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Symptoms
By Mayo Clinic staff
If you have a harmless heart murmur, more commonly known as an innocent heart murmur, you likely won't have any other signs or symptoms.
An abnormal heart murmur usually has no obvious other signs, aside from the unusual sound your doctor hears when listening to your heart with a stethoscope. But if you have these signs or symptoms, they may indicate a heart problem:
- Skin that appears blue, especially on your fingertips and lips
- Swelling
- Shortness of breath
- Enlarged liver
- Enlarged neck veins
- Poor appetite and failure to grow normally (in infants)
- Weight gain (in adults and children)
- Heavy sweating with minimal or no exertion
- Chest pain
- Dizziness
- Fainting
When to see a doctor
Most heart murmurs aren't serious, but if you think you or your child has a heart murmur, make an appointment to see your family doctor. Your doctor can tell you if your heart murmur is innocent and doesn't require any further treatment or if an underlying heart problem needs to be further examined.
- Heart murmur. National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/dci/Diseases/heartmurmur/hmurmur_all.html. Accessed March 1, 2010.
- Heart murmurs. Nemours Foundation. http://kidshealth.org/kid/health_problems/heart/heart_murmurs.html. Accessed March 1, 2010.
- Holes in the heart. National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/dci/Diseases/holes/holes_all.html. Accessed March 9, 2010.
- O'Rourke RA, et al. The history, physical examination and cardiac auscultation. In: Furster V, et al. Hurst's The Heart. 12th ed. New York, N.Y.: McGraw-Hill Companies; 2008. http://www.accessmedicine.com/content.aspx?aID=3057807. Accessed March 1, 2010.
- Koo S, et al. Cardiovascular signs and symptoms in evaluating cardiac murmurs in children. Pediatrics International. 2008;50:145.
- Wilson W, et al. Prevention of infective endocarditis: Guidelines from the American Heart Association. Circulation. 2007;116:1736.
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