Please... See our Story... Please, Help Save my son & Grandbabies...

[crb1487]

Hello. I'm not really sure what my question is, it's like a lot of little questions stuffed into that long title.

My son was born a premie, 7# 4oz & was on a heart monitor til he was nearly 11 mo old, but not because they thought anything was wrong with his heart, it was because he was born when things weren't quite ready & had multiple Apnea & bradycardia episodes all times day & night. That's the Beginning of the story...

Jumping to the end, 25 years later, he got up in the middle of the night to use the bathroom & fell over dead.

Now, for several mo he had started having "black out" episodes he described as his heart would just start racing & down he would go, At the ER, he was diagnosed with anxiety & sent home.
At which time he voiced his concerns to me thinking it might be a BP prob, I picked him up a little electronic BP monitor & had him take it randomly (& recording reading w/what he was doing) making sure to have him take when these episodes occurred. After a week, there was nothing significant however it was obvious it did jump around quite a bit & occasional slightly elevated.

I took him to my reg Dr who, ran all the tests, (blood work up) that  would tell her if something in kidneys or liver etc. may be going on. Supposedly, everything came back Great. He was 25 yr old,  6'4" tall, in good physical condition & not over weight. She put him on a low dose BP medication & again, prescribed Lorazepam for anxiety.

Aprox 2 weeks later, (per Dr advice, got himself a treadmill, because exercise is good for stress/anxiety...) That evening, he ran the treadmill for 30 min. Later had dinner & relaxing night at home watching tv in front of the fireplace & going to bed as usual. At 6am his girlfriend found him slumped over the tub (he had been sitting on the toilet & fell straight to his side & hit face 1st into the tub, arms in front as if still in his lab.

The report from the Medical Examiner: Natural causes: "Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy and Congenital Myocardial Bridging" (no evidence of ethanol or other substances)  Then also noted, Pulmonary & Cerebral Edema & Stated his kidneys showed congestion. Otherwise, Everything was noted as Unremarkable, Excellent or Normal...

So, this obviously was happening longer than that few seconds, nothing showing heart deformities while in children's hosp for mo on a heart monitor. Nothing? at ER, just anxiety... Nothing on Blood work up... Nothing???

I have 1 other son, who somewhat recently, started having these "episodes" ER did and 10 second EKG & sent him home.  I'm looking for answers, Anything please..

I should mention my son (deceased one) was given an overdose of Gentamycin as a newborn (Dr ordered .03 & nurse gave him .30 & doesn't sound like much, but remember, he was only 4# 6oz Premie.)

Lastly, I couldn't carry either to term & was given medication through out both pregnancies to stop contractions.

[crb1487]

Thank you.. This too is what I have been feeling, just need more to be able to convince my son.

[crb1487]

Thank you. I will look into electro physiologist information.

[char1940]

Hi, i am so sorry about your son. I had been to doctor to doctor with no result. I had symptoms of disiness and passing out and my heart would feel funny.  The doctors wouldn't listen to me. By the time i found a doctor who would lias in complete heart failure. She got me into a cardiologist, and she said i should not be alive. My heart was beating only 25%. I went into surgery the next day and they put in a pacemaker defibrillator. Please don't go by one doctor's opion get to a specialest. Hope this helps. God bless

[Al Dente]

Firstly, I am very sorry to hear about your son.  I think you are looking for some information regarding myocardial bridging and from what I've read, as well as issues with heart rhythm.  I am not a doctor, but was diagnosed in my early 20's with early onset heart disease and a couple rhythm disorders.

Myocardial bridging or tunneling of a coronary artery is not uncommon.  The heart has grooves that major arteries like the RCA, LAD, Left Main, etc. lie in.  Sometimes, people are born with a section of the artery in the groove, but it is surrounded by by tissue.  Sometimes the "bridged" area can cause a milking effect that can cause ischemia.  The muscle as the heart contracts can squeeze the artery.

The symptoms of syncope is one that is concerning.  I suffered syncope from a very young age, say age 12 due to high vagal tone and rate drop.  My syncope is treated with a dual-chamber pacemaker.  My problems are mostly genetic.  Your son's syncope issue really is part of the key.  His retention of fluid is as well.  One would look at heart rhythm--and every doctor knows that an EKG is not going to diagnose a rhythm problem unless problem is obvious.

Looking at this if I were the patient, I would want to see an electrophysiologist to evaluate the electro-activity of the heart--first and primary.  Myocardial Bridging could cause a problem, but that would cause a different set of symptoms, including angina.  If a spasm happened at the site, for a long enough period, it could cause long-lasting effects including MI. This is an open thought that really would need the right set of circumstances.

Again, as a patient, I would want to look at heart rhythm with an electrophysiologist and not a general cardiologist.  An invasive cardiologist would not come into play unless there needs to be a review of bridging.  In my case, bridging or a tunneled artery did become an issue, however stenting a blockage in the section solved the problem.  If your son did not have coronary artery disease, the bridging is a common issue found in many people that do not cause symptoms.  Again, sorry for your loss.  I'd look at rhythm.