My 17yo daughter’s heart races and she get’s light headed when she stands up. Apparently, this has been going on for a few years and she never said anything because she thought it was normal. She just fainted while getting fitted for her prom dress and that’s how we found out.

She’s had two visits with her pediatrician, they’ve done blood tests and such which have all come back normal. These days, my wife takes my daughter for the Dr. visits, which is normally OK, but my wife isn’t the best at relaying complicated information.

What type of Dr. would be best at diagnosing this?

Cardiologist would he my first guess.
But I know you aren't looking for a guess. I'll let the forum Dr crew advise.

quote:

Originally posted by trapper189:
The Toyota Grand Highlander.

Interesting choice in doctors.

I'm neither a doctor nor a car salesman, but I'm not sure how that's going to do anything to help with her fainting.

I thought I was responding to P250UA5’s thread.

My daughter was diagnosed with POTS at about age 21. Similar symptoms of lightheaded and then fainting. It’s almost always young females who are diagnosed.

Find a doctor in your area who is knowledgeable about POTS. Many are clueless.

Be heard of very physically fit persons experiencing similar symptoms. Is she an avid runner?

Here is what Johns Hopkins has to say - they recommend either a neurologist or cardiologist trained in POTS.

https://www.hopkinsmedicine.or...cardia-syndrome-pots

They also have some tips on diet and water intake - may younger people don't get enough water in their diet.

She doesn't have an exercise regimen, but she eats fairly healthy and isn't the slightest bit overweight.

I'm taking my daughter to see a cardiologist on Friday, but my wife has no idea why other than the pedeiatrician said to. Reading the Johns Hopkins information, it seems the cardiologist should do a tilting table test to diagnose this.

I would suggest referral to cardiologist for a tilt-table test. Could be POTS, could be neurocardiogenic (also known as vasovagal) syncope or fainting, often brought on by heat, stress. A cardiologist could also rule out an arrhythmia which could be more dangerous.

Well, trapper, at least great minds are thinking alike.

One of my daughters has POTS. She's in her 30's now.

Definitely get your daughter a good workup, including a cardiologist familiar with POTS. My daughter wore monitors for a couple of weeks as part of her eval. She also sees a Functional medicine doc who has her on a specific nutrition plan.

Iirc, Dr Peter McCullough has written about treatments.

Both of my kids (daughter and son) have/had POTS. Also, I had it, and so did my wife, but back when we were kids we thought it was normal and it was not diagnosed. Actually, I do not think it was even recognized in the medical community back then (I am 64 and wife is 67)

Neither myself nor my wife actually passed out. But if I were laying on a couch relaxed, and suddenly got up to answer the phone, things would slowly go dark, my knees would start to buckle, and just as I was about to collapse, I would come to again without completely fainting.

My wife would notice it at church services, when she would be kneeling, and then when standing up, would nearly faint, but it never actually happened.

My son was in high school when he passed out the first time in the bathroom. Quite frankly, the first time it happened to him, it was early morning before school. I thought he was faking an illness so he could stay home from school! My daughter would get dizzy. She ended up on medication.

My son (now 31) has pretty much outgrown it and is fine. My daughter has mostly (but not quite) outgrown it.

In both cases, they were treated by a cardiologist that specialized in POTS. Note that POTS is a fairly new diagnosis, not all doctors are aware of it. When picking a doctor, be sure to pick someone familiar with treating it.

Our family's experience with POTS was fairly minor in all 4 cases. But we became aware of some people with severe POTS where the symptoms were debilitating.

trapper, that must have been startling to hear from your daughter, and very concerning to say the least.

100% true.

Years of constant amazement watching her grow and BAM!

It certainly shifted my perspective on the worring now about her going off to college next year I've been doing.

I was diagnosed with it also. My case was partially due to some medication I was taken. I changed medicine and it helped, but I still have it to some degree.

The idea that she thought her condition to be normal, which I take to mean she thought everyone experienced this, is heartbreaking.

I think it snuck up on her. She told the cardiologist today that this has been going on for a few years, but only in the last few months has it been a problem.

Her appointment today was at Johns Hopkins All Children’s Outpatient with a pediatric cardiologist who graduated from UF’s med school and did her residency at the University of Miami at Jackson Memorial Hospital. I don’t know if any of that really means anything, but at least those are names I’ve heard of.

The Dr. said my daughter doesn’t have POTS, yet. My daughter will have to start a regular aerobic exercise program to get her heart in shape, drink more water, and believe it or not: eat more salt. The Dr. told my daughter to “not surrender” to this. The Dr. said the EKG and everything else looked good.

quote:

Originally posted by sjtill:
Well, trapper, at least great minds are thinking alike.

I do like a consensus, especially from knowledgeable people.

I appreciate everyone’s help. It was really great going into the Dr.’s office prepared and understanding every word she said.

That's good to hear on the POTS, could be blood pressure, you should get a BP machine to use at home and check it in the AM and PM, and if she senses the issue coming on.

Young girl, prom, it's warming up here, school pressure, lots of external stressors.