16 Year old chest pains

caubrey

Hey everyone.

I'm a 16 year old male cyclist.

About 3 months ago I got on my bike one morning, went for a longish ride and I felt terrible. My heart rate was about 20 points higher than normal, I had no power in my legs, and I had a dull chest pain, as if I could feel my heart beat. Usually I wouldn't even think of my heart beating.

A few days later I then went to the doc and was diagnosed with Pericarditis based on my symptoms. But just recently, 2 weeks ago I had an MRI scan on my heart and it isn't Pericarditis (which is fair enough because the ibuprofen wasn't working) there was nothing wrong with the scan, my heart is perfectly healthy, no inflammation.

Yesterday I attempted a wind trainer with very little effort and I could only handle 12 minutes before the pain in my chest became enough, it was an achy/dull pain that radiates from left to right, and my heart rate was about 30bpm higher than normal. Usually I would only be doing around 95-100bpm with that little effort but I was at around 130bpm. My legs also ache just walking around at school, so having the effort to cycle is hard enough. I generally feel tried all the time as well.

My doctor and cardiologist doesn't know what this is and I am only young and would love to get back to the saddle, please does someone have any advice here.

slowbike

heck - your doctors don't know what's wrong and you think we will?!

Ok - you might get lucky I guess!

If you hadn't said you'd been to the docs then I would've suggested it was "just" a cold or flu - or partying too hard - not enough sleep - but I assume they've covered the basics.

Is it just cycling that does you in or are other sports out too - anything CV related?

MTFU doesn't seem to be an option - I just hope it's nothing serious. With your Doc and cardiologist not knowing what's wrong I'd be getting a second opinion from a different doc ... possibly one that specialises in sports?

caubrey

Yeah exercise in general.

What do you mean by CV?

Thankyou for the suggestion

frisbee

Cardiovascular - Running, swimming etc..

All you can really do is keep hassling the doctor and hope you eventually get referred to a specialist. Eat well and get lots of sleep.

redvision

Definitely get a second opinion.
Chest pain is never something to be ignored.
Try to see another Dr.

Hope you feel better

giropaul

It might be useful to google CRY , a charity who provide free cardiac sports checks for younger sportspeople.

caubrey

Thanks everyone.

Dosen't look like they have CRY in New Zealand

mentalalex

Doctors and a cardiac screening! Don't think about it just get booked in and get it done

caubrey

Guys its nothing to do with the heart, I have said that.

The next steps are to get a scan of the lungs and if that fails to do a stress test on the heart and see if there is any chance of heart rhythm under exercise.

I am just open for suggestions from people who have had similar symptoms.

smiley_boy2501

An MRI of your heart will be pretty damn sensitive for picking up cardiac disease but not 100% so dependant on the other testing they've done it could still be your heart.
Then again it could be the muscle or bone overlying, your lungs (less likely) or any other structure in your chest.
I'd go back to your cardiologist if it's ongoing. If you haven't had it already you should request an exercise ecg test and possibly a stress echo although an Mri is likely to have ruled out any structural abnormalities in you heart.

kmanchester

Precordial catch syndrome or costochondritis?

colinsmith123

As a parent I think if I found out my 16 year old son was seeking medical advice on an internet forum rather than speaking to his Doctor, I'd kill him.

caubrey

I have been to the doctor....haha just wondering if anyone has the same thing

Fat-Boy-Roubaix

caubrey wrote:

I have been to the doctor....haha just wondering if anyone has the same thing

Yes but have you had a 12 lead ECG with BP measured on a heart stress test? Normally done on a running machine.

MRI scan wasn't looking for heart problems it was looking for inflammation, I assume. If you have not had a stress test ask for one as soon as possible. Again in my opinion and I am not medically qualified.

AK_jnr

Whatever you do just take it easy until the doctor has sorted it out. You only have to look at Fabrice Muamba.

caubrey

Cool thank you. That was my next action if the ljng scan dosent pick up anything. I do think there is a chance it could be costochondritis. And yeah I will be taking it easy.

Thanks for all the help guys.

