Heart Murmurs ....... - Orlando,FL

Good afternoon,

My b/g twins were diagnosed at birth. They are routinly checked by the pediatrician. When they were 2 1/2 they were checked out by a pediatric cardiologist. I was told that it is quite a common occurance. They did an echo-sonogram of their hearts (which was actaully quite cool to watch) and I was told it was the non-harmful kind, and that in time it should clear up on it's own.. So I would not worry tooooo much. My twins are now 5 & they have never had any side effect. My pediatrician has never felt the need to send us to another specialist.

Good luck with your appointment.

My (now 10 yrs old) son has one. We were told when he was an infant. If I remember correctly there are some murmurs that may require some treatment or concern. Others, like my sons and many other posters on here, are just an extra sound. Really, nothing at all. In fact- I am a terrible mommy and can't believe I am even writing this "out loud" but, I FORGOT he had it!!! We had gone to the same doc since his birth and when she retired and we had to switch and he had to go in for some sort of school check or vaccine or something the new doc says.. "did you know he has a murmur?" and I was like... WHAT?! Then I remembered, and was like, Oh yeah. They told us that. It is nothing. He has no issues with ANYTHING.
So ask your doctor. They can tell you what the situation is with your sons. Maybe they already did, but you heard "they have murmurs" and didn't hear anything after... that sort of thing can happen when you hear something scary. So call your doc and ask.
Congrats on #4 on the way!
Check out this link for more info:
http://kidshealth.org/kid/health_problems/heart/heart_mur...

Hi, G.. Well, the way you deal with your sons' heart murmurs depends on the type of the murmur. Some of them, like the one I have, are no big deal. In fact, I never knew that I even had one until I was 48 years old! I have gone my entire life without it bothering me at all.

Some heart murmurs are serious, however. Only a specialist will be able to tell you about your sons' murmurs. They might not share the same kind. Until then, don't worry about it, but DO go to a specialist because not knowing is much worse than having the facts.

Peace,
Syl

I agree with Sylvia. I just found out that I have a heart murmur too. :) I hope all is well with your boys. :)

G.,

I am now 40 y/o and have a heart murmur...there is nothing to it when they are birth defects. I understand that you are scared because when they told me that my daughters now 7 and 3 had it, I panic! But it can be hereditary and is a benign condition. Just do the follow up hear what the dr has to say...but if it is from birth like the one in my family there is nothing to worry. I hope this helps.

Hey G.,

There is the potential that it is not serious. My husband's wasn't diagnosed until he was an adult and the only reason we even found out is because I had my head on his chest and told him his heart beat was weird. He had it checked and was told that chances were it had probably been that way for a long time if not his entire life. We were both on active duty in the Navy he was a hospital corpsman assigned to the Marines, which meant he was out humping with a 20lb pack on his back many days with this condition and he has had no problems.

But you are being pro-active and doing the right thing in getting it checked out certainly for the safety of your kids and your peace of mind.

I was told that my oldest son who is now 11 had a heart murmur when he was 2. We went to a pediatric cardiologist and found out that it was an innocent murmur and it would probably resolve it self. 9 years later he is playing competitive soccer and has had no problems, in fact no doctor has mentioned it to me since so I do believe it resolved it self. You just need to find out what the cardiologist says. I just let mine go about his daily business like nothing was wrong.

Hi! My son who is 2 1/2 was diagnosed with hear murmurs when he was born. He was born with 2 holes in his heart which is basically what a heart murmur is. It hasn't effected him one bit. One has actually closed up and the other is on it's way to closing. We just have to be careful giving him meds, anything that speeds up the heart rate isn't good for him because it can actually open up the hole that trying to close. But for a while we had to give him albuterol and it didn't do any damage to his heart at all. All in all they'll be fine. I know there are several different types of heart murmurs so really ask a lot of questions when you go the doctor. I went to an awesome pediatric cadiologist in Jacksonville and I loved him. He really explained everything and answered all my questions. You will have to tell your other doctors about this condition and be careful when you take them to the doctor or if they are having surgery because they may need a shot of antibiotics before hand. Hope this helped! I know that with my son, you would never know he had a heart murmur.

