Sushmita Sen recently opened up about suffering a heart attack said, "I suffered a severe heart attack a couple of days ago with 95 percent blockage in the main artery and had to undergo an angioplasty. I got a stent placed in my heart and doctors reconfirmed that I do have a big heart."

Having a big heart usually means caring and loving, but medically, a big heart means an enlarged heart, a condition called cardiomegaly. Cardiomegaly is not a disease, but is a sign of another disease which can be caused by short term stress on the body. People with cardiomegaly may experience shortness of breath and swelling.

A few years ago, in 2014, Sushmita Sen revealed that she had Addison's disease. She said, "After I was diagnosed with an autoimmune condition called Addison’s disease in September 2014, it left me feeling like I had no fight left in me."

Addison's disease

Addison's disease is a disease in which the adrenal cortex is damaged and the adrenal glands don’t produce enough of the steroid hormones cortisol and aldosterone. Cortisol regulates the body’s reaction to stressful situations. Aldosterone helps with sodium and potassium regulation.

Types:

Addison's disease has two types.

Primary Adrenal Insufficiency - This is an autoimmune disease in which your immune system mistakes your organ or area of the body for a virus, bacteria, or another infection. In primary adrenal insufficiency the adrenal glands are damaged so severely that they can no longer produce hormones. This is mostly caused when your immune system attacks your adrenal glands.

Secondary Adrenal Insufficiency - In this condition, the pituitary gland can’t produce  adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH). ACTH tells the adrenal glands when to release hormones.

Is there a connection between Addison’s disease and heart attack?

As we know, In Addison's disease, the adrenal glands don't produce enough hormones like aldosterone and cortisol, which regulate the metabolism, blood sugar, and blood pressure levels, which are necessary for maintaining heart health.

Sushmita Sen encourages youngsters to maintain their active lifestyle by exercising and work out and women to not misinterpret heart attack as men's thing.