It sounds like a shunt to me and clearly you should have your son seen by a pediatric cardiologist.
Thanks for the info, I certainly did not know that a 3 yr old could have Raynauds or that it could be triggered by stress or body position. I will ask his pediatrician what his thoughts are and go from there! Thanks again and I hope that all is currently well with your asthma and the Raynauds.
Yes, there are cases of very young children being diagnosed with Raynauds. I visit a Raynauds msg board and have learned so much from them. I also have it. Raynauds is not only triggered by cold temps (anything under 60 degrees). It can be caused by stress or body position. My feet are gray/blue any time I sit or stand without moving around. My fingers puff and turn colors when I'm at the computer for more than 30 minutes.
I also have asthma, even had some bad episodes where my peak flow dropped below 250. But it never affected my color.
I certainly don't want to add to your list of worries. Your son has enough going on in his life without adding to it. It was just a thought. And Raynauds can be primary (just by itself) or secondary to something else like lupus, scleroderma, rheumatoid arthritis, etc. That's why I thought a rheumatologist might be able to help. There's a simple blood test that can be done to check ANA and a nail bed test to check the capillaries. Neither one is very invasive. I do hope you get answers soon. Take care.
Thanks for the thought! It doesn't seem to be related to temperature and it also doesn't affect his fingers/hands (except the period right after surgery) just the nail beds and his lips/lower face sometimes. Can young children have Raynauds? I'm willing to entertain any thoughts but I'm thinking more along the lines of cardiac or his asthma right now.
This may not be the case at all but something to consider is Raynauds. It will cause color changes in feet and hands, sometimes nose and ears. There are a couple of simple tests for it. Maybe check with a rheumatologist. I'm happy to hear the echo showed no heart defect.