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Mrs Tiggywinkle
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8 minutes ago, Mrs Tiggywinkle said:

Chest X ray, bloodwork, everything was fine. His heart rate went up to 82 while walking around. 60 seconds after sitting back down he’s at 54.  But since the pediatric cardiologist two hours away said it’s fine they’ll just send us home.

sigh. I’m really uncomfortable with it.

Can’t you insist on him being seen at the specialty hospital? It seems very odd and irresponsible for them to have made this kind of diagnosis without even seeing him.

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Just now, Catwoman said:

Can’t you insist on him being seen at the specialty hospital? It seems very odd and irresponsible for them to have made this kind of diagnosis without even seeing him.

Not without an accepting doctor up there, and the doctor said it’s just a benign arrhythmia.  So they aren’t going to accept him as a transfer.

His pediatrician will do a referral but that takes months usually to get in.

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1 minute ago, Mrs Tiggywinkle said:

Not without an accepting doctor up there, and the doctor said it’s just a benign arrhythmia.  So they aren’t going to accept him as a transfer.

His pediatrician will do a referral but that takes months usually to get in.

What about the fever, the headache, the lethargy, and the confusion? All of these things are extremely concerning and that low heart rate is not right.

A benign arrhythmia would not be causing the symptoms you have described.

Edited by Catwoman
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1 hour ago, Mrs Tiggywinkle said:

They’ve ruled out all viruses as well as meningitis.  His blood work looks fine. 
Still no improvement on the heart rate and his blood pressure has fallen now.  They are calling pediatric cardiology at the children’s hospital a few hours away, but the leading theory (right now) is that he had asymptomatic Covid recently and has heart inflammation or damage.  I honestly thought with the symptoms that he might have Covid now but the rapid was negative.  He is fully vaccinated.  The rest of us had Covid in January but he never tested positive. He had a well child appointment in March and everything was normal then too.

In my experience with family members with cardiac issues/damage it caused high heart rate, not low. But maybe I'm missing another type.  Probably depends what kind of damage or where. 

30 minutes ago, Mrs Tiggywinkle said:

So the children’s hospital said it’s not concerning and to follow up with his primary doctor.  He’s 7. His heart rate should not be in the 50s.  But the pediatric cardiologist isn’t concerned so the ER doctors won’t be now either.

Ugh. 

If it helps my 22 yr old son often has a heart rate that low. His resting heart rate is around 50. He can get it down to 40s if he relaxes on purpose. 

That said, I'd ask regular doc to check his thyroid. I know hypothryoid can cause low heart rate. And illness can trigger it. 

Edited by ktgrok
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1 minute ago, Mrs Tiggywinkle said:

His white blood cell count is normal.  So they said it’s nothing. He’s acting pretty normal now.

What about the fever?

His symptoms sounded incredibly severe, and the hospital should be getting to the bottom of it to try to ensure that this does not happen again.

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2 minutes ago, Catwoman said:

What about the fever?

His symptoms sounded incredibly severe, and the hospital should be getting to the bottom of it to try to ensure that this does not happen again.

My last two experiences with the ER were very meh, they literally said that since no one was bleeding out or in immediate threat of dying, they wouldn't do anything. I went in with severe chest pain, they said my ekg was fine, that with my age, being female, and my lab work being so clean (low cholesterol etc) I was so low risk that they wouldn't investigate further. I ended up having pretty bad pericarditis, but they truly didn't care unless they thought I was going to die on their watch. 

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9 minutes ago, Ann.without.an.e said:

Maybe you said this but did they get a check on his ferritin levels? Also what were his electrolytes like (sodium potassium etc)?

Electrolytes are perfect.

He has a slight left shift indicating the possibility of a bacterial infection, but since his temperature is low grade and drops to 99 with Tylenol, they don’t want to prescribe anything like antibiotics. 
I kind of wonder if he’s actually dizzy and doesn’t have the words to describe that, so instead he’s saying his head hurts.

But his heart rate is just so low for a seven year old.  Lots of older, athletic people have HR below 60, but not usually kids.

The ER doctor is decent but they’re not pediatric specialists and will do whatever the doctor in the city tells them. But that doctor hasn’t laid eyes on my kid. I was really hoping they’d transfer us up there.

F4394E77-DD9C-47B9-BD71-3E6CB915B1D0.jpeg

Edited by Mrs Tiggywinkle
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13 minutes ago, Mrs Tiggywinkle said:

Electrolytes are perfect.

