Joy-Induced Heart Syndrome: Rare Case of Happiness Triggering a Heart Attack Mimic
A 65-year-old woman developed takotsubo cardiomyopathy, or “happy heart syndrome,” after extreme joy from her daughter’s wedding, presenting with chest pain that looked like a heart attack but showed no clot and a ballooned left ventricle. This rare, reversible condition is triggered by intense emotions and involves a surge of stress hormones; only a small fraction of cases are linked to positive emotions. The patient recovered fully, highlighting the need for clinician awareness of emotion-induced cardiac events.
