A healthy woman’s heart literally broke after the death of her beloved Yorkshire terrier.
Joanie Simpson, a 62-year-old mother from Texas, experienced chest pains after her nine-year-old dog, Meha, died in May 2016.
When she was airlifted to the hospital, doctors told her that the devastation she experienced following Meha’s death had nearly killed her. Simpson was diagnosed with potentially-fatal Takotsubo cardiomyopathy or ‘broken-heart syndrome’.
Her story, published today as a case study in the New England Journal of Medicine, exemplifies the physical damage that overwhelming sadness can do to one’s body in the wake of a loss.
Pictured are scans of Joanie Simpson’s heart upon the onset of Takotsubo cardiomyopathy. When she first arrived at the hospital, doctors thought she was experiencing a heart attack. But after Simpson, 62, was catheterizehed they discovered her arteries were not blocked and diagnosed her with ‘broken-heart syndrome’
Meha died after suffering from congestive heart failure. Her death devastated Simpson, who told the Washington Post the dog was like a daughter to her.
One day soon after the death Simpson woke up with a back ache and chest pains, and she went to a local emergency room.
Simpson was then airlifted to Hermann Memorial Hospital in Houston, and the staff there were told they would be receiving a patient experiencing the symptoms of a heart attack.
She was taken to the cardiac catheterization lab at Hermann Memorial, and physicians inserted a tube into her heart via her groin.
They expected to see blocked arteries, but x-rays showed them something different, Dr Abhishek Maiti, who treated Simpson, told the Post.
‘The artery was crystal clear. It was pristine,’ Dr Maiti said. They checked another artery, and found the same result. Simpson was then diagnosed with Takotsubo cardiomyopathy.
The condition imitates a heart attack and happens when an overwhelming amount of hormones stress the heart. The sensation creates spasms, and ‘broken heart syndrome’ can be fatal.
‘Broken-heart syndrome’ typically follows a traumatic event, and it can lead to a host of medical complications including heart failure. Pictured is the type of dog that Simpson lost, which triggered her Takotsubo cardiomyopathy (file photo)
Simpson was treated with an angiotensin-converting-enzyme (ACE) inhibitor and a beta-blocker. Once she was stable again doctors explained her condition to her and what had happened. She said it ‘made complete sense.’
Simpson explained the sadness she felt after Meha’s death, saying: ‘I was nearly inconsolable. I took it really, really hard.’
‘The kids were grown and out of the house so she was our little girl,’ she said. Additionally, Simpson said that she takes things ‘more to heart than a lot of other people’.
Simpson had to stay in the hospital for two days following her diagnosis, and she now has to take two heart medications. But she is otherwise healthy.
Even though Meha’s death could have killed her, Simpson said she plans to get another dog in the future.
‘It is heartbreaking. It is traumatic. It is all of the above. But you know what? They give so much love and companionship that I’ll do it again. I will continue to have pets. That’s not going to stop me.’
Simpson’s case was reported in the New England Journal of Medicine, and the article said that Takotsubo cardiomyopathy typically affects postmenopausal women.
The analysis said that patients who suffer from the illness have usually recently endured ‘a stressful or emotional event’, and it added that Simpson had no symptoms of the illness one year after her hospital visit.