He has a slight left shift indicating the possibility of a bacterial infection, but since his temperature is low grade and drops to 99 with Tylenol, they don’t want to prescribe anything like antibiotics. 
I kind of wonder if he’s actually dizzy and doesn’t have the words to describe that, so instead he’s saying his head hurts.

But his heart rate is just so low for a seven year old.  Lots of older, athletic people have HR below 60, but not usually kids.

The ER doctor is decent but they’re not pediatric specialists and will do whatever the doctor in the city tells them. But that doctor hasn’t laid eyes on my kid. I was really hoping they’d transfer us up there.

F4394E77-DD9C-47B9-BD71-3E6CB915B1D0.jpeg

 

 

 I'm also concerned if it jumps sky high with small movement? It wouldn't be connected to the fever though. Dd was having that problem too. She ended up being transfusion level low on iron. Her body literally didn't have enough blood volume to pump properly. It was overlooked by multiple physicians. It was actually the ladies here who asked if it had been checked and low and behold...never. I took her in and asked for it to be checked. With a single finger prick, the doctors eyes got huge, like a "we've royally screwed up" huge. She was debating sending her straight for a transfusion and they are convinced she was on the verge of organ damage. ETA: I have so little faith in doctors after some experiences like this. We knew something was wrong. We saw multiple doctors. They all said "she's just anxious" and it was a group of moms here who nailed it the first time I asked for help.

 

 

9 minutes ago, Elona said:

Any chance he got dehydrated and that it may have exacerbated a mild infection or is coinciding with a benign arrhythmia? 

 

I would think that would alter electrolytes? But I could be wrong

Edited by Ann.without.an.e
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4 minutes ago, Catwoman said:

Can you insist on the transfer? 

His symptoms are very concerning and a benign arrhythmia wouldn’t have caused them. 

Not if there’s no doctor at the other hospital that will accept him, and the doctors there say there’s no need to see him there.

Dehydration should have shown on the bloodwork. His blood counts are good too, so no anemia.  His fever comes down to 99 with Tylenol so they aren’t concerned about that.   He has no respiratory issues, just that headache. He’s not lethargic at the moment either.  He looks good on paper so we get discharged.  It’s frustrating because the local ER wanted to transfer him but they won’t accept because “he’s fine.”

Edited by Mrs Tiggywinkle
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3 minutes ago, Mrs Tiggywinkle said:

Not if there’s no doctor at the other hospital that will accept him, and the doctors there say there’s no need to see him there.

Dehydration should have shown on the bloodwork. His blood counts are good too, so no anemia.  His fever comes down to 99 with Tylenol so they aren’t concerned about that.  

If I were you, I would do as they say, but I would keep a strong eye on him and not hesitate to return (even to a different hospital if necessary) if things get worse.  ETA: My dad went to the local hospital 2 times for chest pain that was crushing, he was sent away. His third trip in 24 hours was to a larger hospital in a neighboring city and he had a 90% blockage. 

If this gets worse, go elsewhere if you need to ❤️

 

Edited by Ann.without.an.e
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Just now, Ann.without.an.e said:

If I were you, I would do as they say, but I would keep a strong eye on him and not hesitate to return (even to a different hospital if necessary) if things get worse.

That’s my plan. I know if anything changes and we come back the ER will demand a transfer.  The big hospital supposedly has a lot of Covid anyway and I might be better off watching him at home anyway instead of a crowded pediatric ER.

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28 minutes ago, Mrs Tiggywinkle said:

That’s my plan. I know if anything changes and we come back the ER will demand a transfer.  The big hospital supposedly has a lot of Covid anyway and I might be better off watching him at home anyway instead of a crowded pediatric ER.

One thing you might be able to get them to do is a PCR test for Covid. His symptoms do match up to Covid, and a rapid test might not be accurate.

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25 minutes ago, ktgrok said:

If you go home, and he gets worse (or just not better) can you drive directly to the hospital in the city and go the ER there?

I can. I went and did my own EKG on him too just so I have it for reference. 
I too think it lines up with Covid.  He’s acting totally fine right now but I am going to do another test tomorrow. I can’t get a pcr tonight. 

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5 minutes ago, Mrs Tiggywinkle said:

I can. I went and did my own EKG on him too just so I have it for reference. 
I too think it lines up with Covid.  He’s acting totally fine right now but I am going to do another test tomorrow. I can’t get a pcr tonight. 

