My daughter says "My heart hurts"

Yesterday my daughter told me that her heart hurt.. I asked her baby how does your heart hurt and she said that it feels like when she has a heat problem and my lungs shut up and its hard to breathe.  So I showed her in hand motions like sqeezing it and she said no like someone punching it and so i asked her if it was on outside like on her bone or inside.. she said inside.. i asked her if it hurt in her back she said no. what else happens when your heart hurts, she said she can feel her her heart beating in her head and that her head feels really funny and she cant see straight. So I decided to call her doctor in the morning and told her to tell me first thing if it happened again.  The next morning before I could call the doctor she came to me and told me it was happening again and I noticed she was really pale and her rythem in her neck was really hard. So I called her doctor and they told me to take her to the ER.  After a couple of minutes her color came back but under her eyes were purple and she said she was really tired.  In the hospital they did a EKG,  X-RAY and bloodwork.  They came back and said that the tests were good and that she had an arrhythma. I was to take her to her regular doctor and that she would refer her out.  I asked what can cause this in a 7 year old?  They said palpitations can be caused by many things and that her regular doctor will get her to see the specialist and that we should make her relax and rest if it happens again.  Im really worried and Im  watching her constantly and what should I be watching for in the next three days till her appointment?  Is this normal? In what case do I need to take her back to the hospital?

[justanumber]

what kind of arrhythmia was it? a lot of very young people have svt. how fast was her heart rate with the EKG?

[michellepetkus]

I am sorry to hear about your young daughters problems.  Your doctor will be better able to give you a diagnosis about your daughter's condition but if it helps ease your mind I had episodes of racing heart since I was a child.  I am now in my 40s and still kicking.  The bottom line is arrhythmia's are rarely life threatening but more of a nuisance.  If your daughter has a typical svt it simply means she was born with some extra muscle fibers in her heart that sometimes allow the electrical signal in the heart to get stuck in a loop.  They generally start all of a sudden sometimes for no reason and then stop just as suddenly.  But again, they are not anything to worry too much about.  If she only has them once in a great while they generally are not treated but rather managed when the episodes occur.  The best thing for her though if she has an episode is to lay down and relax until it has passed.  But again I can't say for certain what she has so take her to the doctor to get her properly diagnosed and then just hope on the web.  There is all sorts of information about the condition.  Best of luck and keep us posted.

[Talaina]

all it says on the take home sheet is arrhythmia (palpitations).  I know her heart rate was anywhere between 100 and 127 and her oxygen level was 92%.

[Talaina]

I was freaked because my husband has Afib.. but I got to reading last night and heart palpitations in children is quite common. only rarely is it bad and the docs in the ER would have known.  But in all cases on net it recommends a full work up so that is what im gonna do.. Thank you for your post.