Abnormal Heart Murmur: How It Can Affect Your Health & What A Cardiologist Can Do To Help

Health & Medical Blog

Are you experiencing a lot of pain in your chest? You may want to visit a cardiologist to get the problem diagnosed to make sure you are not suffering from an abnormal heart murmur. Learn how an abnormal heart murmur can affect your health and what a cardiologist can do about it.

How Can an Abnormal Heart Murmur Affect Health?

A heart murmur is not always something that you should worry about, as it simply refers to the sound of blood passing through heart valves. An abnormal murmur is where the concern is, as it can cause you to experience symptoms that are uncomfortable to live with. A few of the symptoms you may experience include:

  • Discolored skin
  • Difficulty breathing
  • Unexplained weight gain
  • Sweating a lot for no reason

There are many reasons why an abnormal heart murmur can occur. However, serious problems are usually associated with something being wrong with the heart valves. Your heart valves are vital to your health because they are responsible for regulating the flow of blood throughout your body. When the valves are damaged, it is important to get treated by a cardiologist before the condition puts your life at risk.

What Can a Cardiologist Do About an Abnormal Heart Murmur?

Before treating you for an abnormal heart murmur, a cardiologist will have to first listen to your heart with a stethoscope to make sure the murmur is actually a concern. If he or she feels as though your health is at risk, a test called an electrocardiogram will have to be performed to measure electrical activity in your heart. Abnormal electrical activity is a sign that the heart valves may be damaged.

You will also be given an x-ray to determine if there is anything wrong with your heart, such as whether is of an abnormal size. Depending on why you developed an abnormal heart murmur, you may have to undergo surgery to fix the problem. Damaged heart valves can be treated with surgery, but drugs may be the only thing needed to control the murmurs if the cause is due to something like high blood pressure.

Chest pain is not something that you should overlook, even if you think you are in good health. You may have a heart condition that can be cured if treated soon enough. Make an appointment with a doctor of cardiology to see if you have an abnormal heart murmur that is due to a more serious problem with your health!

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9 January 2015

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