heart murmur

I am 52 yesrs old and just learned I have heart murmur.  Please give me some information about this.  Is strenuous exercise dangerous?
                   Thank you,
                       Kathryn Klenk
                       ***@****

[CCF-M.D.-RCJ]

Kathryn,

A heart murmur is simply an extra sound heard with each heart beat.  The significance of the sound depends on its cause.  Many murmurs are caused by variants of normal heart structure.  This type of murmur would not make exercise dangerous.  Some murmurs, however, indicate a valvular abnormality.  These types of murmurs require further investigation.  The good news is that an ultrasound of the heart (called an "echo", and similiar to the ultrasounds used to see babies in the uterus) can easily diagnose the source of almost all murmurs.

Talk to your doctor about exercise, and good luck.

[menda]

I am so grateful to find your site.  My doctor seldom takes the time to explain my problems.  I have not known about the heart murmur until recently and I had an uncle who died from what used to be called "leaking heart".  Is this my problem?
           Thank you so much
m                  ***@****

[Maria77]

Hi Kathryn.  I just recently found out that I had a heart murmur too, but that it was nothing to worry about.

Hopefully, the CCF-MD will notice your question, but I just wanted to say that I think a 'leaky heart' is something totally different.  Perhaps your uncle had a leaky valve, where the valve wasn't opening and closing properly and not working 100% efficiently, and therefore, leaked (aka regurgitation).

[karie]

I have had 2 seperate location heart murmurs from birth and have them reviewed yearly by my cardiologist. We located my earlier records after having symptoms at 27. After you have a cardiac work-up of tests , It will help understand yours in details. I located a site years ago which explained the sounds of heart murmurs that was helpful too. Do you have mitral valve prolapse ?