Heart Murmur... What Is He Hiding? - Heart Disorders Message Board

joanner5 · 10-10-2006, 06:36 AM

My Boyfriend has told me he has a heart murmur, and that he has been to see his doctor who told him he needs to stop doing so much and take it easy. Does this sound like a likley diagnosis?? i have been looking on the internet for Prevention methods/treatments ect for Heart Murmurs and i have found no where saying that 'rest' is a prevention method. He is not on any kind of medication or anyhting that i know of but he said the murmur is off the chart - surely if it was bad somethig would be done about it. It all seems a bit strange, im worried he is hiding something from me!! please help if you know anything about heart murmurs! Thank you

Lenin · 10-10-2006, 07:02 AM

The "worry" is does he have cardiomyopathy or worse.

I have never heard of either "rest" for a murmur, or anything like rating it "off the chart."

Ask him to come clean with you. It may be al perfectly above board but I agree with your puzzlement.

Can he run a couple blocks without looking like a train wreck?

joanner5 · 10-10-2006, 07:10 AM

Hi Lenin,

Thank you for your reply.

He is not out of shape at all, he works out and he is a mechanic so he does do a manual job every day.... what would be the usual advice from a doctor if you have a heart murmur? i got the impression from sites i have been looking at that it is a fairly common and mostly dormant thing...?

Lenin · 10-10-2006, 07:15 AM

Usually they'll listen to it and order an echogram to find out which valve is malfunctioning. Perhaps an ejection fraction will be measured to determine how much blood is flowing "the right way."

But you are right, there is normally no intervention unless the valve is REALLY wonky. And for most people there is no order to "rest."

penybobeny · 10-10-2006, 07:47 AM

What exactly did he say the Dr's orders were?

Was it that he could work his regular job, but needed to rest when at home?

Was it that he needed to find a less physical line of work?

What about his working out?

It may be that he did not understand what the Dr was saying or can't explain what is going on in a clear fashion... are you sure he said murmur and meant murmur, or could it be PVC's?

In any event, if it was incapacitating and requiring rest they would probably be doing further testing with a holt monitor, echo, angio and a slew of other testing.