10 yo Son has has a heart murmur - how worried should I be?

Motivatedworkingmum

Hi, yesterday I took my son to A&E after having pains to be told he has a heart murmur. Obviously I am very worried and waiting to have a 24 hour ECG to look into it a bit further. My child is VERY sporty and we are worried how this is going to pan out.

Can anyone tell me of their experiences with this and how you dealt with it? He is upset too and has been told not to play any sport until we have the next ECG to rule out anything more serious.

Thanks in advance from a very worried mum.

poppyolivia

my daughter has one...she can do anything she likes...rollercoasters...sports etc...suppose it depends eh? she's 10 by the way...last time she went for a check up they couldn't even hear it!..so now I think she is ok.

kafkathecat

A friend of ds's has one and it isn't a problem for him at all, he is also very sporty. I think occasionally it can be a symptom of more serious conditions, hence the checks, but on its own is not considered serious.

jpwhittle

my 5 year old has a heart murmer to, he was givena scan and found to have 2 leaky valves. They said that he could live with the leaky valves and they wouldnt be doing anything about them.
My son is very active but he sweats like theres no tomorrow, its litterally lke someones turned a tap on in him, he doesnt even have to be doing anything for it to start he can be just resting. He started complaining of a tired sore heart 2 weeks ago and the doctor told us he was still ok to live with it, (wich didnt impress me much as i know hes not himself recently) and now i have to wait another 2 weeks to see how he goes.
When they first diagnosed his murmer though they told us not to worry as even if it needs surgery it would be keyhole and its pretty simple nowadays. Makes me wonmder why they wont fix his heart rather than leving him to get more poorly?
But i really wouldnt worry, these things are mostly mild and kids with them can mostly carry on with day to day life. I think this whole thing upset my husband more as he was hoping noah would follow him into the airforce and now theres only select jobs he could do (wich doesnt bother me as they arent frontline lol). everything will be ok, i know its stressfull but i try and cope by telling myself its not as serious as it used to be even if it comes to surgery, i was told its like having your tonsils out nowadays medicine has come that far. HTH xx

kingfisherblue

My ex was diagnosed with a heart murmer when he had a works medical - he was 22. He was very sporty as a teenager and young man, playing football for local leagues.

Now 44, it has never affected him at all, despite being a smoker and no longer being very active.

Hope your son is ok x

MarzipanFish

Most heart murmurs turn out to be nothing.

Mine didn't unfortunately - I had a hole in my heart which wasn't found til I was 19.
I had it fixed through a keyhole method via a vein/artery from my leg. They threaded a little device up to my heart and opened it up over the hole like a little umbrella. I only stayed in hospital for one night and all I'm left with is 2 tiny scars on my leg about the size of an uncooked grain of rice. Pretty amazing really. When I woke up I had more pain in my arm from failed attempts to put a needle for anaesthetic in than from the incisions!
There was quite a bit of bruising and swelling but I was back to normal within a week or 2.

I had a 24 hour ECG too. It's a bit annoying for sleeping with and rolling on the little recorder and for getting the sticky stuff from the pads off but otherwise it's fine!
Some of the other tests like catheters and internal echocardiograms (swallowing a camera) were unpleasant though.

hngrymummy

Just typed a post, but somehow my computer deleted it. grrrrr

Try again.

Firstly, don't panic. Wait until he's had the tests and seen the Dr before you get worried. If it had been a real worry to them, they would have admitted him there and then. The not doing sport bit would've been a precautionary measure, just in case.

My Aunt was born with a hole in her heart which was so big that it didn't close up fully over time. In those days they didn't repair them. She's lived a completely normal life, apart from not having to do PE at school if she didn't want to, which meant no cross-country! So there are some advantages to it

Just you wait until you get 'I can't do the washing up mum, I feel a bit tired' or 'I don't think I could possibly tidy my room, I'd better go and play on my X-box instead'

westy23

Good morning
I was diagnosed with a innocent heart murmer at about 10 yrs old, am nearly 56 now and have run many half marathons and still run shorter distances and cycle long distances.
Hopefully you have nothing to worry about as a lot of heart murmers are innocent murmers ( just noisy heartbeat/blood flow).
Good luck and keep us posted.

tanith

I too was told I have a heart murmur which I'd probably had all my life its never given me any problems and I'm now 63 so please don't worry unless they tell you there is something to worry about..

Bayonetta

I have a heart murmur too - It was detected when I was little but my parents weren't told about it till much, much later in my life!!

A few years ago I had it checked out, I had a echocardiagram and an ECG. It turned out it was all fine and although it's there, it doesn't need to be monitored and hasn't effected me at all in anyway. Hopefully it'll turn out to be the same thing for your son too

Motivatedworkingmum

Thanks for all your responses. After A&E last night (and a sleepless night) we managed to get an appt with our GP this morning and has said pretty much what all you guys have said.

It is very comforting to hear all your experiences of this. Although I am very trusting of our GP it is good to hear your stories. He pretty much said, carry on as normal, we'll still have the 24 hour ecg test, but my son gets to play football this weekend. I had visions of him never being able to play sport again, which I just could not get my head round! Of course his health comes first but for a 10 year old boy, to be told don't do sport, for him is the end of the world, and a lifetime in front of the x box in my opinion!!

The A&E just gave us the cold hard facts and scared the pants off us, well me anyway and my son just thought the worst. Feel much better today after your responses, thanks so much. Will post when the 24 hour ecg results are back.