New symptom or dr's missed it before?

[Mom2four85]

Back in June 2009 when my primary said he heard a murmur and valve "clicking"; scared me to death and told me all my valves were bad.  I dismissed asking anything else about murmurs, because it wasn't in his reports and the cardiologist/EP said it was nothing and my arrhythmia's were the more pressing problem.

I just got some records from June 2011 that show my IRBBB & low voltage QRS returned and my dr noted S1, S2 is heard with 2/6 systolic ejection murmur present, along with 3 Vtach episodes in June that my ICD picked up (icd problems are another whole subject).  

The dr switched me to Inderal LA to see if the time released worked better than short duration Inderal; it's worked great on both my headaches and arrhythmia's - there seems to be more of an even release of the med so I'm not getting some of the hard symptoms I was having before.

I also just found out I was positive for H.Pylori; IgG, IgA and IgM were all positive.  Who knows how long the it's been in my stomach since I've had GI problems forever it seems.

My C-Reactive Protein was doubled and my Rheumatologist found some things in my blood work that's all auto immune related, but I won't find out until August 2nd exactly what's wrong.

Aren't murmurs normally present with HoCM? maybe that's all this is and the dr at the hospital I saw in June is right?  I'm wondering why my low voltage QRS & IRBBB problems went away and now 5-6 months later they came back; I've had this since April 2007... could there be any reason for that?  

I go Thursday with the new cardiologist and for a new echo, so I'm going to ask him also and hope this yields some answers...plus I'm to a new EP to see about my ICD since the cardio says the EMI doesn't seem to be right with my case.

[Bromley]

Doctors did say they heard a murmur in me at various points.  Once it required a valsalva maneuver to bring it about.  One doctor also heard it when I was still young (and told us it was expected because of age). One doctor heard it when I was sick with pneumonia. In short, in my case, no real consistency rendered: sometime they heard one, sometime they did not.  However, after an echo (post ablation), no problems found.

[Mom2four85]

I'm just wondering if murmurs come and go or some doctors just failed to pick up on them? Are some doctors just more in tune and better at listening for them?  If anyone has info on where to find the current criteria for HCM please let me know; they changed it and I can't find the new list.

I've been reading on the HCM website since I found out my initial dx was HOCM; murmurs, IRBBB, low voltage qrs; malignant arrhythmia's and bad reactions to Nitro are common in HCM patients as well as so many other things I've had happen that doctors haven't been able to explain.

Since the first day I went in 2 years ago, I've been so frustrated with the doctor's I've seen because no one had any answers until recently.  Now I'm 99% positive I have answers I just need to get to the HCM specialist at cleveland clinic here and confirm it.

[Bromley]

Hi. I am really sorry to hear about your troubles. You referred to a "cardiologist/EP" that you saw in June 2009.  Just so we understand here, cardiology is a specialty within internal medicine. Is this person an electrical sub-specialist or more of a one stop shop?  Some of these folks are just sub-specialists. Maybe what they meant was that it was quite important that you receive an ICD and that the murmur itself was not an issue, not that the underlying cause of your heart issues was a non-issue.

I am not a doc, but it is my understanding that a murmur is just the swishing sound of blood running past the valve or the valve making some noise. It is more of a symptom than a diagnosis. You should understand that HCM is a serious matter that affects the function of the heart, including its valves, and that taking the beta blocker as instructed by your doctor is very important to help prevent further thickening of the wall. (If it also reduces symptoms that is a nice plus).

I hope that things get better for you, and I am glad to hear you say you are taking matters into your own hands by getting an additional set of eyes to look at this. Best of luck to you.