Im soooo scare. heart murmur

amother

Tan

Thu, Oct 06 2016, 12:40 pm

My son has a heart murmur. He heard it by well visit last year too. Now cuz its still there hes sending me to a cardiologist. Can he have a heart problem that wasnt diagnosed till now?? I used a top ob/gyn with fancy sonos. Could they have missed something. His age: almost 3. Im petrified.

amother

Lilac

Thu, Oct 06 2016, 12:49 pm

My son has a heart murmur (diagnosed at a few months old) but it's a blood flow issue or something and basically is totally harmless. He's a little over 2 now and you would never even know bh!

amother

Ruby

Thu, Oct 06 2016, 12:53 pm

I have a heart murmur and my son has one too. He was actually born with two but one went away on its own and the other got smaller with time. If your child is growing and breathing normally, I wouldn't be concerned. Most of the time murmurs are harmless and just need to be monitored periodically. Some ppl take antibiotics when they go to the dentist or go through labor and delivery.

FranticFrummie

Thu, Oct 06 2016, 12:54 pm

My sister and I have this, it's called Mitral Valve Prolapse. It can vary in degree from "keep an eye on it once a year" to "open heart surgery", or anything in between.

I'm 51, and my sister is 48, and both of us are fine. The only thing is that we get out of breath faster if we have to do cardio exercise or run up a bunch of stairs. Other than that, I forget all about it. I prefer doing low impact strength training and yoga, anyway.

I went to a new doctor this year, and he says to me "You know you have a heart murmur, right?" I said "yes", and he said "Oh. Ok. Just so you know."

amother

Tan

Thu, Oct 06 2016, 12:59 pm

amother wrote:

Hes 13% of his height and 64% of his weight

amother

Sapphire

Thu, Oct 06 2016, 1:19 pm

FranticFrummie wrote:

There can be many causes of a heart murmur other than MVP. There could be a small hole between the ventricles or atria (VSD or ASD). Or there could be no structural problem with the heart at all and the patient just has a "noisier" chest.

Sometimes anemia or infection can cause a temporary heart murmur.

The vast majority of heart murmurs in children turn out to be innocent. I would not panic.

amother

Tan

Thu, Oct 06 2016, 1:27 pm

amother wrote:

Wouldnt a hole be seen in a sono? Especially a fancy 3d one?

amother

Sapphire

Thu, Oct 06 2016, 1:34 pm

amother wrote:

Wouldnt a hole be seen in a sono? Especially a fancy 3d one?

If it's very small it may not be detected on a sono.

Anyway nobody is saying that there definitely is a hole, just that's one of many possibilities. The most likely possibility is that there is nothing wrong at all.

eschaya

Thu, Oct 06 2016, 4:36 pm

There are many causes of murmurs, and especially in children, the cause is often benign. Dd has a pronounced murmur, she had an echo at age 7 and again at 11. The murmur is there but there are no overt structural abnormalities, and she is completely healthy otherwise.
It's good to get the echo just to rule out a problem that needs intervention, but in all likelihood it will be benign and there is no need to panic. Now, if your son gets very short of breath, or gets blue discoloration around his mouth, or has some other symptoms, then there is cause for concern.

amother

Aquamarine

Thu, Oct 06 2016, 5:57 pm

I know it's scary, but many children have murmurs and it's nothing or something minor that doesn't affect anything. Keep in mind that if there was a serious problem, it would have been obvious other ways.

I have a murmur too, as does my father (for totally different reasons), and both of us are totally fine. I have to see the cardiologist every few years to check in and make sure I get some exercise, and that's it. My father doesn't have to do either of those things.

Good luck

Thu, Oct 06 2016, 6:14 pm

My son has a heart murmur every time he gets a strept throat. Other than this, he doesn't have any symptoms, no fever, crankiness or pain. It's veery tricky to know whether or not he's really fine. Once he takes antibiotics, the murmur goes away. The docs aren't worried, so I'm not worried either.

amother

White

Wed, Oct 26 2016, 5:17 pm

All my kids have been sent to cardiologists as babies/ toddlers. B"H cardiologists cleared everyone. If doctor hears anything suspect they have to refer to specialist. It's the responsible thing to do to protect child and their medical license. It doesn't mean something horrible is wrong. I know it's scary - each time I thought I'd have a cardiac episode of my own - but try to stay calm and just get into cardiologist ASAP so you can have the anxiety over with.

Ack! Just noticed this is old an follow up by OP. Glad you got pretty good news. B"H.

MitzadSheini

Wed, Oct 26 2016, 5:26 pm

Another vote for it's probably nothing. Had it with a baby , was scared, same as you, then found out my aunt has had it all her life with no affect whatsoever. She's now in her late 70s.