When I die it will be of a broken heart

My death certificate will read: Takotsubo cardiomyopathy

note: i wrote this one day some time ago when i was laying in bed in the middle of the day crying over my father’s death; i didn’t post it then. But after Uvalde and The Husband Who Died of A Broken Heart after his wife was murdered at Robb Elementary I remembered: Oh! Yes! This has a name.

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When I die it will be from a broken heart.

It doesn’t matter what medical science tells you the actual cause just know it is from a broken heart.

There is a name for this phenomenon: Takotsubo cardiomyopathy¹

Tako tsubo (translated from Japanese = Octopus Trap) Illustration by Nick Taylor

Bereavement, grief, tragedy, loss can in fact kill you. A mourning so profound and insurmountable it stops your heart. For me it was watching my father die - grief never ends, not really. It just changes. Grief I am sure is the carcinogen, pathogen, addiction, car crash, bee sting, snake bite or old age that will finally take me from this rotten ole earth.

So if it is cancer, anaphylaxis, traumatic brain injury that they write on my death certificate know it is really a broken heart.

Broken heart syndrome will be the death of me.

note: even moreso now

1. It is reportedly common, affecting between 1.2% and 2.2% of people in Japan and 2% to 3% in Western countries who suffer a myocardial infarction. It also affects far more women than men with 90% of cases being women OF COURSE! , most postmenopausal DOUBLE OF COURSE!. It is not likely for the same recovered patient to experience the syndrome twice, although it has happened in rare cases.[52] The average ages at onset are between 58 and 75 years. Less than 3% of cases occurred in patients under age 50.[53]