Broken Heart-Ache

If you are a woman aged between 50 and 70 years and you experience a "pulling" pain in your chest, in the neck and in the left arm, together with shortness of breath, nausea and sweating - this can often lead to the feeling that a heart attack might be imminent and you should certainly seek medical adivce. However, these symptoms can also be a sign of the so-called "broken heart syndrome" - a disease which has been known only since the early 1990s and which can be triggered by extreme stress or emotional trauma, for example separation from a partner or the death of a close friend or relative. Researchers have found that the symptoms appear in 90 per cent of all cases in women between 50 and 70 years of age. Professor K.H. Gluck, cardiologist at the Heart Centre Hamburg, explains that the cause is a lack of oestrogene after the menopause, which can lead to an increased mobilisation of the sympathetic nervous system. In extreme situations, the kidneys excrete too many stress hormones which inhibit the movement of the lower part of the left heart ventricle and even paralyses it. The positive side of this syndrome is that the cardial dysfunction is over after a few days, in most cases.