Triggering event for TTS
I was very close to my mother who was a widow and 86 years old. I called her one morning before work (which l did every day) – and her phone went to voice mail. I assumed she was talking to my sister – and left a message for her. My sister came into work to see me – and we were both concerned that our mother wasn’t on her phone when l called. We both knew something wasn’t right and thought the worst. She called her husband who went over to her villa – and found her dead in bed. We were devastated. l left work and went to my mother’s place. The ambulance and police were there. I went into her room to see her. I felt extremely sad. I decided to call a friend of mine who worked for a Funeral Company to help us with Mum. Whilst trying to remember her details – l started to feel anxious. I then started to feel a pain down my back on my right side when l tried to take a breath. I announced that l didn’t feel right. The police made me sit down and they called an ambulance. I started to feel fine rather quickly. The ambulance arrived and took my stats, which were all normal. They decided it would be best to take me to the hospital because they said that heart attacks in females were very hard to diagnose.
Medical management
I was taken into the A&E department. A young doctor came and took a blood test to check my troponin levels. The results showed that something was going on with my heart. Throughout this time l was continually crying over the death of my mother. They said they would repeat the blood test six hours later. The results of my second test came back even higher and l was admitted to the ICU overnight, and the next day l was admitted into the Cardiac Ward. I was seen by a Cardiologist who recommended that l have an angiogram to see if l had any blockages in my arteries. As I was taken to hospital on a Saturday, not much happened during the weekend. I wasn’t in any pain at all and felt fine. I was also given a blood thinning injection. I was still crying on and off at times. I had an angiogram through the groin and no problems were found. TTS wasn’t really discussed but they knew l hadn’t had a heart attack. Unfortunately my wound blew up in the evening and l had a huge blood clot form in my groin. It was very painful and l had to lay still all night, which was so painful and uncomfortable. The next day l had to have an ultrasound to check that l hadn’t developed a false aneurysm, which could have been deadly. They checked my blood sugar levels also and it was discovered that l had developed type 2 diabetes. I ended up being hospitalised for five days. In view of not having had a heart attack l was discharged with no follow up, but notes were forwarded to my GP. The end result was l had a huge, horrific haematoma for months afterwards in my groin.
Life after TTS
Although it was agreed l didn’t have a heart attack, they didn’t actually diagnose my condition as a TTS. A couple of years later l had to have my gall bladder removed and when l went into the hospital for pre op tests l was questioned about my ‘broken heart syndrome’. I was advised that it had been recognised as a genuine condition.
