What should I do about a sinus arrhythmia in an 8 year old?

[Felecia]

My 8 year old son complained on his "heart hurting", and feeling dizzy and out of breath on several occasions so I took him to our family practice physician. She diagnosed sinus arrhythmia and the EKG confirmed.  She said its nothing to worry about. He has bad allergies and takes 10mg of Zyrtec daily. She said this didn't cause it. Why did this suddenly develop and howdo I know its not serious? Should I limit his activity, and does he need to see a Cardiologist just to be sure that the diagnosis is correct? I am an RN and when I listened to his heart at the time he was complaining, he had an extremely irregular HR with slow beats and then runs of tachycardia along with skipped beats. Later when he was okay, he had a HR of 64-87 still with the "skipped beats".

[Felecia]

thanks for all the replies. But now I am confused... Is it the "feeling he is going to pass out", and "hard to breath", part that is the warning sign?? Should sinus arrhythmia be w/o any symptomology, a totally benign condition?

[MelissaA]

I have sinus arrhythmia, and I have for many years.  I can't say that the sinus arrhythmia has caused any symptoms.  When you breath in the heart rates slows and when you breath out the heart speeds back up.  If you are checking the pulse at the same time you can feel it in the pulse.  It don't happen every time you take a breath, but every so often.  I don't know if that is what is causing your childs symptoms.  If you are concerned I would get a opinion from a Pediatric Cardiologist.  I have some conginital heart disease that I was born with, ASD (hole in the heart) and some Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy, that I just found out about last year.  I am 29.  It was missed all through out my child and young adult hood.  For piece of mind if nothing else I would seek out that opinion, but be assured sinus arrhythmia is nothing to be concerned about, it is better to have than not have.

Good Luck to you..

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I have an 8 year-old son who after a bout of fever for a week developed Tachycaria only on exsertion. He runs all the time and everytime he runs his heart pounds out of his chest. This is all new. He is very athletic and up to this point never had any symptoms. No chest pain and no shortness of breathe. He has no symptoms except the pounding and rapid pulse. He has had a  normal EKG and a normal Echocardiogram. Tomorrow is the stress test and I just wonder if anyone out there has the same problem with their child.

[concerned]

ive never even heard the term sinus arrythmia
and im a med student!!!
Hrv has probably replaced the term and thats what the doc
was talking about....hrv is benign and symptomless (unless you count the small temporary effect on heart rate. in fact, it has been documented that people with a higher level of hrv are healthier!!! but it definately shouldnt be causing syncope (fainting) and definately not shortness of breath!!! only a sustained arrythmic event would cause shortness of breath due to decrease ventricular function. i would definately get a second opinion...

[Conerned 2]

To all the parent here reporting that your child has been thru a bout with a virus and then started having problems that are apparently heart related, i urge you all to get them to a cardiologist right away without anymore delay. There are introvirus' that can and do affewct the heart and can cause death. I dont want to alarm you but the facts are that these virus' are very bad for children.
  God bless and good luck

[To the Med Student]

If you don't know what Sinus Arrhythmia I suggest you get a refund back on your education.  It is the most common arrhythmia there is.  You say only "only a sustained arrythmic event would cause shortness of breath due to decrease ventricular function."  That is not true either, there are several things that cause shortness of breath.  I know this and I am not even in the medical field.  Try a search on this site for sinus arrhythmia, you might learn something today.