doing fine now, thank you. I found it's very relaxing to fuck up the world, it gives me something to do and entertains me greatly.
Why is lack of contact a problem? (Score:2)
I've found most so-called humans to be nothing but irritants.
Mind you, I am a Dalek.
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How do you climb stairs?
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LE-VI-TATE!
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Level the building. Next time build it so wheeled entities can use it too, human!
Biopsy necessary to confirm infection status (Score:4)
https://www.ctvnews.ca/health/... [ctvnews.ca]
Kids with COVID-toes were testing negative for the virus, too. Then they did some biopsies and found the virus in the tissue. Until they can biopsy some heart tissue, I think they should assume that it's an actual infection, not a mental condition. A localized infection is weird, but it seems a lot more likely.
All compensated by the "Happy Engineer" syndrome (Score:2)
homeoffice ftw!
Panic attacks (Score:5, Insightful)
>"appear to create emotional stresses that manifest with physical symptoms that mimic a heart attack."
Hasn't that always been called "panic attacks"?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]
I have never had such a thing, but I know they are real. It is pretty amazing just how much stress and other mental issues can affect the physical body.
Re:Panic attacks (Score:4, Interesting)
I have panic attacks from time to time. For a long time I didn't know what they were. They manifest differently for different people—for me, I'm just convinced that I'm about to die. I'm light-headed and I feel like my heart is pounding. Importantly, however, nothing is wrong. If I take my pulse, it's barely elevated. They're a weird condition.
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Yeah, panic attack was my first thought. Had a few in the past, and it's easy to think you're having a heart attack, especially that first time.
Interestingly, I'm personally in better physical and mental shape than I've been in years. Lack of activity options has gotten me and the family outdoors and exercising together. Extra time with the family from working from home has brought us a lot closer together. Ironic that it took a global pandemic to get us healthy.
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>"Yeah, panic attack was my first thought. Had a few in the past, and it's easy to think you're having a heart attack, especially that first time."
Although I have never had a panic attack, I suddenly developed PVC (heart palpitations) several years ago. No known cause, and apparently not dangerous (after complete evals). But when they first started, it was quite scary and concerning. So I imagine it is somewhat similar, although far less scary than a panic attack.
>"Interestingly, I'm personally in
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No, it hasn't. Broken heart syndrome is a recognized medical condition, usually seen in people who have recently lost a loved one.
A panic attack is a transient thing that may make the victim feel like they're having a heart attack but the heart appears normal in tests.
Broken Heart Syndrome may also feel like a heart attack, but the heart actually does show altered function/loss of function. It can be severe enough to result in cardiogenic shock (dangerously low blood pressure due to the heart failing to pum
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Transient makes it sound like its minor and short. My sister had one that lasted a week plus. Imagine a week of thinking you had a heart attack in your 30s (and she did go to the emergency room to get checked). Don't minimalize how scary panic attacks can be.
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I'm not meaning to minimize it, just distinguish it from broken heart syndrome. USUALLY, panic attacks subside in minutes. That's not to say those minutes aren't terrible for the sufferer.
Achy Breaky Heart (Score:2)
'Broken Heart Syndrome' Has Increased During COVID-19 Pandemic, Small Study Suggests
Isn't Country/Western Music the authority on this?
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Indirectly. In people with a working brain, it creates a similar bodily reaction.
Give me a break (Score:2)
What about introverts? My routine now is not substantially different from before, and I'm fine. I find it hard to believe it's really that difficult to stay away from people for so long, to just sit in a room by yourself and, I don't know, use your brain and think? Read? Write? Other hobbies? Exercise? Connect online, over the phone, over video conferencing.
I dispute the claim or implication that distancing is "the" cause for the uptick in heat attacks or heart condition. Sure, there might be a correlation.
better for the heart than virus (Score:3)
Sounds like rubbish to me created by the corporatists as an excuse to sacrifice the lives of workers by reopening with garbage science. What WILL hurt people is to get the virus, and then you're heart can really end up in real trouble.
Anyway, other studies have found that the distancing restrictions have increased happiness and mental health. Its allowed people time to be with their children rather than both parents working 12 hours a day where they barely ever get to see them, to take up hobbies, exercise and so on. So its been very healthy for people. Corporations don't like it but they want parents locked up in office buildings and their children back in the prison like schools to be brainwashed like before.
Behind the "reopen" mantra are the Koch Family and US Chamber of Commerce, notoriously bloodthirsty organizations who sacrifice the health of workers to make a buck.
Garbage summary of garbage summary (Score:4, Informative)
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Though, given the variability of symptoms from the plethora of heart issues that are colloquially known as heart attacks, basically anything happening in the trunk of the body can be described as "mimicking a heart attack".
Regretting submitting this, now (Score:2)
Re: Regretting submitting this, now (Score:2)
We've seen that as an increase in non-coronavirus deaths,
Citation needed.
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If it makes you feel better, pretty much every article is turned into meaningless political bickering in the comment section. It's not you.
It has created a parallel REALITY! (Score:1)
My sister is acting irrationally.
She can suffocate herself with impunity.
When she forces her children to do it, though, that in my mind is child abuse.
Their brains are developing, and forcing them to breathe their own exhaust is harming them.
When I point this out, she says I'm the crazy one and that I should use "self-talk" to get over my "anxiety".
A perfect example (Score:2)
The man is qualified to tell you that, yes, you were having a panic attack and not a heart attack but for him to speculate on the cause of that panic attack is ENTIRELY irresponsib
Different subject, the same old commentary (Score:2)
Certainly, the lack of tech news is to be expected, but the attempts to maintain engagement by just posting articles left and right that are vaguely science or medicine is disappointing.
Not everybody is able to evaluate a scientific paper. Journalistic summaries are often proof of that. No, being a programmer is not sufficient (or necessary) for scientific literacy. You actually need specialized experience. Yes, experience, just being smart isn't enough either. Wisdom is not intelligence. If there was only
Not surprised (Score:1)
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Don't waste downmods on cunts like this, report and DDOS/doxx.