Ecuadorian TV Presenter Dies After Mistaking Heart Attack Symptoms for a Cold
Emilio Sueños, a popular 41-year-old television presenter and model in Ecuador, recently died after experiencing rapidly worsening symptoms he initially believed were a common cold. He was admitted to the intensive care unit of a Guayaquil hospital on October 1st,where doctors diagnosed heart inflammation and hypertrophy linked to excessive testosterone use,according to reports from The Sun and local media.
An acquaintance, Ivanna Melgar, shared that Sueños had complained of increasing cough and shortness of breath in the days leading up to his hospitalization, even sending a voice message stating, “It’s not the flu, but I can’t breathe.” reports indicate Sueños had been receiving hormone injections following previous cosmetic procedures. Complications arose due to remaining biopolymer material from a prior treatment on his buttocks, leading to injections being administered in his arm, which ultimately worsened his condition. Despite receiving blood transfusions and detoxification treatment, he did not recover.
Sueños was a well-known figure in Ecuadorian broadcasting and a vocal advocate for the LGBTQ+ community. Colleagues and fans have remembered him as a “luminous and sincere broadcaster.”
The dangers of Testosterone Abuse
His death highlights the potentially fatal cardiovascular risks associated with high-dose testosterone use. while testosterone supplementation is medically utilized to treat low hormone levels, self-governance of high doses or the use of anabolic androgenic steroids (AAS) for cosmetic or muscle-building purposes can have severe consequences. AAS are synthetically produced versions of testosterone designed to enhance muscle growth and strength.
Research consistently demonstrates a strong link between AAS abuse and serious heart problems. These include myocardial hypertrophy (enlargement of the heart muscle), myocardial fibrosis (scarring of the heart muscle), reduced heart function, arrhythmias (irregular heartbeats), and an increased risk of heart failure.
A 2017 study published in Circulation, the journal of the American Heart Association, found that individuals using high-dose AAS exhibited increased left ventricular mass, myocardial fibrosis, and decreased contractile function, all contributing to a higher risk of heart failure and arrhythmia.
More recent research, published in the European Journal of Preventive Cardiology in 2024, showed that long-term AAS users experienced reduced contractility in both the left and right ventricles, along with thickening of the heart walls.Some of these structural abnormalities persisted even after discontinuing AAS use.A 2023 review in Frontiers in Cardiovascular Medicine documented cases of dilated cardiomyopathy – a weakening of the heart muscle – occurring in young adults without pre-existing heart conditions, with some instances resulting in irreversible damage due to myocardial fibrosis.
Conversely,medically supervised,low-dose testosterone supplementation therapy does not appear to significantly increase the risk of major cardiovascular events. Though, this finding is limited to treatment regimens administered and monitored by qualified medical professionals.