G.,
I don't have a child with a heart murmur but I have one. I wasn't diagnosed with one until I was 20. I don't know if they sometimes just go away or not but I do know that when I see a NEW doctor and tell them, they sometimes have a very hard time hearing it - some don't pick up on it at all. Anyway, it has not slowed me down one little bit. I used to play multiple sports in high school, I play community league softball every year, I teach a kickboxing class twice a week and I even officiate high school football games (yep, I get on the field with the guys). So, don't worry overmuch about your sons having a heart murmur. Now I know that each case can be different and I'm sure there are differing degrees of severity but I just wanted to hopefully ease your worry, just a little bit. Keep thinking positively, and hopefully your sons will grow up to be healthy, active adults who aren't affected one little bit by this.
Oh, one last bit of info - your dentist will also need to be informed as they will want your sons to take an antibiotic before coming in for any dental work, just as a precaution. Good Luck with everything and let us all know how it turns out.
G.

My youngest daughter was diagnosed with heart murmur many years ago, she is 29 now. When she has a spell she immediately takes an aspirin and that helps her. You do need to see a doctor for this. Perhaps they will put them on medication or at least give you better advice than I can. Praying for you and your twins. C.

Hi, G.,

When my son had his 12 month check up, he was diagnosed with a murmer. It scared the living daylights out of me. I made an appointment with a specialist, and like you, did a lot of research. The cardiologist checked him over and determined his murmer was "innocent" or nothing to worry about. He is being watched, physicals every six months until he is five instead of every 12 months, but so far, so good. He turns four next month. They told us it would heal on it's own and his pediatrician told us at his last check up he heard nothing. There is no point in telling it a mom not to worry. That's your job. But your boys will be okay. Even if they're murmers turn out to be something more serious, there is a tremendous amount of research they have done, and people who have murmers as children go on to live normal completely normal lives as adults with little adjustment. Good luck to all of you guys!

I was diagnosed at age 8 with a Heart Murmur due to a bout beginning at age 4 and ending at age 6 of Rhuematic Fever. I am now 55 years young. The only problem that I have had due to my condition is when at age 8 I was in surgery for Tonsillitis and had not yet been diagnosed! When I don't tell the Docs I have a Murmur they find it, when I DO tell them they barely can find it! I have ALWAYS been very athletic and strong, sooooo I haven't had any true problems. When I have surgical procedures I must take Vitamin K prior to, including Dental procedures. I hope your twins are as lucky as I have been, I think the problems occur when the Murmur is severe.

Best!

A.

Hi
I just wanted to say that in my experience with my son, when he was born they heard a heart murmur. We went to the pediatric cardioligist and had an EKG and other tests, not fun with a newborn! They said it was faint and they rechecked him at a year old and still hear it but say it doesn't seem to be a problem he's healthy etc.. Also my neighbor is 26 and she's had one her whole life and no problems. Just to let you know it could be no big issue. Good Luck

Both of my children have heart murmurs. My oldest is 7 and the youngest 5. They were diagnosed in 2006. I have been using an excellent pediatric cardiologist, Dr. Aguirre, and I can honestly say that there have been no problems (other than the neurotic mother). They are both outgrowing the problem and have never needed medication for it. The only thing they need to do is to take antibiotics before any surgical procedure or before having a cavity filled.

my son was born with one but it closed up on its own, get it checked out just in case

I found out recently also(within the last 6 months or so) that my almost 5 year old daughter has a heart murmur too. It was detected at a routine doctors visit. My doctor did not seem to worried about it and said it was normal in kids(eventhough it is normally found when they are infants). He sent us to the hospital to get an Echo(practically an ultrasound of the heart) and an EKG. When the results came back, the cardiologist that read the results requested to see my daughter for another exam at her office. They did all the same stuff there but looked into the more "troubling" spots. She has a "leaky" valve, where the valve just does not close all the way, resulting in the murmur. Also one side of her heart is also larger than the other(which normally is a result of an infection during pregnancy--which I didn't have anything so they have no clue how my daughters got that way).

They were not too worried about it(unless of course it gets bigger) and we go back every 6 months for a recheck and if she has to have dental work or surgery, they have to give her some antibiotics before hand. From what they were saying, heart murmurs are very common, and a person can life a full life with the murmur never bothering them.

