There are likely few moments more joyous in a parent\u2019s life than seeing their children get married. Unfortunately, one 65-year-old mother\u2019s sheer wedding happiness inadvertently led to heart problems that landed her in the emergency room.<\/p>\n
The woman\u2019s doctors detailed the baffling situation earlier this month in a case report. In the days after her daughter\u2019s wedding, she developed an incredibly rare condition known as \u201chappy heart syndrome.\u201d Thankfully, she made a full recovery.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur case underscores this uncommon presentation and adds to the limited body of literature documenting patients who experienced profound joy followed by the unexpected onset of stress cardiomyopathy,\u201d the doctors wrote in their paper, published<\/a> in the Oxford Medical Case Reports.<\/p>\n Too much joy <\/p>\n Happy heart syndrome, or HHS, is a rare subtype of an already rare heart problem called takotsubo cardiomyopathy<\/a>.<\/p>\n Takotsubo is characterized by the sudden weakening and ballooning of the heart\u2019s left ventricle, the thickest chamber primarily responsible for pumping blood throughout the rest of the body (the ventricle can then resemble the shape of a Japanese octopus trap, which is called a takotsubo). This weakening is typically sparked by an intense burst of emotional or physical stress, though actual trauma (like a fall<\/a>) can potentially cause it as well. It\u2019s usually associated with the fallout of a deeply sad life event, such as a break-up or a close loved one\u2019s death, which is why it\u2019s garnered the nickname of \u201cbroken heart syndrome.\u201d But even an especially cheerful situation can trigger the condition, as with this case.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n According to the report, the woman sought medical care three days into having chest pain and shortness of breath that was worsened with physical exertion (this is known as typical or classic angina). The woman had a history of high blood pressure and recent follow-up visits to a cardiology clinic months earlier for atypical chest pain, meaning it didn\u2019t fit the criteria for classic angina, though her electrocardiogram came back normal. Still, doctors rushed her to the intensive care unit, fearing she had developed acute coronary syndrome, a range of conditions caused by a lack of blood flow to the heart (the most worrying version is a heart attack, but any form of it is a medical emergency).<\/p>\n When doctors checked out the women\u2019s coronary arteries, however, they seemed perfectly fine. Her left ventricle, though, showed the ballooning typically seen with takotsubo cardiomyopathy, while other tests confirmed heart damage and that the heart was struggling to pump blood as effectively as usual.\u00a0The woman explained her new symptoms began after she attended her daughter\u2019s wedding three days earlier, where she experienced \u201cextreme joy.\u201d And with tests ruling out any other plausible explanations, the doctors diagnosed her with happy heart syndrome.<\/p>\n A truly happy ending <\/p>\n