Heart Murmur - Bixby,OK

I have one myself and it has never been an issue (I am almost 43 years old and yes, I have seen a cardiologist.) It's a pretty common condition.

Call the nurse and just say you got home and started freaking out about what the doctor said, and can she expain it to you again. Then, if it seems appropriate, take her back to be listened to again in a few weeks. Also keep in mind that some murmurs, while real, are associated with being young and close up with age. Congestive heart failure is not associated with murmurs really - it is a symptom of a heart that is not working due to a million possible things. Your husband's relative must have some underlying condition or be elderly??

Technically, a heart "murmur" is just an abnormal sound in the heart. It could be caused by quite a few different things, some serious, some not. I would imagine if you daughter had a serious condition, that it would have been found long ago. They are pretty on top of things these days. I would not worry - it is probably just what your dr. said, the congestion is imitating.

Several yrs. ago worked for a pediatric Cardiologist. Many children came in
with murmurs and 99.9% of them were fine. I think if it is still there on his
next visit, get him checked out just to be on the safe side.

My son had one and it disappeared.

My husband has one, and it's never given him any problem. The only thing is that he has to take antibiotics before having any dental work. My daughter had one when she was first born, but the ped has said that he no longer hears it. Your son may grow out of it if he even has it. If the ped isn't worried, don't stress. Just have him listen for it the next time you take your son to the doctor.

My daughter has a heart murmur, she was born with it. The doctors spotted it within her first day of life. It was something there, 2-3 holes in my daughters case, and they could easily listen and hear them when checking her heart. A few days after she was born we went to the children's heart hospital so they could see her heart, well it was something they felt would close up over the next year and to come back in a year for a another heart ultra sound to see if the holes closed up. In my daughter's case for the most part they closed up, and you can not hear it any more. What I do have to keep an eye on is that sometimes with too much activity she is not getting enough oxygen/blood through her heart to the rest of her body, I simply call her over to sit, take a drink of water/lemonade and in a few minutes she is back at playing. Also she can not be put under anesthesia due to the heart murmur, we would have to go back to the children's heart hospital for an ok from them if the dentist needs/would like to use it on my daughter.

In the end there are varying degrees of a heart murmur, and sometimes the heart just skips a beat here and there at the time doctors check and it is nothing. Maybe at the next well check up visit ask if they hear anything, it is always best to check for a heart murmur when well.

Heart murmurs can get scary fast, most conditions are not that bad so I honestly would not do too much research on it because you will just scare yourself and probable over nothing serious. Trust me the book that the doctors gave me they told me NOT to read after page 15 because my daughter was not that serious and I would only scare myself (well 2 years ago I did look, and I am so glad I did not look beyond what they suggested because it got scary quickly and when I first had found out my daughter's heart murmur I would have worried myself for no reason). Before doing a whole lot of research maybe get a second opinion, or wait for the next well check up visit when your child is healthy.

My dad had a heart murmur his whole life. It just now started giving him problems at age 70. He now has a pacemaker. Before that he was healthy as a horse. Would run 10 miles a day everyday.

If your still worried, get a second opinion. Best of luck!!!

I've had a heart murmur all my life and I'm 42. I haven't had any problems, but as a precaution since heart disease runs rampant in my family, I get an echocardiogram every 3 years. I started having echos done at the age of 30. I would check with a cardiologist if you are concerned. I'd rather be safe than sorry:)

M.

My daughter has a heart murmor. Her doctor heard first when she was around 1 and she's about to be 4 and still has it. Her ped. refered us to a ped. cardiologist, just took make sure it was innocent. Cardiologist told us it was fine and then discribed what the murmor is: One or more heart valves hasn't grown at the same rate as the rest of the heart around it, that allows blood to leak, which give the murmor sound. He said the murmors almost always go away by teenage years, since the body stops growing so fast by then, and everything has time to catch up.
I would ask your ped for a referal to a cardiologist, just to be sure, but it is probably just a growth issue.

H.,
It probably is nothing to worry about. But do monitor it. As someone else mentioned, he should take an antibiotic before having his teeth cleaned.
I had an undiagnosed hole in my heart that caused a stroke. But that is very rare. I am not saying that to scare you, just to let you know it is important to monitor it. Cardiac care has advanced so much and there is so much that can be done to fix any problems. Even the major surgery I had to repair my heart is considered routine.

Two out of my three kids had heart murmurs that closed up before they turned 5.
So your doc is right 'not to worry about it'!

:)

I took my kids to a new doctor (the office was new for us) and both doctors said both of my kids (one dr said one kid and the other said the other kid) had heart murmurs. I thought that was so strange since my son was almost 2 and my daughter was almost 4 and no one ever said anything before.

A few months later, my son was scheduled to have eye surgery and of course I mentioned that I was told he might have a heart murmur. The anisthesiologist said he is the one that usually catches the murmurs because he listens to children's hearts when they haven't had anything to eat or drink, therefore allowing him to hear the faintest murmurs. He didn't hear anything in my son. We changed dr offices (not because of that, but because we didn't like the main dr) and the new dr never heard a murmur in either of my kids.

So, if it really worries you then get a second opinion. I was freaked out, but now I feel better.

I really recommend you take this question to your doctor. You are getting all kinds of information that is either incorrect, or might not apply to you. I'm not trying to be mean to anyone. People are very well-meaning and trying to help, but I don't want you to get scared by false information. Congestive heart failure has NOTHING to do with nasal/head congestion or murmurs, so you shouldn't have anything to worry about there.

If the doctor said not to worry, I wouldn't worry. My son has had a heart murmur since birth. You can have your doctor refer you for an EKG. We did this when my son was just under a year. It turns out that it's an innocent murmur and nothing to worry about. He can still play sports and do whatever he wants. When he congested it makes it sound worse. Good luck and try to stay calm.