Sign-in to Ask A Doctor - 24x7
OR
Sign in with GoogleGet your health question answered instantly from our pool of 18000+ doctors from over 80 specialties
Is Pulse Rate Of 145 A Cause For Concern?
My 17 year old daughter Cassandra went to MEPS (Military Entrance Processing Station) today. They put her on Medical hold because of her pulse! Her pulse was 145, is this high for her? She is very healthy and has played soccer since she was 4! She eats healthy and exercises. Please tell me what can cause this and what any test she should have done? Thank you Tonia Castellanos
Tue, 14 Nov 2017
Dear Sir,
I totally understand your concerns about your daughter's health.
A pulse of 145 beats per minute is considered a tachycardia and hence it is not a normal finding especially that your daughter is athletic where we expect her pulse to be at the lower edge of the normal.
Hence further evaluation is needed in order to determine the best treatment.
1- Ask your daughter about caffeine intake and smoking, since both are associated with tachycradia and should be stopped in case they are being used.
2- an electrocardiogram EKG is needed to determine the exact type of tachyarrythmia that she has. if the EKG finding is normal, a 24 hours holter may be ordered to detect any arrythmia during a whole 24 hours.
3- 2 blood tests are important in this case : CBCD this is important to determineif your patient is anemic, especially that she s a female she s at a higher risk of anemia because of her menses and it will be wise to control her menses with medications such as OCP's in order to decrease the excessive menstrual bleeding if it is the case of your daughter and also to take oral iron in case of anemia in order to replenish her system with iron to produce red blood cells. The other test is TSH in order to detect any thyroid function problem because hyperthyrodism is associated with increased heart rate.
Based on this evaluation treatment can be offered based on the result
Best regards
I totally understand your concerns about your daughter's health.
A pulse of 145 beats per minute is considered a tachycardia and hence it is not a normal finding especially that your daughter is athletic where we expect her pulse to be at the lower edge of the normal.
Hence further evaluation is needed in order to determine the best treatment.
1- Ask your daughter about caffeine intake and smoking, since both are associated with tachycradia and should be stopped in case they are being used.
2- an electrocardiogram EKG is needed to determine the exact type of tachyarrythmia that she has. if the EKG finding is normal, a 24 hours holter may be ordered to detect any arrythmia during a whole 24 hours.
3- 2 blood tests are important in this case : CBCD this is important to determineif your patient is anemic, especially that she s a female she s at a higher risk of anemia because of her menses and it will be wise to control her menses with medications such as OCP's in order to decrease the excessive menstrual bleeding if it is the case of your daughter and also to take oral iron in case of anemia in order to replenish her system with iron to produce red blood cells. The other test is TSH in order to detect any thyroid function problem because hyperthyrodism is associated with increased heart rate.
Based on this evaluation treatment can be offered based on the result
Best regards
I find this answer helpful
Disclaimer: These answers are for your information only and not intended to replace your relationship with your treating physician.
This is a short, free answer.
For a more detailed, immediate answer, try our premium service
[Sample answer]
Related questions you may be interested in
Loading Online Doctors....