what type of murmur do I have?when i was a child a doctor picked up that me and my identical twin both have?

Question

heart murmurs. we had tests done & various out-patient appointments in B'ham Children's hospital & were told we'd probably grow out of them & they were nothing serious but we might find ourselves with a bit less energy than others. we were also told to have antibiotics before tooth extractions.
Yrs later I went to give blood & was told I couldn't do it with a heart murmur. I went back to my GP to check what type it was to make certain I really couldn't donate and he said it was an innocent 'flow' murmur after listening to my chest. I have given blood quite a few times since and had a tooth out with no problems and no antibiotics. the thing is, people pick up this murmur quite quickly when listening to my chest (midwives etc) without me alerting them to it and i'm confused as to what I should be doing with donating blood and tooth abstractions etc. did this GP mis-read my murmur? It feels like my heart skips a beat when I have done lots of exercise - is this a normal symptom? help!!

Answer 1

Many children have innocent outflow murmurs as children - growing out of them as adults. It simply has to do with the way that blood flows out of your left ventricle. With children, it rarely indicates a valve problem.

In your case since you were advised to use antibiotics for dental procedures - there was more to it. I suspect that the murmur you had as a child had to do with either a patent ductus arteriosis (aka PDA) or an atrial septal defect (ASD). Both are forms of birth defects where there are (usually) small holes in your heart.

An echocardiogram (ultrasound) with a bubble study would be helpful in evaluating this matter. Is it important? Yes, after all you were advised to use antibiotics as a child. If those conditions exist you could also be at risk for a thromboembolic stroke. In short, you should know. If the echo study comes back negative then you can rest easily.

Out flow murmurs are heard in adults too and do not require special measures - like antibiotics.

A word of caution - just because you have had dental procedures without having an event - endocarditis - does not mean you are not at risk for it. If bacteria adhere to your heart valves, the valve can be ruined, requiring surgical replacement. So it is worth your while to take the antibiotics to avoid that problem if you need to.

It is impossible to know if your papitations have anything to do with the murmur without knowing more about the murmur. The echo will help get the evaluation started leading to more clarity on the whole matter. I would request a referral to a cardiologist for further evaluation.

I hope this helps. Good luck.

Answer 2

Don't worry! Many people have innocent heart murmurs that need no attention. Pregnant women can even get them ;-)

The reason you need to take antibiotics before dental work because occasionally, dental work can cause bacteria to get into the blood stream and cause something called endocarditis, which is very dangerous, especially if you already have a heart murmur.

I don't know if the GP explained to you properly, but a murmur is the sound blood makes when the heart contracts and the valve doesn't close quite enough, causing the blood to make a swish sound as it squeezes through the valve. Exercise will obviously make this slightly worse, as the heart beats faster and there will be higher pressure to push more blood through the valve. But I get palpitations in my heart too after exercise and palpitations are a side effect of some heart murmurs.

How old are you? Many children have heart murmurs that correct themselves when they get into their teens.

Answer 3

a series of heart test sould be done to rule out any heart problems like stress test & electrocardiogram test. if these results are fine , then you're fine.

Answer 4

Mmmm me too. Dont know what type it is i just got told its differant but perhaps ok for me. They always seem to be a bit vague on these things!!