‘It happened to me’

Doctors thought Caron Curragh, 61, a Pilates teacher, had experienced a heart attack, but it turned out to be a massive takotsubo attack. Caron is married to Brian, 58, a finance director, and has a son, Tom, 28.

It first happened in 2013 when someone ploughed into the back of my car. I was very shaken and called an ambulance. On the way to hospital I felt a strange pain in my mid-back and to the left of my breastbone. The staff got me to move my spine in different directions, said I was fine, and discharged me after about 45 minutes.

Back home I still had a lot of pain around my breastbone, but thought I’d strained some ligaments and after a few days it settled down. However, five weeks later, after I became involved in an unpleasant argument about a neighbour’s building works, it happened again. This time I had a terrible pain in my shoulder blade and chest and ended up in hospital again. Tests suggested I’d had a heart attack, and I was referred to the coronary care unit in Oxford. It was a huge shock, especially as I have always exercised and eaten well.

When I got to Oxford, an angiogram

(an X-ray of the arteries) showed my arteries were clear but also that it was takotsubo. The doctor described it as an unusual form of acute heart failure and told me to take it easy for the next three months. After the angiogram, echocardiograms (ultrasounds of the heart) were performed, to monitor my heart over the following two weeks.

I was in hospital for five days. But two days later I collapsed again. While for most people takotsubo is a one-off event, I’m one of the unlucky few left with continuing effects – in my case heart rhythm problems. I’ve been seeing a doctor at London’s

Royal Brompton Hospital who specialises in takotsubo. I take an ACE inhibitor and beta blockers as well as a prescription – only coenzyme Q10, for heart failure.

I eat well and I hardly drink. I sleep well and I walk 10,000 steps and do Pilates every day. Last year I set up a Takotsubo Support Group on Facebook. I didn’t want anyone to go through what I had.