Heart Murmur
Symptoms
Heart
murmur symptoms are usually heard by a doctor rather than causing
physical discomfort to you. However, in some cases, a murmur
accompanies heart disease which can have symptoms of its own.
A murmur
is classified as a whooshing sound that is created by turbulent blood
flow through or near the heart or heart valves. When a doctor places a
stethoscope over your heart, he can hear it beating rhythmically. When
you have a heart murmur, there is an extra sound in your heart beat
because your valve doesn’t close all the way or because blood is
forcing its way though a stiffened valve.
A cardiologist who is
experienced in detecting heart murmurs can tell quite a bit about the
cause of the murmur by noting when it occurs and how it sounds. He may
have you hold your breath to try and
manipulate the sound. A murmur is graded in severity according to how
loud it is. Heart murmur symptoms can be heard in adults
as well as children of all ages. Some children are born with a murmur.
Sometimes they indicate heart disease and other times they don't and
are simply called innocent murmurs. In those cases, the child may
outgrow it.
Causes
Murmurs can be caused by a number of heart
conditions like: aortic regurgitation, mitral regurgitation, mitral
stenosis, pulmonary stenosis, atrial septal defect, coarctataion of the
aorta, and ventricular septal defect. Physical symptoms that may occur
along with a heart murmur and indicate heart disease are: chest pain,
dizziness, fainting, distended neck veins, sweating, shortness of
breath, and blue tinged skin or lips. It is possible to
have a murmur and not know it. You may not experience any noticeable
symptoms at all. Your doctor may accidentally discover it during a
routine examination. When your doctor detects heart murmur symptoms he
will probably order an ECG, chest x-ray, and echocardiogram to get a
look at what is going on with your heart valves.
Treatment
Treatment
for heart murmur symptoms vary according to the cause. Many times,
children don't require treatment since they will grow out of it as
their bodies develop. It is estimated that over half of all children
develop a heart murmur at some point in their development. When heart
murmurs are caused by pathological reasons, surgery may be required in
order to correct it.
Heart murmurs are caused by heart
valve regurgitation, or when they don't close all the way and blood
leaks though, or stenosis, a stiffening of the valve. Minor cases will
probably be treated with a wait and watch approach taking into
consideration your overall health, age and other medical history.
Other mild cases may respond to diuretics or other heart medications.
In more advanced cases, surgery might be indicated in order to repair
or replace the valve.
Just because you or your child has
been diagnosed with a heart murmur, it does not necessarily mean heart
valve disease is involved or you will require heart surgery. There are
many causes of a heart murmur and even many of the ones caused by heart
disease do not require medical intervention unless your quality of life
is impacted.
Top
Return
from Heart Murmur Symptoms to Different Types of Heart Disease Disorders
Back
to How to Lower Blood Pressure Fast
