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Avatar universal

Left side weakness

Hello Dr:
My son is 16, weights 120lb and is 5'7. My son has been complaining of occasional chest pain both when he breaths and sometimes out of the blue. During these episodes he has also experienced shortness of breath and dizziness. His x-rays where normal, and so was his echo. This summer, he was referred to a pediatric cardiologist who said that he may have pleurisy and prescribed anti-inflammatory for a few days, which seemed to help some. He has continue to experience the same symptoms and a couple days ago he complained about weakness in his left arm which then spread to his chest and now to his legs. Since you're not able to examine him in person, in your opinion, do you think this could also be a symptom of the pleurisy or is it pointing towards something else?
Thank you.
3 Responses
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773655 tn?1340652799
MEDICAL PROFESSIONAL
Dr. Boris is away, but I would recommend that you explore the environmental option with your doctor.  It sounds like there is no active cardiac issue for us to address here. Good luck.
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
        On Nov 29 I wrote to you about my youngest son (16) who was complaining of chest pain and subsequently of weakness in the left side of his body. I called his pediatrician and she had me take him to the emergency room to have him checked out. After running several tests, including blood test and a  Head  CT w/contrast. Every test result was normal, but his white blood cells where a little low which the hospital thought might be caused by a slight viral infection. He was prescribed 600mg of Ibuprofen, and after a few days his left side felt better.
       My biggest concern is that he's still complaining of the pain in his chest along with the breathing problems. And recently my other son (18) who shares the same bedroom, has also started complaining of chest pains but not as intense. I am at a lost and wonder if the root of these problems could be environmental? Since it's cold, we have started to run the heater in the house. Could a malfunction in the heater cause this type of problem?
       I am also wondering if the pleurisy in teenagers supposed to last for months or years at a time? Because in the case of my youngest son, he has had this condition for six months, and both boys have always been very healthy.
      Thank you.
Helpful - 0
773637 tn?1327446915
MEDICAL PROFESSIONAL
Dear Vali,

I cannot say what this is pointing toward, as there are many unanswered questions that I would need to have answered if I were performing his evaluation.  There are lots of reasons for chest pain, although the vast majority of chest pain in pediatric patients is non-cardiac in nature.  I find that it is not a good idea to review a long list of potential problems with patients if I do not have nearly all the information that I would need.  Your doctor should be able to perform a complete history and examination in order to determine the etiology of the chest pain, or at least to rule out the large majority of dangerous or life-threatening reasons.  Once these are ruled out, often reassurance is helpful in these cases, but the history and physical evaluation should be adequately thorough to point toward a reason.
Helpful - 0

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