Heart Murmur?

Question

My wife is 29 years old and the doctor said they heard a systolic murmur when they listened to her heart. She is getting an echocardiogram on Friday.

She was under extreme stress at the time they listened due to the other procedures taking place in this visit. She has never had any heart problems.

Could extreme stress cause a heart murmer?

Could it make an existing murmur more pronounced so that it gets detected?

How can I avoid worrying myself into the grave between today and Friday?

Answer 1

I can understand your concern! Heart murmurs occur when a valve is damaged or incompetent. Has your wife had a history of rheumatic fever as a child? Has she had strep throat that later resulted in a kidney infection?

Many things can cause heart murmurs and not all are severe enough to be treated. Some individual only require a course of antibiotics prior to undergoing any medical procedures (teeth cleaning, surgery, etc.), while others may require the use of life-long anti-thrombics (blood thinners) to prevent blood clots. Some, if severe enough, require surgery to replace the incompetent valve.

I've attached some links for your review. I hope everything works out well for your wife. Take a deep breath and educate yourself about her condition:

http://www.americanheart.org/presenter.jhtml?identifier=4571
http://www.healthline.com/search?q1=mitral+valve+prolapse+diagnosis&imuId=4987917

Answer 2

I think most people have a heart murmur? That is why they want the echocardiogram to rule out any problems.
Do not worry, what is the point? Look at it this way, the worse case scenario, she has a heart problem and they can help if not cure it. The best case scenario, it is just a blip due to stress of other tests, or life. Worrying about it is going to help how? If you worry, you might have a massive heart attack and die before Friday, never know she just had a blip!
Worrying never helped anyone, so why worry?

Answer 3

it is not uncommon for women to have some ectopic beats that may cause a systolic murmur, generally transient. But I'm sure the MD will order a slew of test holter monitor, echos......... Bad news is she may have valve problems that are causing the murmurs. such as some mitral regurge. the echo is a good start. we know stress can causes surge in catecholmines and hormone levels, those responses can cause the above said ectopy. No one will have the right answer for you to not make you worry, it is human nature, just be informed as nuch as possible, and wait for test results before going completely insane.