BARBARA'S TCHATZKAHS

This has happened to me about three times in my life - but in March 2004 when I went to the E.R. with chest pain, vomitting and faintness - the doctors finally gave it a name. STRESS CARDIOMYOPATHY. I am taking measures to see that this trauma is never visited on me again. The sudden shock of losing a loved one can cause classic heart attack-like symptoms of a broken heart, doctors say. Tragic events have been known to produce symptoms of chest pain, shortness of breath, and fluid in the lung, but no one knew why. In a new study, researchers show stress cardiomyopathy, the "broken heart syndrome" triggered by sudden emotional shock, is real. Unlike in a true heart attack in which the heart muscle is damaged permanently, those who suffer from the syndrome recover in two weeks or less after receiving fluids and bedrest. In contrast, heart attack victims partially recover in weeks or months. In the study, doctors at Johns Hopkins University used sophisticated te...

I struggle with something related to my lifelong battle with PTSD. Until a few years ago, when I was in counseling for what used to be called a "breakdown," ( and very medicated so I could function) I brought it up. I always called it my "deer in the headlights" response. Now I know its an actual phenomena called the "freeze response." Example : When I was about 13 my 'best friend' started dating a 32 year old guy. He would, at her request, pick me up when she and I were going to events at a local Evangelical youth group. He would either attend with us (as a counselor, no less!) or he'd come back when it was over. Bizarre I know, but I was 13 and naive. I came from a home where I had no privacy or right to my own opinions. And everyone always thought my 'best friend' was such a sweet, nice, perfect, wholesome girl. The winters where I grew up were brutal. I was allowed to ride up front because I was so tall but often the thr...