What is a human heart murmur?

Well a heart murmur is an extra or unusual sound heard during a heartbeat. Murmurs range from very faint to very loud. Sometimes they sound like a whooshing or swishing noise.

Normal heartbeats make a “lub-DUPP” or “lub-DUB” sound. This is the sound of the heart valves closing as blood moves through the heart. Doctors can hear these sounds and heart murmurs using a stethoscope.

Some children just have a murmur and it goes away as they age but other times it can be caused by something being wrong with the heart. A heart murmur can be caused from a hole in the heart called a ASD (atrial septal defect) and/or VSD (Ventricular Septal Defect) my daughter was diagnosed with both and right now the VSD closed but the ASD is still there, if it causes her problems they can surgically close it later in life. She also has elongated ventricles but that does not cause a murmur but could send her into congestive heart failure at some point in her life, doctors are unsure if it will streghten over time or not.

My father also had a heart murmur from Rheumatic fever as a baby which put a scar on his heart which I believe was a big contributing factor of his massive heart attack and death at age 40.

This is as much as I know about on the subject and unfortunately its from personal experience.

I have a heart murmur, and I was told that it was a lazy valve in my heart. The valve doesn’t shut completely, allowing blood to flow through, even after the heart-beat cycle. I was told that it can be quite serious, and mine appeared to be gone for many years, back lately.

My original diagnosis was because I could literally, hear a berrrrt when my heart beat. Not fun. Now I kinda figure we all have to go some day…I just don’t want to linger. If my heart is going to attack, it better be Hiroshima.

I have a heart murmur, I always have. One of the heart valves doesn’t work perfectly so the blood flows a little in the wrong direction. Mine is considered benign. I get it checked every 5–10 years with an echo, it doesn’t show up on EKG. when I was younger all my doctors heard it when they listened to my heart. For whatever reason a lot of doctors don’t hear it in the last 10 years, but not because it isn’t there, but because they don’t know what they are doing I guess? Or, they aren’t looking formit maybe so they don’t listen well enough. It’s still there, I have one doctor who did notice it and my cardiologist hears it of course.

One type of murmur called mitro valve prolapse many people know as the murmur that has to be treated before dental work. Those people are supposed to take antibiotics before they get their teach cleaned or worked on. That’s one reason when you fill out the dental paperwork they secifically ask about murmurs, while other doctors don’t have it on their forms.

@creative had a great answer.

Heart murmurs and hole’s run in my family, and generally your doctor will catch them at some point in your physical, or you will notice yourself. My cousin recently had cardioversion, which shocks your heart back to a normal rhythm, and he said it was very noticeable and delayed as long as possible, until it got dangerous.

If you have symptoms or concerns, I definately recommend you talking to your doctor.