Heart murmur

Think ahead

by Janenotarzan - 2017-08-27 08:44:25

My father had a heart attack at 49 yrs old. He had high cholesterol and triglycerides, were just being recognized, charted, and treated in the early 1980s.  He had a quadruple bipass and valve replacement in the '90s then was given a pacemaker. It was replaced with an ICD when he developed Vfib. After that placement, hr was recorded as having a murmur again, which ceased, or was undetected weeks later. FINAL diagnosis was that inflamation of tissue after the ICD placement caused the valve tissue to meet in a less than optimal way, causing regurgitation and corresponding sounds, which were interpreted properly as a murmur.  SO: LONG story short: allow heart tissue to heal and swelling to go down, then see if every valve and it's flap seal up right to prevent murmur sounds. Cheers!  Hugs!

talk to your cardio/ep

by Tracey_E - 2017-08-27 09:26:18

Don't jump to any conclusions until you follow up with your own doctor. Do you know if you are paced? If yes, discard most of what any ER tells you about your EKG. Paced EKG's are hard to read and anyone outside of your cardiologist's office is likely to misread. Two thoughts on the murmur. One, leads go through a valve, that sounds like a murmur but it's normal for us. Second, most of the population has murmurs at one time or another, but they aren't monitored like we are so they never know about it. My heart condition was first found in 1970, I've had 3 or 4 murmurs at different times over the years. I have none now. Each was found incidentally through regular monitoring for my congenital heart condition so I never would have known about them otherwise. Last thought, say it is a murmur, most of them don't need treated, just watched. However, odds are pretty high that if you had one obvious enough to be heard with a stethoscope, your cardiologist would not have missed it. 

Heart murmur

by Ladyh - 2017-08-27 11:21:12

Thanks so much Janenotarzan and TraceyE,  i really appreciated your comments.

I am totally new to this heart issues and getting myself worried over every single thing, I am glad i found and joined this group.

 i will give my heart time to heal and my body to adjust to the device as adviced by janenotarzan.

You are right Tracy, i shouldn't have jump in conclusions but the doctors scared me telling me that my EKG were are different q waves.

She then listened to my chest with stethoscope, and said to me you might have got a leaking valve, we will keep you connected to a monitor and the refer for echo next week.

Hopefully, will have the chance to meet my cardiologist next week as i have been admmited to coronary care unit now awaiting echo, then i will be able to ask if i am paced and if yes how much i am depending on the pacemaker.

I will keep you posted, thanks once again.

Helen

A heart murmur

by TAC - 2017-08-27 12:18:21

A heart murmur is very common and does not always indicate something serious. A small valve leak can produce it and that is not a big deal. Don't let your heart problem become an obsession. A positive attitude will accelerate your healing. What you have been through is not unique. Tension, worry, fear and anxiety can make you physically sick with arrhythmia, aches and pains, insomnia, high blood pressure, etc. Try to take it easy and let your doctor do the worry about your heart, not you.

Look at your house...

by donr - 2017-08-27 12:20:20

...for an anology to your current situation.

Your house has a plumbing system that moves good water in & bad water out.

Your house has an electrical system that keeps your lights burning & controls & runs the systems that move the water.

Those two systems do not conect w/ one another.  You call a plumber to fix the water systems & an electrician to fix the electrical systems.  Generally speaking, they know NOTHING about one another's work or technical capabilities.

Your heart is pretty much the same way.  It has plumbing w/ electrical controls.  All that Tracey said is correct.  The average bear Cardio is at a loss to go much further than looking at an ECG & opining that you have you have somethng electrical going on.  After all, the data shown on an ECG is all ELECTRICAL.  Yes, it will show results of a heart attack - scarring of the muscle can & will affect electrical conduction.  Yes, it will show effects of left & right ventricle inequality & uncoordinated contractions that affect blood flow. 

A stethoscope will tell the ear that there is a murmur; that the heart is beating arrthmatically - like w/ premature ventricular contractions; too fast; too slow; all sorts of other electrically caused problems.

You have entered "Never Land" where it takes the right kind of Cardio to sort things out.  A pure ICD, one that ONLY does defibrillation, cannot help you out here.  You did not say if yours has pacing capability in addition to the defib capability.  A pure PM cannot defib your heart.  Even worse, there are some electrical arrthymia types that a PM cannot fix - anything that goes "too fast."  You said that they saw Bradycardia in the ER - does that mean tht your device is not pacing?  

You are now stuck between a rock & a very hard place.  The  vast majority of the ER's in the WORLD have ZERO capability to deal in the slightest w/ PM/ICD's.  You are already in the care of an EP (Electrophysiologist), a specialist in th electrical systems of the heart - you need him/her RIGHT NOW to sort this problem out.  You are new to this rarified world, so you have yet to learn what YOU need to do to get proper cardiac care for your situation. 

Unless the cardio treating you in the ER sees the lump/scar for your device (or, you have told them you have a device), or the ECG shows pacing spikes, they cannot see, hear or feel the existence of a device in your body.

I've rambled a bit - but the bottom line here is that you have to be selective in where you go for cardiac help now.  Unless you have a clearly obvious plumbing problem (Read the symptoms of a heat attack) you need the services of your (or another) EP.  You will learn as time goes by what your special needs are. Too bad you had to have such a dramatic lesson so soon.

Donr

Heart murmur

by Ladyh - 2017-08-27 13:10:17

Thanks so much Tac and Donr,

I am new to this all and i have alot to learn. My icd has the pacing and defibrillation functions.i know it set at 40 and 200, and the bradycardia on the ecg was 54.

I did have a normal angiogram last mont before the icd implant.

I wil try as mush as possible to stay positive and selective of where i get cardiac help.i went to A&E due to severe pain in my chest and upper back that was not relieve with pain killer. The doctor keep asking the nurses to do different ecgs because of my history.

You have said it all guys, i need to learn alot and please,do not hesitate to help me with more informations i need to know or ask the cardiologist and electrophysiologist next week.

Kind regards,

Helen.

Heart murmur

by Ladyh - 2017-08-29 05:58:02

In addition to my post, i have been seen by one of the cardiologist in cardiac ward. They have reduced my medications and ruled out new cardiac event.

They said the heart murmur is common after implant because of the leads that is been passed through the valves.

Regarding my chest and back pain, they have request a ct scan to rule out any clot in the lungs, and a follow up appointment to review my medications.

Thanks to everyone for your comments, support and advice.

Kind regards

Helen.