In order to understand what a heart murmur is, first, one needs to know how the heart works. The heart is a muscle that has four valves and four chambers which pumps blood throughout the body system through various channels known as the arteries and the veins. When divided into two, right side pumps blood for oxygenation in the lungs while left side receives the oxygenated blood from the lungs and pumps it to the rest of the entire body.

Valves, like doors, opens and closes to prevent backflow when allowing blood flow through to one artery or the next chamber. This opening and closing mechanism is what causes the beating sound of the heart also known as the “thud” sound, easily detected by the doctors with the aid of a stethoscope.

Now that everyone is familiar with the heart’s mechanism, a heart murmur can be described as a ‘whooshing’ sound or noise heard in between the heart beat. The sound is an unusual one made by the flow of blood through the heart and can be detected by doctors in both kids and adults during medical checkups.

A heart murmur isn’t a disease and most of them are harmless. Heart murmurs have different grades, from Grade 1 which is very faint to Grade 6 which is very loud. Continue reading →

One can experience chest pain due to several factors in the body system which doesn’t necessarily imply heart attack. It is a discomfort feeling one experience in the chest area which can be caused by heart problems or even other organs such as lungs, neck and even the spine.

Harmless heart murmur caused by the flow of blood through the chambers and valves of the heart and blood vessels near the heart can be due to fever, anemia, pregnancy, anxiety, stress or even an overactive thyroid.

Only abnormal heart murmurs have signs and symptoms. Chest pain is one of those symptoms among others which indicate heart failure or a heart valve disease. The others include heart palpitations or a heart beat which is irregular, fatigue or faintness and unexplained breathlessness.  Only a doctor can be able to detect a murmur by hearing with the aid of a stethoscope and not the ailing person himself.

Heart problems in adults may cause shortness of breath and chest pain as well as swelling extremities including several other symptoms. The grading scale determines the measurement in volumes and also evaluates timing, pitch, location of sound and length within the heartbeat cycle in the chest. Continue reading →