Aaaaaaaaaggghh - The Scream Thread!, Sign in here if you've had a bad week... Options

[Juniper]

I am SO not happy (IMG:style_emoticons/default/sad.gif)

Went to the doctor because I wasn't feeling well, have had an ECG and it would appear I have a heart murmur! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/ohmy.gif)

Now waiting for chest xrays and stuff but I'm getting worried about my trumpet career, not only the obvious pressure from playing but also the fact that I really need to slow down and full time work and 2-3 gigs a week is not slow by any means.

I still have the piano whatever but my trumpet and I have been together a looooong time, it would be wierd without it.

Sorry just needed to vent, hopefully I'm worrying over nothing (IMG:style_emoticons/default/blush.gif)

I've had a heart murmur all my life and I've always been told it's nothing to worry about. It just means that your heart isn't quite as efficient as some (I believe the murmur comes from slight leakage through a valve), so you're not likely to be the world's best athlete. It doesn't affect my everyday life at all.

I'm sure your GP would have told you if the murmur was anything serious. It's almost certain you've had it since birth, and if it's never affected you before, probably your current ill-health is nothing to do with it. Next time you see your doctor, make sure you tell him your worries; he is the best one to reassure/advise you.

Thanks (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif) I went to the dr cos I was having palpitations and she found my blood pressure was high, hence the ECG. She said not to worry to much but I will probably need to see a heart specialist. I guess I'm more worried because friends have family have told me for years I need to slow down, I guess this time I can't ignore them (IMG:style_emoticons/default/blush.gif)

Not that it's helpful but this is why I avoid doctors and hospitals unless I'm on death's doorstep - they always seem to find something wrong... Ignorance is good!

I agree, infact the doctor this morning going through my records said, you obviously don't like us you're never here!!! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/laugh.gif)

[Maizie]

I was 'diagnosed' with a heart murmur by an anaethetist before an op when I was 19. I think that most people on the ward got told they had a murmur. My mother and brother have both been told they have them too.

At the dentist a couple of years back the dentist wanted me to have a hygeinist visit but said she wouldn't go near me as I had 'heart murmur' on my medical history (as provided by me). So I trundled off to my GP, who looked at my notes from the operation I had, and he said he had no comments on there regarding my heart. But her referred me on to the cardiolgist. The cardiologist did an ECG - perfectly normal. And scheduled me for an echocardiogram (an ultrasound of the heart). Turned out, that was perfectly normal too. I actually don't have a heart murmur. I also apparently have lovely aortic cusps (IMG:style_emoticons/default/blink.gif)

But anyway, neither me nor my brother or my mother were ever told that anything in your life has to be different due to a murmur. I think it was explained to me that instead of the heart going ba-dump, ba-dump, ba-dump, ba-dump, every so often it might go ba-da-daump. But not as something you feel, like a palpitation. It's just something it does.

Still, your x-rays etc will be with someone suitably qualified who will be able to put your mind at rest far better than I can (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

[fsharpminor]

I also apparently have lovely aortic cusps (IMG:style_emoticons/default/blink.gif)

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/ohmy.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wub.gif)

[missypiano]

I also apparently have lovely aortic cusps (IMG:style_emoticons/default/blink.gif)

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/ohmy.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wub.gif)

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/laugh.gif)

[Juniper]

I also apparently have lovely aortic cusps (IMG:style_emoticons/default/blink.gif)

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/ohmy.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wub.gif)

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/laugh.gif)

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/rofl.gif)

[AuroraViolin]

Juniper, it is probably really unsettling to hear about your heart murmur, but just be aware that a heart murmur in itself is not necessarily indicative of a heart problem. They can actually be made more apparent by illness - so for example if you have been feeling run down or have had a virus etc, then the murmur generally gets louder and hence more noticeable. The most common type of heart murmur is a flow murmur - it's a sort of shhhhh sound that can be heard alongside the regular heart beat, and would be drawn as a wavy line rather than as distinct vertical lines to depict the ba-dum parts of the heart beat. Also, murmurs are measured on a scale, with the loudest at one end and the quietest (and hence less "bad") at the other - sorry I don't know too much more about the scale. From personal experience, I developed a heart murmur following a nasty and lengthy illness that meant I had to be taking large amounts of various drugs over an extended period - and ECGs and echocardiograms were all normal so there's no underlying heart problem. Of course, one hears the words heart murmur and instantly visualises some horrific heart problem but it is very rare for that to be the case. Hope you feel better soon (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

[Aquarelle]

I am SO not happy (IMG:style_emoticons/default/sad.gif)

Went to the doctor because I wasn't feeling well, have had an ECG and it would appear I have a heart murmur! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/ohmy.gif)

Juniper when my father was called up for the army he didn't pass the medical for the infantry on account of a heart murmur they said he had. He was assigned instead to the medical corps as an ambulance driver. If he hadn't been I do not think the gentle soul who was my dad would ever have survived the war and I wouldn't be here.

