7 yr. old passed out for no apparent reason

My 7 yr. old daughter recently passed out while I was brushing her hair.  The next day I took her to the Dr. They did exam and stated it don't appear to be neuro.  They sent me to have full panel of blood work done on her and a chest x-ray....and are before the results from that are even in are setting up an appt. next week for ECG with a pediatric cardio specialist.  Should I be alarmed?  Also, I am worried a little more now cause my Dad suffered a major stroke at the age of 28 when i was very young.  It was said was caused by Mitro Prolapse Valve (he didn't know about till the stroke)  My mom says it's genetic.  Her blood pressure seems fine upon exam, HR normal, She's of normal weight and size, and they didn't mention that they heard anything abnorm. when listening to her heart with stephescope.  I have had some concerns with myself with extreme low blood pressure avrg. of 89/48...I get headaches really bad, have had some shortness of breath, and sometimes get dizzy (i've never passed out) just see the black spots and kinda sounds like echo noise in my ears, and queezy.  I've been to the dr. about it they ran bunch of blood work but never diagnosed me with anything so I kinda just quit going as it was running up a bill too expensive for me to deal with with no dx.  Now, FOR my daughter I don't care what the bill gets up to....I will run whatever tests they ask for (she's my child)  I just wish they would tell me more what the possibilities are that we are looking at...SERIOUS or Not serious.  The whole WAITING game stinks and they tell you nothing.  I mean obviously they don't seem too alarmed or they would have said something more and or not be making us wait a week for appt. for the ECG right?!  Is it ok to let her play as normal?  I just have so many concerns....mostly because of course they won't say IT could be this or that.  I did tell them about my dad having a stroke and the Mitro prolapse valve thing...and they acted like that wasn't improtant info. like because of her age it's not a issue.  She I push for more serious results from the physicians?  Or just go with the flow?

[grendslori]

Hello and welcome to our site! (And Happy New Year!). The first thing you have to realize is that fainting in children and teens is actually more common than you would think and that just because your daughter has passed out once, does not mean there is anything going on with her heart. Something as simple as just standing can cause a person to pass out. Think about the military guys standing at attention; they can hit the ground. There are many reasons why a child can pass out, everything from low blood sugar to cardiac issues. Have you questioned anything that seems abnormal to you in her ability at being a child? Has she ever complained about anything that would make you question a heart issue in her? Why are they waiting to do an EKG on her? They could easily do that in a matter of about a minute's time; then you could take that EKG to the cardiologist's office when you see him.  

[OceanCrazy]

Have they thought about low blood sugars?? Also I would check into 2nd & maybe 3rd. opinions for both of you. just to rule out the genetic issues. (((HUGS))) hope you find out soon either way. Best wishes & Happy New Year!!!

[bennettfam]

Well this is actually her 2nd episode...it happened a few months ago as well, but I honestly did not think a whole lot of it....she had been swimming a lot that day and it was hot out.   I just assumed..ok she had a little too much sun on this episode she was not standing she was sitting talking to Gram on the phone in evening.  She just drooped over and slid out of the chair.  There has been a few times where she will come in and tell me or her dad.. "my heart hurts" again i know this sounds HORRIBLE but we didn't really take it seriously...AS really not something you think too much about in KIDS.  This 2nd time since there was no reason or ryhme it was only few hours after being up...had good breakfast, and of course no heat factor in play or anything else i could make sense of....is why we took her in.  They did run a blood panel, and chest xray of which I still have not gotten results....They set up appt. for this week with Cardiologist.. I guess why they are waiting is because where we live is about 1.5 hrs. from the Valley Childrens Hosp. and I guess they have a Cardiologist come here as a sattelite prog. twice a month and her Pediatrician wants her to have the EKG done and read by the PED. CARDIO Specialist from there.  To me it sounds like  he is setting up the appt. because he suspects cardio (right) or why send her there before he even gets lab results to see if something simple like blood sugar...  I just don't understand WHY they don't at least say.. "hey we heard something funky" we need to get checked out.  But then again if thought to be serious I could have and would have been willing with no prob. to do 1.5 drive to take her to Valley Childrens myself.  I'm just really worried and so is dad.  Maybe a little more so than we should be because we lost one child in an accident Father's Day 2007 he was 1.5 older than his sister and my daughter was very close to him and she's been talking about him a lot again lately.  It's just very un-nerving.  Thanks for your info.  I truly appreciate it.

