Sometimes my heart is so full of love or sorrow or both, that it feels as if it might burst.

Have you heard of Broken Heart Syndrome? (“Your doctor may call this stress-induced cardiomyopathy“ or “transient left ventricular apical ballooning syndrome”.) I first read about it in one of The NY Times medical mysteries columns. It is a condition that most commonly occurs in middle aged or older women though the article was about a man. You know how they used to call women “hysterical” if they had a strong visceral response to physical or emotional trauma? Well Broken Heart Syndrome (also called Takotsubo Syndrome) is a new take on that. It occurs after a physically or emotionally intense event. The event can be joyful or devastating or just extremely strenuous. The body responds with a “fight or flight” reaction pouring large quantities of adrenalin or cortisol into the bloodstream which causes the left ventricle of the heart to distend into an enlarged shape. It looks like a takotsubo, a Japanese clay vessel used to capture octopuses (octopi?). The syndrome was first discovered and named in Japan. It can take weeks or months but the heart usually returns to its normal shape eventually. A romantic disease.

An aside – When my mother was pregnant with us twins she used to say she had an octopus inside her…and in some ways she did – eight limbs – four arms, four legs floating around inside her. I wonder if her uterus was shaped like an upside down Takotsubo.

A POEM:

Conditions of the Heart

My father was a physician who specialized in Cardiology.

He taught me all the scientific terms for what could go wrong with the heart.

I am a hopeless romantic and so had to interpret them on my own terms to truly understand:

• Arrhythmia – An erratic heart that just can’t keep the beat.

• Atrial Fibrillation – A trembling heart.

• Atherosclerosis – A narrowing of the way in or out of the heart.

• Cardiomegaly – A heart that is too big; a heavy heart.

• Heart Murmur – A softly complaining heart.

• Ischemia – A pale heart.

• Pericardial infusion – A heart floating, unmoored.

• Pericarditis – A heart inflamed.

• Tachycardia – A wildly beating heart.

• Congestive Heart Failure – A weak heart, unable to keep up with the demands placed upon it.

• Myocardial Infarct – A broken heart, parts of which cannot get enough sustenance and die.

• A Healthy Heart (for which my father had no scientific term) –

Resilient, opening and closing where and when it should;

Beating steady and strong,

A heart that nourishes body and soul and lets another in.