When it comes to heart function, anything that deviates from normal behavior is cause for concern, especially if you鈥檙e at risk of heart disease. One of the most common "abnormal" behaviors is a heart murmur. A heart murmur is a sound often characterized as a "whooshing" or rushing of fluid that can be heard between heartbeats. As frightening as this may sound, a heart murmur is, in many cases, completely normal.
What Is a Heart Murmur?
A heart murmur is typically heard during a clinical exam with a stethoscope. The sound is heard while your blood is flowing through your heart鈥檚 chambers. A murmur may mean that blood flow is either too high, is going the wrong direction, or is going through a narrowing, all of which can mean entirely different things.
Many heart murmurs usually aren鈥檛 life-threatening and can typically go away on their own.
Who Can Experience a Heart Murmur?
Anyone at any age can experience a heart murmur, but they are most common in 人妻中出视频ren and during pregnancy.
- Children: A heart murmur can simply mean that they have a strong, healthy heart that is moving blood around with great force in a small body. Teenagers can also have a heart murmur during a growth spurt.
- Pregnancy: About 90% of pregnant people experience a heart murmur. It鈥檚 usually a symptom of having a higher volume of blood flow during pregnancy.
You can also experience a heart murmur when:
- Fevering
- Exercising
- You鈥檙e Anemic
- You have Hyperthyroidism
Can Heart Murmurs Be Dangerous?
Most people don鈥檛 experience any symptoms of a heart murmur. However, some people experience an abnormal heart murmur, which may indicate an underlying heart disease or structural problems in your heart.
These symptoms may include:
- Shortness of breath
- Chest pain
- Fainting
- Dizziness
- Persistent cough
- Blue skin around the lips and fingertips
- Excessively sweating (even when not exercising)
Abnormal heart murmurs may be caused by infections, birth defects, or heart valve diseases.
What Is the Treatment for a Heart Murmur?
The type of heart murmur will determine your treatment. A cardiologist can identify different types of heart murmurs by sound alone. An echocardiogram, a non-invasive, pain-free method that takes an ultrasound of the heart, examines the underlying structure.
If the heart murmur reveals something wrong with a valve, it may require treatment, but most often it鈥檚 observed and monitored over time. If a murmur is caused by a valve problem or another structural abnormality, it can be repaired in several ways, but the most common option is surgery, such as valve replacement. There are also non-surgical options like a transcatheter aortic valve replacement.
When the murmur is related to heart disease, medications may be needed such as those that lower blood pressure and heart rate, manage fluid retention (diuretics), or function as blood thinners (anticoagulants).
7 Questions for a Cardiologist
On this episode of Seven Questions for a Specialist, cardiologist John Ryan, MD, answers what he thinks is the best鈥攁nd worst鈥攖hing you can do for your heart, why he chose to specialize in cardiology, and what advancements he's most excited about in the field of cardiology.
