Heart Murmur Causes, Symptoms, and Risk Factors
What is a heart murmur?
Heart murmurs causes: Heart murmurs can occur later in life or be present from birth. Heart murmurs can be benign or dangerous (abnormal). They are noises created by agitating blood in or near your heart, such as swishing or whooshing. With a stethoscope, your specialist can listen to these murmurs. A harmless heart murmur does not indicate the presence of cardiovascular disease and does not require medication. A follow-up test is necessary to discover the cause of abnormal cardiac murmurs. The treatment focuses on the source of your abnormal heart murmur.
Symptoms
- Blue-tinged skin, particularly on the fingertips and lips
- Swelling or a rapid increase in weight
- Breathing problems
- Coughing for a long time
- Liver enlargement
- Neck veins enlargement
- Lack of appetite and failure to grow normally in newborns
- Sweating profusely despite little or no exertion
- Pain in the chest
- Dizziness or Fainting
Heart murmurs Causes
- When the heart is about to empty (systolic murmur)
- During each heartbeat (continuous murmur)
- When the heart is bursting at the seams with blood (diastolic murmur)
Risk Factors
- A heart muscle that has deteriorated (cardiomyopathy)
- An infection of the heart’s lining (endocarditis)
- Eosinophilia is a type of blood condition associated with a high number of specific WBC (White Blood Cells) called eosinophils (hypereosinophilic syndrome)
- Lupus and rheumatoid arthritis are examples of autoimmune diseases.
- Substances that enter your circulation from a rare tumor in your lungs or gastrointestinal system (carcinoid syndrome)
- Valve disease of the heart
- Blood pressure that is too high (hypertension)
- Lung hypertension is a condition in which the blood pressure in the lungs is too high (pulmonary hypertension)
- Rheumatic fever background
- Thyroid hyperactivity (hyperthyroidism)
Abnormal Heart Murmur
Heart murmurs in newborns: Congenital cardiac abnormalities, which are present at birth, cause an abnormal murmur in children. Surgery may be required to fix it.
Heart murmurs causes: Problems with the valves that divide the chambers of your heart are the most prevalent trigger of an abnormal murmur in grownups. Regurgitation occurs when a valve does not seal tightly and blood seeps backward. Infections, congenital abnormalities, and diseases can all induce heart murmurs, which can be deadly.
Infections that destroy the structure of the heart
- Calcification of the valves. As you become older, your valves can harden or thicken, resulting in mitral stenosis or aortic valve stenosis. Valves can become narrowed (stenotic), making blood flow through your heart more difficult and leading in murmurs.
- Endocarditis – When bacteria or other germs from some other area of the body, such as your mouth, migrate through your bloodstream and become trapped in your heart, an infection of the inner lining of your heart and valves occurs. Endocarditis can completely ruin your heart valves if remain unattended. People who already have cardiac valve abnormalities are more likely to develop this illness.
- Rheumatic fever – Though rheumatic fever is increasingly uncommon in India, it is a dangerous condition that can develop if a strep throat infection is not treated promptly or completely. It can damage your heart valves permanently and prevent proper blood passage through your heart. Read Heart Valve Diseases
Innocent heart murmurs
An individual with a regular heart has an innocent murmur. In babies and children, this sort of cardiac murmur is frequent. When blood rushes through the heart at a faster rate than usual, a benign murmur can occur. The following conditions might produce fast blood flow through your heart, leading to an unintentional heart murmur:
- Workout
- Pregnancy
- Fever
- Inadequate oxygen delivery to body tissues due to a lack of healthy red blood cells (anemia)
- There is an excessive amount of thyroid hormone in your body (hyperthyroidism)
- Adolescence and other periods of fast growth
- Innocent heart murmurs may fade away over time, or they may persist for the rest of your life without creating any further health issues.
How to Prevent Heart Murmurs?
Although there isn’t much you can do to prevent a heart murmur, it’s comforting to know that heart murmurs aren’t always harmful. Many murmurs in youngsters fade away on their own as they get older. Murmurs in adulthood may fade away as the main ailment that causes them cures.
Bottom Line
It is always better to consult your doctor if you’re showing some of the above-mentioned symptoms. Never rely on Google or any other site to check your signs and to learn about the heart murmurs causes. Prevention is better than cure. So, talk to your cardiologist for proper medical attention.
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