has anyone heard of athletes having a leaky heart?

Question

my brother is 18yrs ol and plays football and wrestles- he just had his physical and they found a heart murmur-the doctors then found he has a leaky heart valve. they said this is normal in athletes but something about ur heart leaking blood doesnt sound so normal to me?!! im really worried about it- anyone have any reassurance?

Answer 1

Well very often you find this condition in athletes.It is always something out of the blue.
This link will help you out:

http://www.mayoclinic.org/patientstories/tonymerriweather.html

Answer 2

I have never heard that it is more common in athletes - that sounds odd to me. A leaky heart valve isn't all that uncommon - also know as mitral valve regurgitaiton or aortic valve regurgitation, etc. It really depends on how severe it is whether or not it will be a problem. I am hoping he saw a cardiologist after the physical to assess how serious it is. I have what is called "trivial aortic valve regurgitation" - the cardiologist said that it is so minor that it will most likely not cause me any problems. The only thing I have to do is be more careful of bacterial infections which also means taking 1000 mg of penicillin before getting any dental procedures (including teeth cleaning).

Answer 3

I have heard of this often, but only a doc can tell you if it is serious or nothing to worry about.

I have worked with a lot of people that had that problem and apart from getting drunk and hualed to jail, they had what I would call a normal life........well sort of, one guy joined the air force and we all thought less of him after that.