lets engage in idle speculation regarding my heart murmur

[Doc]

My mom has a heart murmur.

She had a bunch of tests at the hospital and a stress test followed by a few days wearing an electronic heart monitor and the doctors ultimately just advised her to avoid stress.

[testcase]

The doctor is telling you that he takes two expensive vacations each year. 8-)

[raz]

my valve click degenerated into a murmur a few years back

I now see my cardiologist twice a year, and she keeps a close eye on my blood chemistry and pressure. The object here is "yes, the valve will probably fail, but the longer it takes, the more advanced (and simple) the surgical correction will be".

When you get out of denial (it took me about 6 months), find a good cardiologist, and get the tests done.

[dmann]

I have a clicky valve and had an echo in October. All is fine, but a long family history of cardiac disease means my Dr. will be keeping a very close eye on me from now on. (FWIW, I'm a 41 year old female.)

DM

[blooz]

i have a nephew only three years younger than me who was diagnosed years ago with a heart murmur (it kept him out of the Vietnam war). He's still kicking.
I guess it's not very severe.

Take your tests, mattkime, find out what the doc recommends, then go about your life. There's so much worse that could be wrong.

I'm sorry to hear about your problem AlphaDog. It sucks, but you have the right attitude. I'm convinced that people with a good attitude about their problems add time to their lives that they wouldn't have if they obsessed about the problems.

i have atrial fibrillation, take pills, wear a mouthpiece sleeping (most of the time) I try to live in a healthy manner, but I won't obsess either. When i was working, i was making a hundred mile round trip on freeways every day. I figured that was more dangerous to my health than anything that might be wrong with my heart.

[mrlynn]

Some years ago my brother had a full-body scan as part of some insurance extra he qualified for. They found that he had an abnormal (bicuspid) atrial valve. The doctor told him, "If you ever have a persistent fever, get your butt in here." Two years ago he had a bout of strep throat, which didn't seem to clear up with antibiotics. Finally he went to see the cardiologist, who took a look and quickly admitted him for open-heart surgery. The valve had bacterial plaques on it, just waiting to break loose and head for his brain.

Fortunately, it was caught in time. He now has a bovine valve, which should be good for a couple of decades.

So you never know. Best to get that murmur checked out. Likely as not it is perfectly benign, but there's the slight chance it could be a symptom of a landmine, just waiting for you to step on it.

A century ago, nothing could have been done for such problems. Now we have amazing technology and skills that enable us to carry on long after our 'time'. Progress is a wonderful thing, and America is still in the forefront; on this Independence Day, lets resolve to keep it that way.


/Mr Lynn

[AllGold]

I have a congenital heart murmur. We knew about it from the start. When I was in my early-mid 20s and working at a university, I went to the university's family practice clinic, which among other things is a training ground for new doctors. My doctor heard it, and recommended I have an echocardiogram to check for issues like mrlynn described, basically backflow that might concentrate an infection around the valve. IIRC, if the EC didn't check out, I would need to be careful if I got any infection. But after the EC, they told me not to worry.

I figured that would be the outcome since the murmur was long-known but after the EC we were sure.