{"id":616,"date":"2011-06-10T08:41:22","date_gmt":"2011-06-10T12:41:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/beginnersheart\/?p=616"},"modified":"2011-06-10T08:41:22","modified_gmt":"2011-06-10T12:41:22","slug":"takotsubo-broken-heart-syndrome","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/beginnersheart\/2011\/06\/takotsubo-broken-heart-syndrome.html","title":{"rendered":"‘takotsubo’: broken heart syndrome ~"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Once, many years ago, I made it through the night breath by breath. I remember laying in the twin bed next to my mother and thinking: one more breath. just one more breath.<\/em> And I thought: you can die of a broken heart. you can just choose to stop these so-called autonomic reflexes… and just die.<\/em><\/p>\n

And it turns out I was right. You can die of a broken heart<\/a>. Even just broken heart syndrome<\/a> can leave you feeling like your heart has, in fact, shattered. Into pieces.<\/p>\n

I remember thinking: you can just stop breathing. you can hurt so badly that you just stop breathing.<\/em><\/p>\n

The human animal is a fragile ecosystem, \"\"<\/a>it turns out. We can survive freezing temperatures, scale incredible heights, run for hours and birth quintuplets. But there are hurts so deep —\u00a0 losses so grave — that the heart cracks into pieces. Like a knife improperly tempered, the heart fissures and breaks.<\/p>\n

Somehow I find it comforting that there is a medical name for something that seems so primal. I find it even more comforting to know I made it through la noche oscura del alma<\/em>, that dark night of the soul. The heart heals. Begins again. It gets better.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Once, many years ago, I made it through the night breath by breath. I remember laying in the twin bed next to my mother and thinking: one more breath. just one more breath. And I thought: you can die of a broken heart. you can just choose to stop these so-called autonomic reflexes… and just…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":398,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,17,30,1],"tags":[1181,64,65],"class_list":["post-616","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-britton-gildersleeve","category-buddhism","category-grieving","category-uncategorized","tag-britton-gildersleeve","tag-broken-heart-syndrome","tag-takotsubo"],"yoast_head":"\n'takotsubo': broken heart syndrome ~ - Beginner's Heart<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Once, many years ago, I made it through the night breath by breath. 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