January 22, 2002
Aches and Pains
Question from Anderson, California, USA:
My 11 year old daughter, who has had diabetes since age six, developed a heart murmur a year after her diagnosis which is becoming louder with each year. For the last two years, she has had severe chest pains, pallor, blue lips, and irregular heart beat, and pulse. I’ve had her in ER more than once. She has gone through all the tests which showed two leaking valves and patent ductus arteriosus.
Her cardiologist seems to think her diabetes is the cause of chest pains, but her pediatric specialist thinks its something with her heart. I’m not sure what else to do now. We don’t have any pediatric cardiologists in our area; the one she saw came from another area. Please help or advise.
Answer:
This does not sound like a typical diabetes related problem. I would go back to your diabetes team and ask them to help you sort this out. Perhaps they can consult directly with the cardiologist who has already evaluated your child. If necessary, go get some other opinions either in San Francisco, Portland, Denver or Los Angeles — to places where there are pediatric diabetes specialists as well as pediatric cardiologists in the same place to help sort this out.
SB
