concern over son's low pulse

[missyg67]

My son is 18 years old and has recently begun to complain of shortness of breath,sometimes with dizziness or a general "feeling weird" , as he puts it. I have a pulse oximeter and decided to check his oxygen, which was great- 99.His resting pulse rate ranged between 54-56.  I think this is low. when I check it later, and he says he feels better, it is in the 60 to 70 range. I took him to the doctor who ordered a chest xray which came back with heart and lungs looking good.  Also checked his iron which was normal. what do I do next. He still complains of feeling weird. He is alittle underweight at 6'3" even though he eats like a horse and isn't very active.Help,Concerned mom

[stutterheart1]

My resting pulse is in the high 30's and my doc says I'm fine. Probably has to do with being very fit as a teen and into my 20's. If he is fit, 55 is absolutely normal, perhaps even high if he is extremely fit.
I'm not sure what is causing the shortness of breath. Did you have him do an echocardiogram to look for leaky valves or an ECG to check for Afib? Could it be panic disorder?

[missyg67]

I should also add to my last post that during these times of shortness of breath he isn't active, and the first few times were when he was sleeping and was woken up with difficulty breathing. He decided to prop himself up a little during the night and has not had the problem during sleeping again but has still complained of occaisional shortness of breath during the day when he is just reading or doing normal stuff around the house.

[missyg67]

Thanks for the reply. I feel better knowing that resting pulse rate in the 50's can be normal. I only questioned it b/c it is then that he complained of weak feeling.One thing i neglected to mention before is that he complained to the doctor that during these weak /dizzy spells he has felt as if his heart was fluttering/skipping a beat. Doctor wasn't concerned. Doctor called back after reviewing x- rays himself and said everything was fine - He did not do an ekg, or even take his blood pressure yesterday during visit - just sent us across the street to radiology for x ray - wants him to use ventolin inhaler for a few days, felt he was congested during visit and said to take a mucus thinner. At the end of our call, he mentioned to me he was concerned about my son being underweight and wants me to increase calories and intervals of eating to every2.5 to 3 hours. He says being underweight can cause low imunity, low blood pressure , weak feellings. He eats well , very healthy appetite, I will do what the doctor says though.

[grendslori]

I don't think I would be too concerned about this. A RESTING heart rate in the 50s can be perfectly normal. If he were active at the time his rates are in the 50's and those rates would not increase with activity, then you would start to question his heart function. Normal heart rates for a man are between 60-100, with a mean of 72; for a woman it is between 60-100 with a mean of 82. Those rates can be lower or higher depending on activity. An 02% of 99% is normal; anything from 95%-100% is in the normal range. If your son's x-ray looks good and he has had an EKG done and that's normal, I really don't think you have too much to worry about. When the heart rate starts to drop around 40 bpm, that's usually when problems such as dizziness start to occur. (Also if the pulse rate is extremely high, due to a lack of blood flow to the brain, you would also have a problem with dizziness). Have his ears checked for wax build-up; that is a major reason for dizziness. Does your son have a problem with allergies or asthma? What is he doing when he has shortness of breath? You say he's not very active, if that's the case, he may be having shortness of breath because his body is compensating for itself while he is active. Have you asked yourself if this could just be a teen-ager thing....we all know how teens can be. Could he be looking for your attention? Please don't take that the wrong way, it's just something to think about..