Mystery Heart Illness

[Jellyroll61]

My son, age 15, will sometimes have episodes whereas he has a resting heart rate of over 160 beats a minutes for several minutes.   He will have a series of these episodes over a period of days then he will be fine for a few days or even a few weeks.

If you put your hand over his chest while he is having an episode, you can feel his heart pounding so hard as if he had been running and suddenly stopped.  Sometimes instead of a fast heartbeat he will have slow and hard heartbeat.

The episodes leave him extremely weak, especially in his legs.  He is also starting to have throbbing pain in his chest during these episodes and arm pain.

I have taken him to 2 Cardiologists that have done EKG's, Echo Cardiograms, and heart monitors.  Even though they caught one of his episodes whereas his resting heartbeat was 163 beats a minute for 15 minutes, the doctors said it was no big deal because the heartbeat, although fast, was normal and his heart is structurally sound.  He suggested I take him to a psychiatrist.

My son continues to get worst and I feel so lost.  I'm hoping that someone on this forum might of had some similar experiences or may of heard of something.

My other son has a very rare illness that no one could figure out.  Finally someone on another forum similar to this one nailed it and saved his life.

Thanks in advance!  I appreciate you taking the time to read my post.

(On a programming note, I posted this on the other heart forum when I should have posted it on this one.  I apologize in advance if you have already read the post.)

[Bromley]

The ecg is normal but fast.  This suggests that the sa node is doing the pacing. I believe more frequently when the sa node is doing something inappropriate,  it is because the central nervous system is responding to something.  If so,  the heart rate gradually builds up and gradually slows down.

When I say gradual,  I mean something other than nearly instantly.

If the sa noise is not being controlled by the cns to a fast heart rate, and is instead involved in a re-entrant tachycardia,  one thing to look for is instant rate changes. An instant rate change is usually not cns/psychological.

For web research, lookup SART or SANRT.

I am sorry about your son.  

[tom_h]

A ramping up/ramping down rapid heartbeat is one thing.  A sudden onset/sudden termination of rapid heartbeat is another.  If your son experiences the latter, I'd say he doesn't need psychiatric care..... he needs a different cardiologist!

It could be what Bromley suggests.   It could also be AVRT or AVNRT.  All of these tachycardias are abnormal and fall into the "SVT category".  These all have a high percentage of "fixability".

[Jellyroll61]

Bromley & Tom_h,

Thank you for the reply and for the good advise!  I will certainly look into the "SVT Category" of illnesses.