You probably won't die of a broken heart, although you might feel like you will. Broken Heart Syndrome is a relatively newly recognized medical condition also referred to as stress cardiomyopathy. The symptoms often mimic those of a heart attack and include chest pain, shortness of breath, congestive heart failure and low blood pressure. Middle-aged and elderly women are more prone to it and it usually follows some sort of "shock" or stress to the victim. A variety of stressors-emotional: grief, fear, extreme anger, and physical: stroke, seizure, shortness of breath due to asthma or emphysema or severe bleeding can trigger it.
The exact reason it occurs is not completely understood, but in simple terms the heart muscle is overwhelmed by a massive amount of adrenaline that is suddenly produced in response to the stressor (http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/). The condition resolves quickly and seems to have no long lasting effects.
To learn more about it go to: http://www.mayoclinic.com/; http://heartdisease.about.com/, or http://healthdiscovery.com/.
