Child with two holes in her heart

Hi, Could you help me i was told that my child has two holes in the heart we dont know what type yet as she needs a ultrasound done. Is it common in children with this problem to be very pale and very cold when they sleep as well as a very slow heart beat. I you can help answer this i would be very greatfull.

[kenkeith]

Often the hole between the upper chamber closes after birth.  Sometimes it doesn't close but it doesn't cause a problem so it needs no intervention.

For some insight, when there is a hole between the left and right side chambers, blood is shunted (passed) from one heart chamber to the other without being circulated normally.  If the hole is in the upper chamber (atrium), the blood usually is shunted from the left to the right atrium.  This would mix oxygenated blood with blood to be pumped to the lungs to be oxygenated. No problem, but if severe there could be less blood pumped into circulation with each heartbeat as some of the blood has gone to the right atrium.

Another hole can be in the wall between the lower chambers and left to right shunting same result (oxygenated blood mixed with blood to go to the lungs.  There can be double shunting meaning left to right blood flow.  A different medical problem.  Treatment for a hole in the heart can be a patch or stitches.

The symptoms with a low cardiac output from a major shunting of left to right chambers does not include a slow heartbeat, more likely to increase heart rate!  Pale and low tolerances for climate could be a symptom of low cardiac output, but that would indicate the condition were serious and there would be symptoms of shortness of breath, chest pains, fatigue, etc. Or if the symptoms are related without the other more typical heart disorder symptoms the underlying shunting is not very serious.

Hope this helps give you a perspective, if not, feel free to followup with questions.  We are here to help you understand the general implications and your doctor deals with the specificity of analysis and treatment.  Take care.