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Heart Disease (Expert Forum)
Re: 7 year old chest pain
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Re: 7 year old chest pain
by sandra__0__0, Jan 01, 1995 12:00AM
Posted By sandra on May 22, 1999 at 10:30:30
My nephew is 7 years old and has been complaining of chest pain. He
points directly to his heart and says it hurts, describing the pain as
if bugs were crawling (tingling, perhaps?) and then his chest feels like
its cracking. He sometimes gets out of breath on exertion and other times
can run around with no problem. When he says his heart hurts, my sister
says it looks like his heart is beating out of his chest. He is a real little guy - 39 lbs. Was tested as an infant (stomach biopsy) to make sure his body wasn't having problems absorbing nutrients and that came out ok. He has in the last year developed a terrible intolerance to heat, overheats easily. My sister took him to his doctor yesterday. The nurse practioner said she didn't hear anything "odd" with his heart, but was more concerned
about his lack of growth and ordered blood tests to rule out kidney disease
and a thyroid condition (which I have graves disease, so its in the family.) If those blood tests don't show anything they will then do an ekg on him. My question is - do you have any suggestions or thoughts? Apparently the nurse practioner felt his heart pain wasn't of real concern at this point. My sister however has really noticed a decrease again in his activity level at times, heat intolerance, pounding heart. Also at 7 years old he hasn't lost any teeth yet. He has two younger brothers and while they too are small they are still keeping up on the charts. Any thoughts or direction would be great. Should my sister insist on immediately taking him to a cardiologist?
My nephew is 7 years old and has been complaining of chest pain. He
points directly to his heart and says it hurts, describing the pain as
if bugs were crawling (tingling, perhaps?) and then his chest feels like
its cracking. He sometimes gets out of breath on exertion and other times
can run around with no problem. When he says his heart hurts, my sister
says it looks like his heart is beating out of his chest. He is a real little guy - 39 lbs. Was tested as an infant (stomach biopsy) to make sure his body wasn't having problems absorbing nutrients and that came out ok. He has in the last year developed a terrible intolerance to heat, overheats easily. My sister took him to his doctor yesterday. The nurse practioner said she didn't hear anything "odd" with his heart, but was more concerned
about his lack of growth and ordered blood tests to rule out kidney disease
and a thyroid condition (which I have graves disease, so its in the family.) If those blood tests don't show anything they will then do an ekg on him. My question is - do you have any suggestions or thoughts? Apparently the nurse practioner felt his heart pain wasn't of real concern at this point. My sister however has really noticed a decrease again in his activity level at times, heat intolerance, pounding heart. Also at 7 years old he hasn't lost any teeth yet. He has two younger brothers and while they too are small they are still keeping up on the charts. Any thoughts or direction would be great. Should my sister insist on immediately taking him to a cardiologist?
Related discussions
Dear Sandra, thank you for your question. Generally, children with cardiac defects don't develop chest pain; they usually have shortness of breath of fatigue. I agree that thyroid and kidney disorders need to be ruled out, but I can't comment on the issue of heart disease since I can't examine your nephew. However, I think it's important that a pediatrician, and not just a nurse practitioner, evaluate your nephew. I don't think needs to see a cardiologist urgently since a general pediatrician would be fine. In the meantime, the safe thing to do is to restrict his activity until he can see a pediatrician.
I hope you find this information useful. Information provided in the heart forum is for general purposes only. Specific diagnoses and advice can only be provided by your physician. However, please feel free to write back with additional questions.
If you would like to make an appointment at the Cleveland Clinic Heart Center, call 1-800-223-2273 and ask for the Cardiology Appointments Desk. Alternatively, you can inquire online at the Heart Center web site (www.ccf.org/heartcenter) where you can make an appointment requests via the internet.
Hi Sandra, Alot of the things your nephew is experiencing sounds familiar. My son has WPW which is not an easy heart disease to diagnose. He has never tolerated heat very well. Heart beats very irregularly. My son experienced a slight heart attack at age 14 and his heart was beating "Very Hard" like it would come through his chest.
Gail-
Thanks for responding. What is WPW? What symptoms did your son have?
My nephew is a really great kid and I worry for him. My sister is taking
him for the blood tests this week for kidney and thyroid disorders. Any
feedback you could give me would be great. Thanks!
Follow Ups:
7 year old chest pain CCF CARDIO MD - CRC 6/08/1999
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Re: 7 year old chest pain david r quain 6/25/1999
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7 year old chest pain CCF CARDIO MD - CRC 6/30/1999
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