Anyway no other doctor ever confirmed this after he was demobbed and he passed the medicals required to be a public transport driver. So try not to worry. I don't think you will need to give up the trumpet.

[PatC]

Just to endorse what has been said - I was first told I had a heart murmur in my 50s, out of the blue at a routine medical, after years of having regular medicals for work, and referred to a cardiologist. (The doctor who spotted it said it was probably because it was very quiet in her consulting room, otherwise she wouldn't have heard it.) I was told it was caused by a flapping valve which doesn't really cause any problems except that because the blood maybe doesn't flow quite so freely round it, but might stagnate in a sort of eddy, there is a slight danger of an infection. In fact the cardiologist told me that if I ever had surgery, including dental intervention, I should take antibiotics as a precaution. However the advice has now changed and my dentist says it is no longer considered necessary for dental work.

Bizarrely, when I went to the cardiologist that time, I thought I might as well get my moneyworth by airing all my heart disease paranoias (my mother, and HER mother, having died of heart disease at a relatively early age) and I rather self-consciously asked him about the vertical creases in my ear lobes, which I had heard were indicative of heart problems. Instead of laughing me out of his consulting room, he said "How interesting. How did you know about that? I have them too, and it's true there is a correlation, but noone has been able to work out why!"

So probably nothing to worry about Juniper! So far I have survived both murmur and ear lobe creases.

PatC

[Clari-Netty]

Have just realised when i slipped in it that at some point in the last hour i have tipped a squirty bottle of soapy water (i used to clean the rats out) over my floor, now my lovely laminate floor has raised around the edges of at least 3 planks and looks decidedly damaged (IMG:style_emoticons/default/mad.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/sad.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/ohmy.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/mad.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/unsure.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/mad.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/sad.gif)

[barry-clari]

Good Luck Nicki, now comes the waiting. I hope you, and everyone else taking exams at this time of year, get good results.

Bleh. Messed it up in spectacular style.

Bet you've done better than you think. Good luck for 23rd. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

I had an email from the Board an hour ago saying my exam appointment times were online. They aren't. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/mad.gif)

I had an email from the Board saying my exam appointment times were online. The system is currently down (IMG:style_emoticons/default/sad.gif)

[andante_in_c]

I had an email from the Board an hour ago saying my exam appointment times were online. They aren't. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/mad.gif)

I had an email from the Board saying my exam appointment times were online. The system is currently down (IMG:style_emoticons/default/sad.gif)

They still weren't there when the system came back up so I resorted to phoning the board. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/rolleyes.gif)

[Celeste]

I only got a 2:2 for an essay I worked really, really hard on. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/sad.gif) It feels like such a waste of time.

[Czerny]

I only got a 2:2 for an essay I worked really, really hard on. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/sad.gif) It feels like such a waste of time.

That must be disappointing. I'm sure people will be along to tell you that a 2:2 is still an achievement, but of course it doesn't feel like that if you were aiming for a 1st. Do you know where you lost marks? I'm guessing that grades from your first year won't count towards your final result, so if you can learn from this and do better next time that's still a positive outcome, in part. Can you speak to the tutor/s who marked it?

[Celeste]

Thank you Czerny. I think I know where I went wrong, and it seemed like a mammoth task we were set for what was a relatively low word count. I got some constructive feedback though so know what to watch out for. And yes, I can speak to the person who marked it, although his comments do seem to make sense anyway. It's just a disappointment.

You're right though, it doesn't count toward the final result, which I'm really glad about for obvious reasons!

[Little Elf]

I am SO not happy (IMG:style_emoticons/default/sad.gif)

Went to the doctor because I wasn't feeling well, have had an ECG and it would appear I have a heart murmur! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/ohmy.gif)

Now waiting for chest xrays and stuff but I'm getting worried about my trumpet career, not only the obvious pressure from playing but also the fact that I really need to slow down and full time work and 2-3 gigs a week is not slow by any means.

I still have the piano whatever but my trumpet and I have been together a looooong time, it would be wierd without it.

Sorry just needed to vent, hopefully I'm worrying over nothing (IMG:style_emoticons/default/blush.gif)

Try not to worry too much, Juniper. I have had a heart murmur since I was born and it hasn't stopped me doing anything musical (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)