What is a Heart Murmur And What to expect when heart murmurs happen due to heredity?

Heart murmurs may be associated with hereditary sometimes and it can be something a person has at his or her birth itself. It is very obvious that it is impossible to live without a healthy heart inside us. The primary function of the human heart is to circulate blood through arteries and through the entire body. The blood arrives at the heart through various veins in our body. Our heart then sends this blood to the lungs so that it can get oxygenated. Once the oxygenation of the blood is completed, it's sent back to the heart. Now, the heart sends this blood full of oxygen to all our organs of our body which ensures the smooth functioning of the body. Usually, doctors use a stethoscope to listen to your heart beats whenever you approach them regarding a health problem you are facing. If your heartbeat sound normal to your doctor then there is no need to worry. But, in case they sound unusual and your doctor hears additional sounds or murmurs then you might be having a medical condition that needs to be looked upon as soon as possible. Any unusual sound heard may be an abnormality in the heart valves. Such abnormalities can cause the blood to leak through the valves. One of the main reasons behind such leakages is a septal defect or in other words heart valve malformations. They can also happen due to holes present in your heart. In case another family member also has this same defect then your condition can be thought of as hereditary. Normally when a heart beats all we can hear is the familiar "lubdub" sound. But when heart murmurs are present, these "lub-dub" sounds will be accompanied by a a whooshing or swishing sound. These abnormal sounds can be heard separately from a normal lubdub sound. The exact time when these murmurs occur will help your doctor to determine the type of heart murmur present. It will also help him to determine how dangerous or severe the murmur is. Even though your general practitioner can hear these murmurs, in most cases the chances are that he or she may not be skilled enough to differentiate between the various types of heart murmurs such as innocent and abnormal. Let us see how these are different from each other. Innocent heart murmurs as the name suggests, are truly innocent. They are benign and do not require any type of

treatment. But, this is not so in the case of abnormal heart murmurs. These types of murmurs will surely cause you serious health problems in the near future. Usually, your general practitioner will refer you to a cardiologist for further treatment if she detects a heart murmur in you. Usually, the first thing the cardiologist will do is to order an ECG or electrocardiogram. This will help him to understand the murmur more closely. Informations such as when heart murmur occurs within each heart beat can be obtained from ECG which will help him to determine the heart muscle structure involved. In case the damage happened is already severe, you might need a surgery to fix the problem.