Is it actually possible to be “Scared To Death?”
-Duncan
Welcome to the SDMB. Good question.
http://www.warphead.com/modules/news/article.php?storyid=351
I can’t guarantee if this is real, but apparently there is some evidence that points to yes. (I searched on snopes and didn’t find anything.)
I am not a biologist, but I took the class in high school.
My running theory is as you become scared your stress level increases -a lot- and your pulse increases to a dangerous level (you’re past most mere scares after all) as your heart rate does too. Eventually one or both will give out and hit another condition that will kill you.
I think. I’d like to hear if I’m near the mark at all.
Hmmm, I would guess if someone is frail or has a weak heart, it can happen.
There was an elderly woman here in Pittsburgh who died of a heart attack when she and her husband were attacked by burglars who entered their home posing as employees of the gas company.
Frail people often die of heart attacks during natural disasters such as earthquakes, hurricanes, etc. Presumably they’re stressed to death which amounts to scared to death. It also sometimes happens after car accidents or minor airliner almost-crashes.
Fear can also trigger hyperventilation, which can quickly exhaust a weak person and, if sustained, can really mess up their blood chemistry.
Can a healthy 20-year old be scared to death? I doubt it. But can someone with a weak constitution, such as elderly, inform, etc., be scared to death. Sure thing.
At least that’s my decidedly NON-expert opinion.
Physiologically, what happens when one is frightened, catacolamines are dumped into the blood stream. Epinephrine and norepinephrine are 2 of them, both are strong vasoconstrictors. If one’s coronary arteries are partially occluded with plaque, the vasoconstriction can cause blood flow to the heart to cease, depriving the muscle of oxygen, causing damage, causing non function. Ending in death.
So is it possible for one’s hair to turn white after a traumatic incident as well?
Well, Pandybat…I don’t think so:).
I am a nurse also and I’ve got to go along with everything Picunurse says.
Not that I know any of it anymore, mind you. But it does sound like something I may have learned in nurse’s training many years ago. 
I’ve heard that this can happen to a very limited extent, but not totally white, despite the romantic cliche in literature.