Please get your teen a cardio exam

[JJJ]

A friend of Piglet's died last night. She's known him since she was 6 but hadn't seen much of him over the last few years. One of her good friends has been dating him forever.

He was a midrange difficult child who was on the right track. He worked outside all day at his job, came home, fell asleep and when mom went in to wake him for dinner, he was dead.

Preliminary results are undx heart condition complicated by heat illness.

If you have a young teen, please please please get them a cardio exam, it may save their life.

 

[Hound dog]

Many of these conditions aren't picked up on in a normal physical exam. And most docs I know won't do a cardio workup without due cause.......and insurance won't cover it either. But they aren't picked up on because it takes extreme conditions to produce symptoms.

Still you can drum in their heads the importance of hydration, hydration, hydration. Hydration is NOT soda or tea or whatever. It's water. If you are sweating excessively, then add a gatoraide for one drink. But they need to be careful with the gatoraide as well. Working out in the heat they need to learn to wet a washcloth and drape it over the back of the neck or head to help lower their body temp and to dress appropriately. My sibs detassled corn every summer..........long hot days from sun up until sun down. Pay was great but each of them took an enormous thermos of water. Their boss let them refill it at lunch, and they kept extra on the truck just in case.

I am so sorry Piglet lost her friend. Such a tragedy. Saying prayers for her and this boy's family.

((hugs))

 

[InsaneCdn]

Hydration, plus blood sugar - as in, not getting too low.
And no, it's not about "sugar" - that just creates spikes and lows, and makes the problem worse.
And doubly no to "ice cold" drinks... the body needs fluids closer to body temperature, or at least room temperature.

It's about eating small, healthy, mixed-food-group, high-fiber snacks on a frequent basis.
If you're doing hard physical work, it doesn't hurt to be eating (and DRINKING) every 1.5 hours.

We have issues with blood sugar in our family, and have learned the correlation between energy output and energy input. Not paying attention to this almost resulted in a medical emergency - we turned it around fast enough, but it took at least 4 weeks to recover.

A banana and a glass of milk.
A high-fiber granola bar and a short pepperoni stick, with plenty of water.
Diluted apple juice and dry trail mix (even just "gorp").

For the record? No chance of getting a cardio work-up on an otherwise healthy teen here either.

 

[JJJ]

When all athletes get a 12-lead EKG as part of their athletic physical, there is a documented 85% decrease in sudden cardiac death in teenage athletes. http://www.sportsmd.com/SportsMD_Articles/id/348.aspx

Sadly, his long term girlfriend (who is one of Piglet's very good friends found out when people started posting support messages on her facebook page).

 

[witzend]

Words don't even come close to how heartbreaking this is.

 

[AnnieO]

Oh, no... Lots of hugs for Piglet and the girlfriend...

Our kids belong to a longevity study (thanks to husband's paternal g-parents or maybe even before them), and they get regular physical testing that most kids don't. Last "big" visit (October for Jett, June for Onyxx & Raven), Onyxx & Jett got EKGs, CT scans and MRIs - because of biomom passing from un-diagnosis'd heart issues. I don't know about Raven, but pretty sure not, they actually hadn't seen him since about 3 months old. Bean's already on their list! (And me, but only for baseline stuff.)

Still - any child involved in physical employment or athletics should be at the very least screened! Thanks for bringing this up.

 

[JJJ]

Piglet had a 12-lead EKG and an echo earlier this summer. Eeyore had a 12-lead in the winter. I just need to get one done on Tigger.


So worried about Piglet's friend. This will change her forever. Thank God she has strong parents, she is going to need them.

 

[DammitJanet]

I think this should be part of every sports physical. All kids who want to take part of HS sports (and maybe Jr High- I cant remember) have to get a sports physical and I know they have to have one for collegiate sports. So many young people die or become very ill every year due to illnesses that are unknown until it is too late. This doesnt have to happen.

 

[TerryJ2]

OMG! I am so sorry. How tragic. I don't know what I would do if I were his mom.

 

[welcometowitsend]

That is so terrible. What a tragedy for that boys family. I can't imagine how his girlfriend and friends will handle this. Scary and so sudden.

No chance of getting work-ups on apparently healthy teens here either.

My friends 2 sons both have long-q-t syndrome which is the heart condition that healthy athletes drop dead from. They discovered it when her youngest son developed meningitis. Thankfully he recovered and they are both healthy and well aware of their condition so they know not to push themselves too hard with sports and to keep well hydrated as well.

My difficult child has low blood pressure and a very slow heart rate. He has what they call vaso-vagal syndrome - which means he faints upon standing sometimes. It actually happens quite often. He has been tested in emerg twice and at Sick Kids as well. He then had the 48 hour heart monitor done as well as a visit with a paediatric cardiologist. He got the all clear.

Now easy child has some symptoms of fainting as well although nowhere near as bad as difficult child. Right now I am just watching easy child to see if she is just looking for attention (because so much of it is focused on difficult child right now and all his antics) or if it is a real concern. We will be visiting the doctor soon for a check up so I will bring it up then.