Twentytoo

Whilst no experience with heart conditions I do know what it's like to have another medical issue that isn't straight forward to treat. I've been going to hospitals and doctors since last August and have come to realise that whilst experts, doctors are not magicians and can't always give you the easy answer you're looking for. I've learnt that be patient and keep turning up for appointments prepared to be clear and concise about what you think they need to know and what you want to ask them. Make the most of the time they have allocated you as its a conveyor belt for them and when you've left they have moved to the next patient and you're back in the queue

DeVlaeminck

colinsmith123 wrote:

As a parent I think if I found out my 16 year old son was seeking medical advice on an internet forum rather than speaking to his Doctor, I'd kill him.

Why not educate yourself - ask others, read up a bit - it doesn't mean instead of seeing a doctor but nothing wrong with doing that as well as. Very often it's just a case of people saying yes that sounds like something you need to take seriously rather than ignore. Years back I once suggested a guy on a running forum with certain symptoms attend hospital asap because it fitted with a DVT - it turned out to be exactly that.

colinsmith123

DeVlaeminck wrote:

colinsmith123 wrote:

As a parent I think if I found out my 16 year old son was seeking medical advice on an internet forum rather than speaking to his Doctor, I'd kill him.

Why not educate yourself - ask others, read up a bit - it doesn't mean instead of seeing a doctor but nothing wrong with doing that as well as. Very often it's just a case of people saying yes that sounds like something you need to take seriously rather than ignore. Years back I once suggested a guy on a running forum with certain symptoms attend hospital asap because it fitted with a DVT - it turned out to be exactly that.

It has got nothing whatsoever to do with using the internet to educate oneself. I've done and will continue to do it no doubt. But in this instance, this is a 16 year old asking for medical advice. He is a minor. Strangers giving advice to kids on a website forum about their health, come on surely you and the moderators of this forum can see this is morally wrong?

caubrey

Okay I will delete this post

frisbee

caubrey wrote:

Okay I will delete this post

Nothing wrong with asking for advice, as despite what some people think - "keep hassling your doctor" or "Demand to see a specialist" isn't medical advice.... :roll:

I had an ankle problem when I was your age, it took a year of being fobbed off with "it's just growing pains", eventually saw a specialist, 2 weeks later bone spur that didn't show up on any scans or xrays removed - perfect ankle.

slowbike

colinsmith123 wrote:

DeVlaeminck wrote:

colinsmith123 wrote:

As a parent I think if I found out my 16 year old son was seeking medical advice on an internet forum rather than speaking to his Doctor, I'd kill him.

Why not educate yourself - ask others, read up a bit - it doesn't mean instead of seeing a doctor but nothing wrong with doing that as well as. Very often it's just a case of people saying yes that sounds like something you need to take seriously rather than ignore. Years back I once suggested a guy on a running forum with certain symptoms attend hospital asap because it fitted with a DVT - it turned out to be exactly that.

It has got nothing whatsoever to do with using the internet to educate oneself. I've done and will continue to do it no doubt. But in this instance, this is a 16 year old asking for medical advice. He is a minor. Strangers giving advice to kids on a website forum about their health, come on surely you and the moderators of this forum can see this is morally wrong?

So it'd be ok if he was 18 ... could be as little as just over 12 months away - what's the difference?

The chap (no I'm not going to call him a boy) is obviously concerned and is just talking about what he's got going on with what he considers to be like minded people - ie cyclists.
He's seeing the specialists - but they may not have asked the right question yet or perhaps it's the wrong specialists - we don't know and neither does he.

Caubrey - keep posting - it doesn't matter if you're 16 or 60 - don't take anything said on here as gospel (there's a thread on that too) and always listen to your parents/doctors first. But do listen to what's being suggested on here - something might just trigger a connection and lead to the right test/results being carried out. And even if it doesn't - you've got the ears and sympathy of most.

caubrey

Thanks. Yeah I was really just seeing if anyone had suffered the same sort of symptoms. Of course I will listen to my doctor and parents before you guys.

caubrey

Does anyone think this could just be GERD?

I am still yet awaiting referral for lung scan then will go from there.

relk

You should do a load test at a sports doctor with proper hear monitoring while you do it. That should sort out the diagnosis. Sometimes it's really hard to establish something after the fact.

I had similar issues (sudden HR spikes) during training and the problem was found.