Let’s talk about heart murmurs.
Have you ever been told by your doctor that you have a heart murmur?
If so, don’t panic.
You see, a heart murmur is not a diagnosis by itself. It’s simply an extra sound that a healthcare provider hears when listening to your heart with a stethoscope.
Normally, the heart makes two sounds. Sometimes we say lub-dub.
A murmur is an additional sound or sounds caused by blood flowing through the heart and particularly flowing across one of the four heart valves.
The important question is, why is the murmur there?
Well, many heart murmurs are completely innocent. In fact, children, young adults, pregnant women, and even healthy older adults may have what we call a benign or innocent murmur. These murmurs are not dangerous and do not require treatment.
However, some murmurs may be a sign of an underlying heart condition. The most common cause is a problem with one of the heart valves.
A heart valve may become narrowed, which we call stenosis, the most common is aortic stenosis, or it may leak, which we call regurgitation.
One of the more common ones is mitral regurgitation from mitral valve prolapse.
Both conditions can create turbulent flow that produces the sound, which we call murmur.
If your doctor hears a murmur, the next step is often to get what we call an echocardiogram, which is a painless ultrasound of the heart.
This test allows us to see the valves, it evaluates the blood flow, and it will determine whether the murmur is innocent or related to a heart problem.
The good news is that many murmurs are indeed harmless, and even when a murmur is caused by a valve problem, modern treatments are honestly better than ever.
Depending on the condition, treatment may range from simple monitoring to medications to minimally invasive procedures or, yes, sometimes heart surgery.
So if you’ve been told that you have a heart murmur, don’t immediately assume the worst.
Think of it as a clue, not a diagnosis.
The murmur tells us to take a closer look at your heart, likely with an echocardiogram, and make sure everything is working as it should.
I’m Dr. Raymond Singer.
I hope this was helpful, and I’ll see you next time.
Interested in my book? You can buy it on Amazon!
(𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘷𝘪𝘦𝘸𝘴 𝘦𝘹𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘦𝘥 𝘪𝘯 𝘮𝘺 𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘵𝘴 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘮𝘺 𝘰𝘸𝘯 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘥𝘰 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘳𝘦𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘷𝘪𝘦𝘸𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘮𝘺 𝘦𝘮𝘱𝘭𝘰𝘺𝘦𝘳 𝘰𝘳 𝘢𝘯𝘺 𝘰𝘳𝘨𝘢𝘯𝘪𝘻𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯.)
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Featured
Pages
- Learn about heart valves. Heart Valves
- Read testimonials. Testimonials
- Did you know I have a consulting firm? Singer Heart/Lung Consulting
- Check out my TedTalk! Defining Success
Links
- Links page with more information about your heart. Links
- Dr. Adam Pick's Site: heart-valve-surgery.com
