Need advice, pls!!

Specialties Pediatric

Published

I am an LPN going back to school for my RN. I haven't worked in several years and am a little rusty on my skills. Anyway, the question is about my son. ( I am making him an appointment today, BTW)

MY son is fourteen years old. A couple of years ago he started complaining of chest pain. He would climb a big hill by our house and then get dizzy and have chest pain. I was monitoring him and was going to take him to the doctor. He stopped complaining about it; I forgot about it and didn't take him. Now, he has been complaining about dizziness followed by headaches. I listened to his HR last night. It seem to be very irregular ( remember my skills aren't the best). His heart rate is 104/min. His rythm seems very off to me. It speeds up, slows down, and skips beats. While listening to it last night it got so fast at one point and took me by surprise that I couldn't count the beats. I asked him if he still had chest pain and he said yes. I don't know why he hasn't been telling me. I am really worried about this and am looking for information about what this could be. I would really like someone to tell me that it isn't any big deal, but that might not be the case. Any words of encouragement, words of warning, or other information will be appreciated. BTW, I live in a small town that doesn't have the best doctors or other facilities and would like to know whether I really need to be aggressive with this and push for an EKG and cardialogist consult or not.

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Specializes in PEDS-HEM/ONC.

If it were one of my daughters, I would bring them to the ER. If he is having arrythmia's, chest pain, dizziness and headaches, I would think that would be a good reason to have him seen ASAP.

I think it would ease your mind. He has probably been afraid to say anything to you. When I was in my teens I had PVC's. I didn't know what they were, but they scared me. I was afraid to tell anyone. They were finally diagnosed during my physical for nursing school and the Cardiologist was able to explain that they were benign and gave me some ways of helping reduce the frequency.

Chances are he is fine, but I think you would feel better if you had him seem by a cardiologist. The ER may be the fastest route to one.

Good Luck. Please let us know what the doctors say.

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Specializes in NICU, PICU, PCVICU and peds oncology.

Run, don't walk to your physician.

A gentle reminder: It's beyond the scope of allnurses.com to provide medical advice. It's also against our terms of service to do so. You sound very concerned and frightened, rightly so, I'd say. Please take your son to the ER and have him checked out head to toe. Let us know how it goes.

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Absolutely;

If I remember correctlly, one thing about kids (especially cardiac) is that they can compenstate for a long time with seemingly few symptoms.....but then they can go downhill fast.

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I have taken him to the doctor. They did an EKG and a lot of blood work. All the tests came back normal. He is going to get an ultrasound of his thyroid and a consult with the ped cardioligist. Yes, it is scary. I wasn't really looking for medical advice just support. The cardioligist wasn't going to be in the area until the 21st of next month, so they asked me to go to Louisville. I will be taking him a week from this Thurs. Until his appointment I am going to take his vitals one to two times a day both sitting and standing. I will then have something more concrete to give the doctor. Do you think this is a good idea? It seems his vitals change quite a bit from sitting to standing. Sitting: Pulse 70 b/p 125/56 Standing: Pulse 100 b/p 100/70. The doctor was hoping that he was dehydrated , but then all the blood work came back normal. I think that is why she wanted me to take him to the cardiologist earlier. Did I mention that heart problems run on my husbands side of the family? I mean his dad, mom, and one brother has had heart attacks. His dad and brother both had MI in their early forties. All of my father-in-laws brothers and sisters have had heart problems and MI's when they were young. Some of them died in their thirties because of heart failure. That means twelve out of twelve siblings have had heart problems, heart attacks, and heart failure. Do you see why I am concerned?

Again, I am not looking for medical advice just support.

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Specializes in PEDS-HEM/ONC.

Yes, it is so hard to stay calm when it is one of our children. Sometimes we know too much and can't stay focused or over-analyze things. Our minds automatically go to the worst case senario. You should be relieved that the tests done so far are negative. Just try to relax and see what happens next week. Easier said than done. It is always good going into any appointment having as much information as possible. The more information you can give the doctor next week regarding trends in your son's vitals, the more he'll have to go on during his consult. Keep your log up and try not to worry too much while you wait.

Keep us posted, and know that you and your son are in our thoughts.:)

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