What Causes Chest Pain, Tingling Fingers And Breathing Difficulty In A Child?

Hi dear, Thanks for choosing HCM. Based on the symptoms you stated above about your 11-year-old son, I suspect that he has a Hyperventilation Syndrome. In most cases, chest pain in children is not considered due to heart attack or heart issues, it s very rare or close to zero to see a child having a heart attack like your husband did. So you should stop worrying about that. Hyperventilation Syndrome is a disorder whereby a person over breathes (thus the name hyperventilation) and from there has chest pain, difficulty breathing, other neurological symptoms such as the one you mentioned above(light headedness and tingly fingers) gastrointestinal issues such as epigastric pressure could be there too, also expect dry mouth. Hyperventilation happens due to many reasons, main reason in young adults and children could be due to Anxiety disorder panic attack (for example being scared of death, getting injured or something bad happening to him), Discuss with your son if there is something that he is worried about. Apart from anxiety there could be other underlying diseases that could be causing his symptoms. Overall, I suggest that you take your son to Doctor so he can be checked promptly. Doctors need to run few tests to rule out any serious underlying condition that s causing his hyperventilation. For example, if you came to my clinic, I would first try to press on your sons chest and ask him to breath to look for a sign of a treatable disease known Tietze s syndrome, then I would request to do an X-ray and ECG for him to see if there is underlying lung or chest area diseases. If there is an underlying disease, then that disease would be treated. If all tests show negative result, then a simple relief for your sons’ condition is by rebreathing in to a paper bag whenever he feels this symptom and advice you take him to a psychologist or psychiatrist to help him overcome anxiety if there is any. Physiotherapy is also a considerable choice. Very important note: Please do not attempt to give paper bag breathing to your son without visiting a Doctor and assuring that he doesn’t have any underlying disease, only once all tests are done and confirmed that he doesn t have underlying condition we can give paper bag breathing. I hope this has helped clear things out for you and perhaps reduce your worry that your son might be having a heart attack. If you have anymore questions don t hesitate to ask. Wish you and your son all the best.