I’m hoping someone might have had a similar experience or can advise on next steps because we’re feeling really stuck.
For the past six months, my 14-year-old son has been dealing with:
- Headaches
- Dizziness
- Exhaustion
- Heart palpitations
We’ve been back and forth to the GP multiple times and have been told different things each time (iron deficiency, vitamin D deficiency, hormones, stress). He increased his supplements but nothing changed.
At a routine asthma review, the ANP found his
blood pressure was very high and his
heart rate was around 160 bpm. She checked his records and saw the same thing had been recorded at his previous review, but no one mentioned it. She asked us to monitor his BP and heart rate for a week, wasn’t happy with the results, and referred us to the hospital. She also told us to go to A&E if his symptoms worsened.
A few weeks later, school rang because his heart rate was so fast he could barely stand. We went to A&E, and they brought him straight through and admitted him overnight for monitoring. His blood tests were normal, but his BP and heart rate stayed high. The nurses seemed concerned, but the consultant the next morning spent about a minute with him, said it was migraines, and prescribed Topomax (not licensed for under-18s). Follow-up appointment is in January.
He had a 72-hour Holter monitor last week, but again we won’t hear anything until January. In the meantime, he now has
daily headaches and constant dizziness. The GP keeps saying the medication can take up to three months to work and that we should just wait. They’ve also suggested anxiety, but these symptoms started long before he became anxious about everything.
He’s missing a lot of school and struggling when he does go in. We just don’t feel listened to, and I’m at a loss about what to do next.
Has anyone been through something similar, or have any advice on where we can go from here?