The only thing confusing me about Covid being a possibility is that Covid generally causes a fast heart rate, not a slow one. My resting heart rate was insane - I am usually in the low 60's and it was constantly in the 90's, going to 115 and 120 in my sleep. The nurse said they were seeing elevated heart rates a lot with Covid. That said, I certainly don't know all there is to know about cardiac effects of Covid, especially on kids.

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5 minutes ago, Elona said:

The only thing confusing me about Covid being a possibility is that Covid generally causes a fast heart rate, not a slow one. My resting heart rate was insane - I am usually in the low 60's and it was constantly in the 90's, going to 115 and 120 in my sleep. The nurse said they were seeing elevated heart rates a lot with Covid. That said, I certainly don't know all there is to know about cardiac effects of Covid, especially on kids.

MIS-C can cause bradycardia but he doesn’t have any other symptoms.  Right now he’s looking and acting totally fine, happily eating ice cream.  
I did find out sort of backhanded that two kids in his class were diagnosed with Covid late last week but since there’s no more contact tracing I had no idea to watch for that. 
DH had presumptive Covid in spring 2020 when we couldn’t get testing and had profound bradycardia during it and for two years after. It’s just recently seemed to better. But we chalked that up to him having a VSD repair as a baby and sometimes illness makes his heart act weird.

Edited by Mrs Tiggywinkle
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Plenty of LongCovid patients with Bradycardia.  Covid messes with your autonomic systems, and that can potentially manifest as either Bradycardia or Tachycardia, sometimes both in the same patient.

This sounds so frustrating.  I’d take him to the pediatric ER next time. 

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45 minutes ago, Lawyer&Mom said:

Plenty of LongCovid patients with Bradycardia.  Covid messes with your autonomic systems, and that can potentially manifest as either Bradycardia or Tachycardia, sometimes both in the same patient.

This sounds so frustrating.  I’d take him to the pediatric ER next time. 

Good to know, thx for sharing. My heart rate still isn't totally back to normal (5 weeks since I got Covid) but very close.

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He’s bouncing off the walls now but his heart rate is still what I’d consider lowish for his age.  And now his sister is complaining of a headache.

I “borrowed” a spare heart monitor from work for the night so I can keep a pretty good eye and do EKGs and such while monitoring everything.  But at least he’s definitely not lethargic.  

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5 hours ago, Elona said:

Good to know, thx for sharing. My heart rate still isn't totally back to normal (5 weeks since I got Covid) but very close.

I just wanted to second this.  A friend just had a two week monitor & found her heart rate bounced between the 30's and 210 more than 40 times.  No wonder she's been exhausted & dizzy since she recovered. She's in her 40's, but it's definitely long covid.

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Still praying for your little guy -- and now for your dd, too. I'm really wondering if they have Covid. I was thinking that when you were at the ER, but I'm even more suspicious now that your dd has a headache.

Whatever it is, I hope it's very temporary and it goes away FAST and FOR GOOD!

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I hope he feels better soon.  It is so hard when they can’t explain what really hurts.
 

Interesting my boss was in the ER last weekend with dizziness, low blood pressure( she is very high normally), low heart rate, and sudden extreme fatigue. She suddenly got very dizzy and fell at work.  They did a rapid covid test, pcr test, ekg, etc. and found nothing wrong except maybe she had a mild infection as her blood work barely showed one.  They sent her home that night.   She is still dizzy and fatigue but not as bad as the first day.  Her doctor is seeing a few patients like this and can’t decide if it a strain of covid they don’t test for or some odd virus.  

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2 hours ago, itsheresomewhere said:

I hope he feels better soon.  It is so hard when they can’t explain what really hurts.
 

Interesting my boss was in the ER last weekend with dizziness, low blood pressure( she is very high normally), low heart rate, and sudden extreme fatigue. She suddenly got very dizzy and fell at work.  They did a rapid covid test, pcr test, ekg, etc. and found nothing wrong except maybe she had a mild infection as her blood work barely showed one.  They sent her home that night.   She is still dizzy and fatigue but not as bad as the first day.  Her doctor is seeing a few patients like this and can’t decide if it a strain of covid they don’t test for or some odd virus.  

POTS is also showing up after covid although I think that is usually high heart rate not low heart rate? I know there’s some boardies with experience.

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