Defiantly go talk to the specialist and have them checked out, because only the doctors can tell you what exactly is wrong with the heart and if it is going to be an issue!

My little cousin had one and she had her surgery about a year ago. Nothing to it and now she has more energy and very little scaring. I am not going to tell you not to worry because as a mom you are going to, but from what the Dr,s told us this is very common and the surgery is 98.9% fool proof. They should be fine... Just don't leave them in the dark, that was the hardest thing ... Telling Taylor she had to have surgery. But at 4 yrs old she can tell you anything you want to know about hat as wrong with her and how they fixed it. lol

I am curious what the doctors said to you? But without knowing, i will share my experience. I, myself, have a heart murmur. I have had it for a while but I when they told me I had to see a specialist, I did. They did an ultrasound, very simple, & said it is just a heart murmer, but nothing to be worried about. They said in time it will need to be checked again, but a lot of people have heart murmers & it doesn't mean a whole lot of anything. Both of my kids have them also, but have never been told to get them checked, so it must be how loud they can hear it of something. Because I was 20 before they told me to have mine checked & it has been 11 years now & the last time i went to the doctor, she said soon, I will need to get checked again. Good luck!

I myself, have a heart murmur. It is not a big deal at all!! There are different degrees of them though. They may need to be medicated (antibiotics) before having their teeth cleaned...the doc should let you know about that. I dont have to. It does NOT affect my life at all. I hope the same for your boys.

well i do not have any kids with a heart murmor but my brother that is 11 months younger than me was born with one. we went to a all children's hospital in ST.Louis Missouri when we were little so they could check him out i think we went only once a year maybe 2 times a year. he never had to have surgery with his. then we moved to florida and he was in 1st grade then so we still had to go to a all children's hospital here. eventually the heart murmor began to close up as he got older. and instead of one big murmor he had to small ones. he never had to have surgery on his and he was fine. just have to keep up on the check ups. hope it all works out.my thoughts and prayers go with you.
i know it must be scarey as a young mom and not to know. maybe someone else on here can enlighten. you a little more.

Hi G.,

I have a heart murmur (mitral valve prolapse) that I have known about since I was about 12. My mother has it and her mother had it, and it hasn't affected either of them as far as I can tell. I beleive that the specialist will just do an echocardiogram to make sure that there isn't some kind of major defect, and simply to check that it is indeed only MVP. Mitral valve prolapse (MVP) is the chief cause of a heart murmur and simply means that when the mitral valve pumps blood out of the heart, a teeny bit of it flows back into the heart. The noise made by this is often detectable and therefore it is commonly referred to as a heart murmur.

I have never even noticed anything, and the only reason I was even aware of it is because my grandmother was diagnosed prior to a mastectomy. Since MVP is genetic, my mother and I were both tested. I lettered in 4 sports in high school, and I still run about 40 miles a week, so it has certainly never physically affected me. I used to have to take antibiotics when I went to the dentist, but even that isn't recommended anymore. So, short of having major surgery, you never notice it. When you have surgery (or when I delivered my kids) you have to have an antibiotic drip because there's some kind of risk of infection that people with MVP have that others do not. NO BIG DEAL... you're right! Good luck holding them still for the echocardiogram, but you can tell them all about your pregnancy ultrasound when they do it (which they'll think is cool, I'm sure!).

Hi G.,

I know it's a scary thing when you hear that. When I first heard that my son had one at 12 months I went home and cried because I was scared.... After going to the cardiologist and them doing a EKG and echo they assured me that it was "innocent" heart murmur and that I had nothing to worry about... I NEVER have to bring him back again... LOTSSSSSS of children have heart murmurs and they grow out of them....
I know it's scary ( I was there) but I'm sure they have innocent murmurs also.

My son is 3 and when he was an infant I was told that he has a murmur. We took him to the cardiologist and they said everything is fine. The cardiologist and pediatrician said that everyone has a "murmur" sometimes the blood sloshes around in the heart. They listened to my heart and told me that I had a slight murmur as well. So nothing came out of my experience. I hope yours ends up being like mine. Good Luck.

don't have any personal experience, but i know that, as a baby, my husband was diagnosed with a murmur as well and he's now 30 and just fine :)