Heart Murmurs

[aembry]

I have been diagnosed with pvc's and pac's and also the doctor thinks I have a bit of anxiety in which I just started medicine for. I was referred to a cardiologist where he discovered that I had 2 heart murmurs. He is sending me for an echo. I was born with a murmur which the doctor told my parents was harmless and would cause no other problems! The cardiologist really scared me and now I"m worried that I may have a valve disease or something like that. I have no other symptoms other than the heart palpitations. He said it could be the anxiety or it is a dysfunctional valve problem. I'm scared to death something is going to be wrong and I"m gonna have to have surgery or something like that. Does anyone know much about heart murmurs on here??

[cindy707]

First off aembryyou need to calm yourself down and don't scare the heck out of yourself.  Heart mumurs in themselves are generally benign and not an issue.  It is estimated that over 40% of the entire population has them so relax.  Do not go there with the valve issue until it has been confirmed thru testing using an echocardiogram which is a no biggie and just like an x ray except done on the outside of the body w. a tech just running a wand type of instrument across your chest w. some gel. I have 5 sisters and 3 of them have heart murmurs and have for over 30 years and only get palps on random basis.   Anxiety definately causes palps to act up as does stress and a number of other things.  If the doc says that they are harmless they are...put this into perspective..the average human heart beats over 100,000 times in a 24 hour period...then compare that to the palps you are having..most people just have to learn to live with them but your doctor can advise you more on this.. the doc may just want to be ruling out a valve issue which would be a normal thing to do to confirm that it is just harmless palps .... again that is a normal every day thing to do for people.....relax...don't get yourself upset...you will only make it worse....many people on this site have some serious heart issues and i doubt seriously that you will be falling into that catagory.....try to distract yourself when they pop up and make sure that you stay away from caffeine and a huge no no is energy drink.  Good luck but i seriously would not worry until the doc tells you its time to and i would be surprised if your test came up back considering your age....valve issues usually pop up much later in life.....

[jennyfi1234]

Can you look at your records and tell us the name of the two things are? I believe the various things are mitral valve prolapse, stenosis of a valve and hole in your heart.
MVP is very very very common and usually a non issue. (if you have this ask what type--is is mild, moderate, or severe) if its mild, it is nothing to worry about.
I am  not sure about the others--I think stenosis is a type of stiffening of the valves which has to be watched or treated. I belive hole in the heart is usually repaired only if there are other issues, but I cant remember. My brother had that along with 2 other serious issues requiring him to have a pacemaker, and when he got that the hole closed on its own. Babies are often born with it and it will close on its own. The regurgitation is someting again I believe is dependent on the severeity. I have MVP, and two mild cases of regurtation and also a mildly thickened valve. I never needed treatment for any of them. I also have pvcs and that is the thing I HATE, and I have 1st degree heart block.