Heart Murmur: Listening for the Causes (Heart Health)

[b-man]

Heart Murmur: Listening for the Causes (Heart Health)

A heart murmur is an extra or unusual sound heard during your heartbeat. It is not a disease. Most heart murmurs are harmless, but some are a sign of a heart problem, especially if you show other signs or symptoms of a heart problem. Harmless murmurs are heard when blood moves noisily through a normal heart. Sometimes these murmurs occur when:

Blood is flowing faster than usual through the heart and blood vessels attached to the heart.

There is an increased amount of blood flowing through the heart.
Illnesses or conditions that can cause blood to flow faster than usual through the heart include:
Fever
Anemia
Too much thyroid hormone in the body (hyperthyroidism).

Many, if not most, children will have a detectable heart murmur at some point in their lives. After childhood, the most common time when doctors detect heart murmurs is during pregnancy. The increased amount of blood flowing through the heart is usually to blame. Most murmurs found in pregnant women are innocent.

B-man