14 year old, feeling blood rush to the head.

[bigOz]

My son is 14 years old. For the past one week he is complaining of his head feeling hot every time he gets up from a sitting or lying position. There is no vomiting, no headache or vision loss. What worries me is that this started around the same time when he got out of control, and untypically, I slapped him on the head twice (not too violently but enough to hurt!) for the first time in my life. I have felt guilty since but now keep worrying if this has anything to do with his complaint. I checked his blood-pressure, and panicked when it showed 10/5. Took him to emergency - but was told by the nurse that it was normal for his age.

I cannot stop worrying because he complains of the same thing almost every night, after watching TV and getting up from a lying position. Please advise what might be the reason for this and if I need to have more tests done...

[Dr. Kokil Mathur]

Hi
Welcome to the MedHelp forum!
The symptoms could be due to postural hypotension or blood pressure falling with change in position. Dehydration, certain medications, heart problems (like valve disorders), untreated diabetes, and nervous system disorders can all cause this. TIAs or transient ischemic attacks can also be the cause. Certain internal ear problems can also affect blood pressure monitoring by the body by not properly signaling a change in position. Blood pressure monitoring, tilt table test, EKG, heart echo, ambulatory blood pressure recording are all required for confirmed diagnosis. Hope this helps. Please let me know if there is any thing else and do keep me posted. Take care!

[rumpled]

I personally find a blood pressure of 10/5 hard to be normal for any age...

Blood pressure fluctuations can be adrenal related - aldosterone and renin axis. They can also be a POTS type of thing - a positional tachycardia where the body cannot keep up when someone gets up. That is autonomic. An ER may not pick up on either of those things.

The adrenal issue may also have a few other hormone issues, and may effect the personality. I have no adrenals now, have POTS, and had renin issues before they came out (I had Cushing's disease before). A Cardiologist and/or endocrinoligist can help out with ruling things out.