10 year old chest pain

[HD14]

Hi everyone,

My son is 10 years old and suffers with asthma, which is well controlled.

He was playing football yesterday and started to struggle to catch his breath, initially we thought it was an asthma attack, he was given his inhaler countless times to no avail, he was pale, shaky and complained of pins an needles in his hands.

An ambulance was called an he was given oxygen an taken to hospital to be monitored.They said his resps rate was quite high but there was no evidence it was related to his lungs or asthma as they sounded clear.

He was kept on the monitors for a couple of hours where his heart rate looked irregular on the screen but they showed no concern. He was then given an ECG and we was told it was just likely a chest spasm We was told he needed to keep hydrated and take pain relief and he should be fine.

Obviously they are a hospital and know what they are talking about more than I do I am just quite concerned there was more to it or that it could happen again. Just wondering if anyone else has been through similar?

Thanks

I haven't been through this but can you book in with your GP to follow up and discuss? It might put your mind at rest and if there's any further investigations that could be done for your ds the GP could arrange or refer him for you. It sounds like an upsetting and worrying incident for you all.

It's extremely rare for chest pain in children to be caused by heart problems but it's always taken seriously, which is why they did the ECG. As the ECG didn't find anything, you should be reassured it's nothing serious. The most common cause of chest pain in children is a condition called costochondritis, which is basically inflammation of the cartilage of the chest wall. It can be caused by a variety of things and can often happen after a knock to the chest during sports. It can also be triggered by a viral infection, which happened to my DS. It can be extremely painful but isn't serious.
More info here: www.nhs.uk/conditions/costochondritis/