I've just been told the Doc heard a heart murmur :-(

[Andromeda]

I've been getting skipped beats all day everyday for a week now.
Spent yesterday in A&E and had two ECG's, chest x-ray, bloods, urine sample and everything checked.

The A&E doc told me to go back to my own Gp to get a referral to a cardiologist so I went today to see her.

She listened to my heart and told me she could hear a murmur!!! I don't undetstand why the A&E doc didn't tell me this!!

My own doc checked my Blood pressure and said it was high but A&E yesterday told me it was fine!

My doc is sending me for an echocardiogram and to see a cardiologist but now i'm absolutely terrified that i'm going to die.

She told me to go straight back to the hospital if anything changes and 'not to take any chances'
I said to her that because of my anxiety symtoms, i struggle to know when to ignore it and put it down to anxiety, or to take it seriously and she told me that i should just go if i'm worried because she'd rather it turn out to be anxiety than it to be something serious and i ignore it!

I know that lots of people have heart irregularities and murmurs and things like that but mine has come out of the blue so that's why im absolutely freaking out and the wait to see someone is going to make it all so much worse!

I don't know what to do :weep:

[london]

i had one for years iam am still here
loads of people have them dont worry
god bless

[cocohac]

Hello,
I get then too and mine started out of the blue as well.
Somethings when I get them I have them everyday on and off for a week and then they go and may come back. I was worried at first but I've have them for a year and they turned out to be anxiety .
Anxiety has a lot to answer for
Take care x

[Bexmumto3]

My mum has a heart murmur and she's 67 next week and still fighting fit so try not to worry too much. as your GP said if you don't feel right with it then go to hospital they would much rather you did that and all be fine than leave it & possibly something isn't. Try not to worry whilst waiting for you appointments to come through, I know thats easier said than done & I should listen to my own advice but can't. I get a white coat syndrome & my bp and heart rate rockets when i'm at doctors or hospital yet if I check it at home its normal so maybe your bp was up a bit at gp because you were worrying yourself ?
I hope your appointment comes through quickly x

[swgrl09]

I developed one a year ago. Three docs have heard mine and said it is nothing to worry about. I was nervous, so one offered an echocardiogram - this is just to make sure you don't have any valve problems, but almost all the time murmurs are benign and nothing to worry about. I know lots of people with them.

I was nervous at first, really. I was scared to do anything!!! But once I got used to it, I am back to normal and wouldn't know it's there otherwise.

[Andromeda]

Thanks for all your replies.

I'm trying my best not to worry but it's so horrible. Once i start to relax i get an ectopic beat and that just sends me into ridiculous anxiety mode!

Because i am yet to have the confirmation that my heart issues are solely due to anxiety i.e. the beats and the murmur are not yet confirmed as benign; my mind is just going crazy at what could be wrong with my heart.

At what point do i go back to the hospital? Because i'm getting more symptoms as the day goes on and i don't know which ones to ignore and which ones not to :weep:

I don't want to ignore a vital sign and then have a heart attack or a stroke

[squeak]

This is actually what happened to me to start my health anxiety. I know I had a heart murmur as a child but was then told that it had disappeared as an adolescent, which is quite common and murmurs in children are generally of no concern.

I went to see my GP a couple of years ago for something totally unrelated and he listened to my heart and heard a murmur and thought it sounded 'suspicious' and immediately requested an ECG and echo. I was an absolute wreck and spent the next few weeks whilst waiting for the echo too terrified to be alone with my children in case I dropped dead. The fear was unbelievable and I'm not sure I'll ever quite be the same, being an anxious person anyway.

Anyway I had the echo, waited 2 weeks for the results and was told I had mild regurgitation on most of my valves, this is what is causing the sound. My GP was very reassuring that these findings are just a variation on normal and echo's are so sensitive that they pick up any slight leakage from the valves and this could be seen in any normal person. I suffer the skipped beats too and they're also not concerned about these.

I know how hard it is not to worry, but take some comfort in the fact that your ECGs are normal, so the heart is working fine, and the echo will give a clear picture of the structure of the heart and hopefully some reassurance that the murmur is benign.