dd has appointment at hospital over heart

[RLR]

Gp noticed the dd has an extra noise when listening to her heart but shes 3 years old shouldnt this have been noticed before now, and has anyone been here before as i dont know what to expect when we see specialist at the hospital on tuesday.

[cadelaide]

Hi RLR, my niece had this when she was about 6, turned out to be a heart murmur. Hasn't affected her in any way since, at all.....ever.
Good Luck!

[RLR]

thanks hope its just like your niece then hopefully.

[Saggarmakersbottomknocker]

RLR - lots of children have 'innocent' mumurs, that is, a murmer where there is nothing structurally wrong with the heart. Has your dd been unwell? Sometimes a murmur can appear when a child is poorly and then go away again.

[DoubleBluff]

DS1 was diagnosed with a murmur at 3 yr check. Has never been an issue in fact had forgotten all about it until I saw this thread!

[fearscape]

Ds was diagnosed with a heart murmur when he was a newborn. He had an ECG, where they stuck little wires all over his chest - just took a few minutes and didn't bother him at all. He also had an ultrasound scan done by a cardiologist (forget what the proper name for it was), this was a bit worse as it took an hour and they wanted him in lots of different positions - but after all that his heart was completely fine, just an innocent murmur! Good luck at the hospital and don't panic if they do lots of tests.

Oh I also had an innocent murmur diagnosed at 2 and I'm now 28 and still going strong!

[whomovedmychocolate]

Hiya, I had a VSD (ventricle septal defect)/hole in my heart diagnosed when I was nine months old. It became a slight issue during pregnancy but apart from that it hasn't been a problem at all.

The heart is a muscle, most heart murmurs disappear as the heart grows to cover the hole I believe.

[RLR]

hiya all thanks for you answers they have put my mind at rest for now. DD has been generally well apart from asthma, when our GP first found it i took her there as she wasnt well cant remember now what was wrong with but the gp said bring her back when shes better and i will listen to her heart again and if its still the same i will refer her to the hospital for them to check this.

[chipkid]

My ds has a heart murmur (innocent) and was referred at age 3 as my newborn dd was also being referred for the same thing.

With my ds it had been heard before but usually when he had a temperature or was unwell. When he was in good health it was harder to hear which is why it may have been picked up only now.

Lots and lots of children have innocent murmurs.

[RLR]

went today and the specialist refered her yet again from one hospital to another, because they have more experiance at the other hospital

what would you be thinking


The same as me and dp thats theres something wrong.

[Saggarmakersbottomknocker]

Ok - don't panic (try not to panic). Who did you see today? Paed or cardiologist and did she have any tests done?

[RLR]

not sure which one but he just listened to her heart

[whomovedmychocolate]

RLR - it's good that they are referring her. It probably means that there is not a very clear problem (ie it could be very minor but they want to rule it out).

I was passed between four consultants, apparently as a training exercise because they'd never seen an adult with a VSD before and it didn't mean anything.

Try not to panic. It's important to only act on information you have not your completely understandable paranoia here.

BTW if she's got to three and is fine, chances are she's staying that way!

[whomovedmychocolate]

RLR - oh, so they didn't do an echocardiogram? In which case that's why they are referring you, you need to see a specialist to look at the actual chambers of the heart. You probably just saw a common or garden consultant who was ruling out the possibility that the GP made a mistake. Don't worry, that's good, they will start taking it seriously and doing positive things now.

I know it's tough at the minute but you are doing really well and everything will be clear soon.

[Saggarmakersbottomknocker]

So he didn't do an ECG or an Echo (that's a ultrasound of the heart similar to the one you have in pregnancy)?

I think the chap you saw today heard the same murmur as your GP. So he's sent you on to another hospital where they'll do the above. My dd had heart problems and our local hospital don't do the tests - they refer to Birmingham. It doesn't mean that the murmur won't still be innocent. They just want to check to make absolutely sure.

Hope this helps.

[RLR]

yeah but i dont understand why would one specialised person refer to another.

[RLR]

yeah your all helping

[Saggarmakersbottomknocker]

They probably just don't have the equipment/qualified staff to do the Echo at your local hospital.

[RLR]

im sure they do because my sisters ds goes there once a year to have echo done on his heart due to bad on going illness.

[whomovedmychocolate]

RLR - it's partly to cover themselves - you have to go to the best person for that particular situation. Also actually doing an echo is a half hour process so you need an appointment. Older people need ECGs a lot and heart attacks (obv) get priority scans so there can be a wait to get one. Oh and not all hospitals can do them. You have to be a specialised cardiac radiologist I think, can't quite remember what the person who scanned me was - apart from mauritian and quite dishy - but I was seven months pregnant at the time.

Sorry I digressed. Yes, you get referred to someone else because (1) you need a scan; (2) You need to go to a paediatric cardiologist if there is a problem; (3) You'll probably also see a cardio-physiotherapist - they prescribe exercise to help heal the hole if there is one.

This is all normal and positive signs that something is happening.

[Saggarmakersbottomknocker]

RLR sometimes they do 'outreach' from the specialist hospitals, sending over the staff. They do them at our local but only every few months so they may not want you to wait so long.

[whomovedmychocolate]

RLR - cross posted there - even if you do scan, it may not be the right type. A 20 minute tracer is not the same as a full echo - one measures the frequency of heartbeats and the pattern, the other involves doing a full ultrasound on the structure, volume and performance of the heart.

[RLR]

whomovedmy.....
dishy was he ha ha ha

[RLR]

well parhaps like you said it might just be that he wants a second opinion or the machines arent the right ones in the hospital.

[whomovedmychocolate]

Certainly set my pulse racing (oh and you have to be topless for an echo and I leaked milk all over him - how attractive - not).

[whomovedmychocolate]

That's the spirit RLR - honestly, this is not that much of a big deal. She's special and one of the special things about her may be that her heart drums with a bit of a jazz beat. No biggie. Certainly hasn't killed me and my VSD was v. big!