Another question 10yr old son..chest pain - Heart Disorders Message Board

cltulip · 12-19-2005, 04:28 PM

Hi, I posted twice about my son...abnormal ekg, cardiologist worried about bradycardia. Well this past week he has been complaining of chest pain, it happens atleast once a day some days twice. He grabs where his heart is and says that the pain beats like his heart...and is right where his heart is. His pediatrician says maybe anxiety or reflux. This has happened while playing, while sitting and during his sleep. He went today for his stress test and his heart rate was a healthy 90 standing up but dropped to 75 when he sat down and stays in the 50's when laying down. They did get his rate up to 160 then he couldn't do it anymore....looked dizzy and started to cry. So they ordered a 24hr holter....but are not doing it until the 28th. I'm very concerned and feel that between now and the time we actually get results may be too long. I also looked in his chart the other day( I work at his pediatricians) and his heart rate has always been in the high 80's and 90's. I don't understand why a child that had a normal heart in June would now have one so low. If anyone has any help to offer I really could use it...thanx

Crystal

cynder · 12-19-2005, 11:04 PM

Crystal,
I cant really offer any help but I wanted to tell you I feel for you . I know how you must be worried for your son. Guess I just wanted to reach out to you and offer some support. Good luck and God Bless

cltulip · 12-20-2005, 01:33 PM

Hi, thanx for your replies. Last night I wanted to see how low his resting heart rate actually was so I took his heart rate 10x's. 5- using a whole minute to time and 5x's using 10seconds then times it times 6. All 10 times his heart rate was between 46 and 54. This really scares me...it is a scary thing hearing a heart rate so low. What would cause a persons heart rate to be different with different positions? Also, I did get them to move his holter to this friday...so that is good news. Anyone know how long the results take? So, I guess I have a few more sleepless nights....I'm afraid to go to sleep without him next to me. Am I just being a worry wart or should I be concerned? I'm no expert but a heart rate that low...even when sleeping worries me.

hayleigh · 12-22-2005, 12:01 PM

Hi, I live in the U.k and have a 4 yr old son. He also had the similar heart beats etc. At night he actually stopped breathing, but his brain would kick in and make him jump in his sleep. Apparently the jumping was making his heart rythm back to normal again. He then started displaying other symptoms of wanting to sleep in the afternoon or going to bed very early, blue lips after playing and very mottled skin. I took him to my doctor who referred him to the hospital children clinic (paediatrician). It took a while but finally they gave him an ecg and a few other tests and found he had Right Ventricular Hypotrophy. I was told this was because when he stops breathing at night or becomes very relaxed and has shallow breathing it is Sleep Apnea, the sleep apnea then puts a strain on the right side of his heart causing this side to work harder. I know this sounds confusing but finally it all stemmed from his Tonsils. The tonsils were becoming very relaxed at night or when resting lying down, they flopped back in his throuat causing the sleep apnea and loss of breathing, this then causes right ventricular hypotrophy. This is apparently not a very well known problem. But the good news is that it is easily trerated with the removal of tonsils. My son was given an appointment for this, only worry then was he had been given a high dependency bed because he was at risk of not breathing after surgery, this then panicked me, but what choice did i have, well anyway on the pre-op date we went for a check up and ecg, to my surprise his ecg had become normal after 6/7 months . Last week we went for another ecg and had the all clear then as well and finally we have been discharged from clinic. This was the best xmas present ever for me. I know how you are feeling and i also slept with my 4 yr old son to check he was still breathing. You can ask for an oxygen/ heart rate monitor from your local community nurse at the hospital. It is simple to use and at night or during the day you fit the probe over there finger and the little machine monitors the heart rate and oxygen levels. if they drop to a certain level the alarm will sound very loudly to let you know, i found this to be of some comfort also. I hope reading this has helped a little and may have given some comfort to you. As for test results i received them back after 2 days. Goodluck with your results and i hope all is o.k. If not ask to be tested for Right ventricular hypotrophy.

cltulip · 12-22-2005, 03:21 PM

Okay, well. Let me start by saying what tests he has had done....EKG x2, echo, stress test, full blood workup including TSH,T3 and T4. Everything came back fine besides the bradycardia. The only results I have not gotten back are the stress test results. Like I said before, he was 3/4 of the way done with that with his heart rate at 160 and he started crying and he looked like he was going to colapse. Not out of breath but like he was dizzy. He has no other symptoms at all. The doctor(pediatrician) looked him over and pressed on his belly and such and said that he was fine. I thought that maybe it was reflux but the pain happens at no particular time. The other day it had been about 5hrs from the time he ate when the pain happened. Sometimes he is playing video games, sometimes running around, it has even happened when he was in bed. Sometimes he says it hurts in his heart then sometimes its in the middle of his chest...once he said his shoulder hurt too. He said the other day to me that it felt like someone was pushing on his heart. He also said that the pain beats like like his heart. He has cried from the pain, and most of the time will grasp where his heart is and cry that it hurts. It lasts for about a minute then goes away. He has been eating and sleeping okay. Its hard to tell about activity levels because of his asperger's he prefers to be alone and usually sits in the computer room all day playing video games. Once in awhile he will get up and run around with the kids but not often. the pain has happened at all times of the day. It happens about once a day but some days does not happen at all. For the past 3days I have kept track of his heart rate and it seems to stay between 50-54 during sleep and sometimes will drop into the high 40's. I know that too much information can be bad but I have read on several web sites that chest pain can be caused from bradycardia...is this true? Anyway, so that is what is going on. Thanx for any responses as they all help.

Crystal