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Mumsnet doesn't verify the qualifications of users. If you have medical concerns, please consult a healthcare professional.

Children's health

6-year-old with fast heart beat - should I worry?

88 replies

imaginaryfriend · 29/01/2009 20:27

My dd is as fit as a fiddle, eats well, gets lots of exercise. She's had problems with allergies - asthma, eczema and she has a severe allergy to nuts.

Over the last week she's complaining of a fast heart when she lies down and keeps calling me in in the night. Her heart rate is going up to 150+ then it seems to ease off again by itself after about 10 minutes. I thought perhaps she was having a nightmare and waking up with an anxiety attack... ? Can you get them when you're 6?!? However it started tonight when she lay down to sleep and she's finding it difficult to settle.

Any ideas? Is it likely to be anything I should worry about? She seems more tired than usual at the moment, it was the first thing she said to me tonight when I picked her up. She's usually full of beans. She also wanted to go straight home where she would normally want a play in the park on the way.

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imaginaryfriend · 03/02/2009 20:59

I took dd to the GP this morning and she listened to her heart which she said was fine. She said sudden bursts of tachycardia in young children are extremely rare and seemed to think that dd had a minor panic attack and was hyperventilating and that made her heart rate go up. However she said to keep an eye on her and if it happens again she'll refer her for a 24 hour heart monitor.

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mishmash68 · 01/02/2009 07:44

HOWS YOUR DAUGHTER DOING NOW HOPE SHES OK

imaginaryfriend · 31/01/2009 22:43

Not hugely out of breath but she said she'd had a nightmare in which she couldn't breathe and died. And I worried whether she'd actually stopped breathing and that had come into her nightmare or if she'd had a minor panic attack and couldn't breathe on waking from the dream.

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morningsun · 31/01/2009 22:36

i don't know..
i mean asthma gives fast heartrate[tachycardia]
a temp does too
that may be all it is as she now has a cough and cold,
but i guess she's had plenty of viruses before now so you must have been a little more worried than usual
when she woke up with the fast h/r was she out of breath?

imaginaryfriend · 31/01/2009 22:22

We don't really have an out of hours service unfortunately. It's either GP or A&E.

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morningsun · 31/01/2009 22:16

Hi if hope you ok
just wanted to say sunday am would be a good time to go to either a&e or call out of hours if they're good in your area
Its not that i'm panicking in any way on your behalf but she may well get to be examined by a paed if you go [defo if there was anything to hear in her heart/chest and it might be a quicker way of getting a proper examination done rather that seeing your gp[who ime often take the lead from you iyswim]who might not take it seriously,and who may not have as good cardiac exam skills.

scrooged · 31/01/2009 22:14

Not necessarily. Things change and they may not have done a full ECG with 12 leads which is more comprehensive (looks at the electrics) then a heart monitor (which just counts the beats)

imaginaryfriend · 31/01/2009 22:09

Incidentally, when she had her major anaphylactic shock episode just over a year ago she was in hospital hooked up to all sorts of monitors. If there was any major fault in her heartbeat would it have shown up then?

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scrooged · 31/01/2009 22:08

imaginaryfriend · 31/01/2009 22:08

Yes it is a good sign I hope? I've asked her if she's felt anything like it since and she says she hasn't. I'm going to continue sleeping in bed with her though until I've seen the GP and had some official reassurance.

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scrooged · 31/01/2009 22:02

That sounds like a good plan. It's very good that it's not happened again.

imaginaryfriend · 31/01/2009 22:01

No worries about the thread crash.

I didn't take dd in this morning. She hasn't had any more incidents of racing heart and she's got a rotten cold / cough so I'm feeling confident that the sweating the other night was due to her coming down with that.

I am going to take her to the GP on Tuesday morning before I take her into school. I just felt that it didn't warrant a trip to A&E especially as every time we've ever been there we've come down with some horrible bug or other just from having been in there.

I'm really hoping I'm not being irresponsible. But my gut feeling tells me not to panic. Having said that I won't feel really relaxed about it until I've had a chat with the GP.

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scrooged · 31/01/2009 21:10

bump

scrooged · 31/01/2009 17:34

Do call NHS direct if you are concerned. I'm not a student nurse any more or a doctor so you should really contact them, there's alot of people like me on here who know little so it's best to contact the professionals.

hobbgoblin · 31/01/2009 17:30

Thanks scrooged.

I plan to take him to GP after the weekend anyway as he claims to have a 'stiff poo' problem despite the fact that he is passing virtual water every half hour.

Initially I thought he could have impacted poo resulting in the runs around it as I have heard that can happen but I think now that he is unlikely to be constipated.

As I say, sorry to thread crash.

scrooged · 31/01/2009 17:24

Poor thing. ds's heart rate can go to this when he's ill, the heart rate goes quicker to pump more of the white blood cells around to kill off any bugs. A fever increases the heart rate, as does excercise/crying. If there are no symptoms/excessive tiredness/happens on more than one occasion then it's best to get it checked.

hobbgoblin · 31/01/2009 17:20

He is 5. He has an upset tum at the moment too.

scrooged · 31/01/2009 17:19

It depends how old he is. Babies and toddlers have a fast heart rate at about this rate, it decreases as they get older.

hobbgoblin · 31/01/2009 17:15

I'm sorry to thread crash but this thread caught my eye as I used my doppler on DS2 this week and was surprised to find his heart rate was not disimilar to the baby's.

Having read this I just measured it now using radial pulse and it is 130bpm and he was resting.

Do I need to worry too?

scrooged · 31/01/2009 17:05

Did yoy take her?

scrooged · 31/01/2009 00:06

imaginaryfriend · 31/01/2009 00:04

Yes, I will. Thanks for all your advice! She's sleeping very soundly tonight but is a bit snuffly.

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scrooged · 30/01/2009 23:29

It will be good if there's nothing to worry about. It's better to take her and it be nothing then leave it thinking it's nothing and it is something IYSWIM.

Let me know how you get on.

imaginaryfriend · 30/01/2009 23:27

Yes, maybe I should just take her in in the morning. And not tell dp unless it turns out there's anything to worry about!

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oranges · 30/01/2009 23:23

take her to st thomas's children's a&e on saturday anyway and get them to check her. they are really good at this kind of thing.

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