[grendslori]

Welcome back! :)
There is so much more information in this second posting! It is becomning clearer as to why you are as scared as you are. I'm so sorry about the loss of your son, no parent should have to go through such a loss. You may want to consider calling your daughter's Pediatricaian and point blank asking him what is going on. An EKG can be run anywhere, I know, I used to run them. An echo is a different story as you need a person who specializes in doing Pediatric echoes. I'm sorry to say this, but something sounds amiss with what is going on and I would pin down your Pediatricain. If he isn't sure about something, he should simply tell you this, if there is something going on that he is questioning, he should be upfront with you. When my daughter was diagnosed, she was 6 years old; my pediatrician was pretty upfront with us, but we still had to wait a week before we could get into seeing a cardiologist with her; that was a VERY LONG week! Without that EKG being done, your pediatrician can't really know if there is an issue going on unless the chest x-ray showed an enlarged heart. Call your pediatrician and demand some answers; remember, he works for you, you pay his salary, it's not the other way around. When any child has fainting spells the normal starting points for any pediatrican is history, bloodwork, chest x-ray and EKG. That's how they begin their evaluation process. Your prediatrician isn't going to be worried about blood sugar issues if she had had breakfast that morning; he's dealing with something deeper here. You need to find out what that issue is. When is your appointment set for? Keep us posted!

[bennettfam]

As of last Wed. when I took her in he sent us straight to do blood work and chest xray.  He stated that he was going to send and set us up with the cardio. next week (which is upon us)  I'm trying to not be too pushy (but I'm a mom)  Mon. was a holiday so I called yesterday late afternoon knowing well they should at least have the blood and chest xray results.  They were hesitant about giving them to me.  She said that everything has been faxed over to the cardio and they should be calling soon with the appt. for the EKG.  I told her well can I at least find out if there were any abnormal findings in the bloodwork and chest xray?  She placed me on hold again, came back and told me that neither the bloodwork or chest xray showed any abnormal findings.  So, I'm taking that as a good sign.  Now, my question is....why still EKG?  What will they be looking for on a EKG if there doesn't appear to be anything wrong on the chest xray?  Really all I know about the Cardiologist is that He comes here 2x a month from Valley Childrens....I don't have name, office number to his office here....so I can't even call and follow up as to when they are gonna call to set the appt. up and the week is almost over.  I guess I'm just at the mercy of waiting for the phone call.  My husband has to go out of town for work next week and was really HOPING to be able to be at the appt. cause HE has several questions he wants to ask and is getting nervous which each hour that passes that this appt. is not going to happen this week.  

[grendslori]

Hello again, There are many things you need to understand about the tests your daughter has had. Arrhythmias (irregular heart beats) will not show up on an x-ray on in bloodwork. Technically you would need a 24-48 or 72 hour Holter to show that (if you are lucky enough to catch it at the time). An EKG will show you how the electrical system of the heart is working, but doesn't always catch an arrhythmia. Even though it may not catch an arrhythmia, it can show other problems with the heart that can predispose a patient to an arrhythmia problem. There are several electrical problems that children can have which can cause them to pass out, two of the most common are Wolff-Parkinson-White Syndrome (WPW) and Sick Sinus Syndrome (SSS). It is VERY possible to have a normal x-ray and normal bloodwork and still be dealing with an issue. I know you keep saying things about the EKG, are you absolutely sure they are not talking about doing an Echo??? The echo would certainly have to be scheduled with the cardiologist or children's hospital. A lot of patients think they are going for an EKG when in reality, they are going to an echo. The main difference between the two is that the echo shows the stucture and function of the muscle of the heart as opposed to the electrical system. Now having said that, the EKG will also show, to some degree, muscle damage to the heart, but it is only to a degree, the echo is much more reliable. You do have some legal options here: A copy of any and all tests and reports and letters that pertain to your daughter are yours, legally. You can go to your pediatrician's office and ask for a copy of the results and they HAVE to give you a copy; it's the law. You have the right to have a copy, even before the cardiology appointment so you have a head's up before the appointment. If this person is hesitating to give them to you, you may want to help educate her about the law. (in a nice and pleasant way). The fact that she hesitated about giving you the results in the first place, with those results being 'normal' makes me wonder if she is being honest with you in the first place. Go get copies of the results, either from her or from the place you got the testing done. Try calling the Valley Children's Hospital. The pediatric cardiology department may be able to give you all of the information you need. You other option is to take your daughter to the emergency deptartment at this children's hospital and have her evaluated there. If there is a question about anything at that point, they will have a pediatric cardiologist come down and see her in the ER department. Keep us posted and please feel free to come back and vent if need be. I wish you well!    

[grendslori]

Just thought I would drop a line and ask how things are going?