Heart murmers in children

[triplets]

Hi,
One of my trio went to see a paediatrician today as a blood test shows he is anaemic. He talked about his general health then examined him. He was a long time listening to his heart, then told us he has a murmer and wants him to be seen by a cardiologist and to have an echo. I have just gone into panic mode as some of you will know that my first child collapsed and died suddenly and no medical explanation was ever found. He said the murmer could be one of three reasons and for the life of me I don`t know what he said for the first one, the second was that anaemia could cause it, and the third a valve problem. Please reassure me, tell me not to panic.

triplets - just reading your OP makes me panic for you - who wouldn't panic? I hope you get him seen very soon.

Re, your post about Thomas being underweight and running everywhere. Just get them to check his thyroid function. When I was nine I was diagnosed with an over active thyroid - I was a fussy eater, bouncing off the walls, over-emotional, underweight, poor sleeper, and I had a heart murmur. The thyroid function was corrected with medication and by the time I was about 18 I came off the meds and it has righted itself.

I was lucky it got picked up when it did because my blood pressure was through the roof so just a thought to mention to the docs - not to worry you even more!

All the best.

Thanks everyone,
Feel better today after reading all your posts, and IF it is anything more serious at least its been spotted, though how long we will wait for the appointment who knows, the usual here is up to 12 weeks! Off to France tomorrow on their b/day back on Sun, hopfully the red wine will do me good! Thank you all.

Try not to panic
My dd has a pulmonary valve problem picked up at 6 weeks
WE were also led to believe it could have been something serious and were given next day urgent appt to see cardiac surgeon
It was not as bad as they had thought.
Did they give you a sheet on cardiac decompensation?
With dd they thought she had a very serious defect so they gave us sheets on cardiac arrest an angelcare sleeping alarm and a list of signs of cardiac decompenation/heart failure.
WE were shitting ourselves and this was before I found MN too....
Murmurs have certain sounds, some are systolic and radiate some have other signs, this is hjow they can sort of guess the likelihood.
It is therefore my intention to tell you that it is very likely to be fine.
So relax, glass of wine and breathe...

I panicked when I was told that DD2 had a murmur too. We had several appointments over two years where it was monitored but it eventually disappeared. The first 12 weeks of her life were just one long worry as she was also being tested for cystic fibrosis.
Hope the echo answers your questions. Good luck.

Triplets: of course you will worry, that is entirely uderstandable.

Have you been in contact with The Children's heart Federation ? They havea helpline, info sheets, etc, and i am sure if you explain that you have previous experience of losinga child, they will be happy to support you.

triplets, of course you are panicking, can't believe he's told you this then making you wait 12 weeks, when your child's sibling has died possibly of heart problems. I think thats appslling. Get in touch with the children's heart federation, talk it over with them, and if need be, be deeply bolshie to get an earlier appt. Call them for cancellations.

Last year, ds was having repeated petit mal, we were told it could be epilepsy or pos a brain tumour. we basically had to nag and harass to get every appointment, scan, etc etc, it was a nightmare. Luckily he's fine now.

Ds also had a heart murmer when he was born-I have one, as does my dad + brother-they are totally innocent but still he was x-rayed and echo'd (I think) then + 6 wks later.

Best of luck. At the least you deserve peace of mind.

sorry, meant to add sure its fine, don't want to worry you, just appalled that you haven't even been given an appt under your circmstances.

Happy birthday to the triplets . Have a lovely weekend.

It is understandable that you are worried Triplets, especially given your history. I agree that murmurs are not always a sign of anything bing wrong, many are innocent and the child will outgrown them. I certainly hope that this is the case for you.

Like some of the other posters here, my youngest ds has congenital heart problems, including 2 deformed valves, one of which leaks slightly, so he also has a murmur. At the moment he is on 6 monthly check-ups to be monitored.

I hope that you get an appt for the echo soon. Oh, and happy birthday to the triplets!!

Hi everyone,
Thank you for all your supportive posts, its nice to never feel alone! Trio had a lovely w/end, took them to Nausicaa sealife centre on Sat, always a terrific day out.The only thing that spoiled the w/end was poor Jamesie suddenly came down with a gastric bug, so had awful sickness and the other for 24 hours! Always something with children isn`t there? Had to give up trying to get Thomas to swallow his iron pill, he just gagged and screamed, so have just phoned the surgery and asked for the prescription to be changed. Got back last night to a letter for him to go back to the paediatrician in April, nothing yet from the cardiologist, but there was a letter for me to go to the cardiologist about my problem, the awful palpatations, was tested in 2004, but they persist, just keep being told its stress, could be I suppose! Anyway we just keep ploughing on!