Doctor - Anniston,AL

Because kids hearts look different than adult ones do.

Pediatric Cardiologists look at children's hearts all day. My son's heart was 'very concerning' to adult docs, and 'Oh. This is totally normal. Beautiful. Fantastic.' via the Children's Hospital Cardio team.

Conversely, my friend went through hell with her son (in and out and in and out) of their local hospital until they FINALLY got a referral to Children's. Their local specialists said he was perfectly fine. Children's spotted the problem in (quite literally) a heartbeat.

I live right next to a Children's hospital, so I have it easy. When my son was sick last year from Feb-Jun, we had the BEST care in the PNW, and some of the best in the country. Sooooo many parents I met there, though, had spent months and even years with misdiagnosis, waved off concerns, wrong treatments, etc... because local hospitals rarely deal with kids. Things that a children's hospital sees a hundred times a month, the pediatric cardiologists/pulmonologists/neurologists/etc. at a local hospital MIGHT see it once every 10 years. Or not since medschool.

G.:

Welcome to mamapedia!!

As you know you NEED your heart to live. So let them do a second opinion!!! If they asked for a 3rd opinion, I'd get it. I would want as many people as possible to look to see if they see anything wrong - as each person looks at things - especially patients, differently!!

Children's Hospital's specialize in children. GO!!! Do the best for your daughter that you can.

I hope it's nothing!!

GOOD LUCK!

No, your child is going to be fine! This is standard procedure, even with an innocent murmur.

The echo is even better than the ekg - a Holter worn for 24 hours is even better. If you are really concerned, ask for that and have your little girl do every thing she always does while she's wearing the Holter. After the Holter and echo, you will know that her murmur is just functional, and you won't ever have to worry about it again.

Lots of kids have murmurs that are completely benign. The reason they are sending you to a children's hospital is so that you see a pediatric cardiologist. They specialize in children.

I've been through this - please don't worry. Just get the testing done. It's what the doctors always do in order to cover all the bases.

Hugs~
Dawn

Where I live there is no pediatric specialists and when my daughter had to see a pediatric neurologist she was sent to the childrens hosp out of town to do so. When it comes to children the science is not the same (children are not small adults is something they say in the med field),so this is why its so important to see someone who specializes in pediatrics. How old is your daughter? Sometimes with heart murmurs its a wait and see game, because sometimes the murmurs spontaneously resolve with out any medical intervention.

My daughter has a heart condition called pulmonary stenosis and a heart murmur. She is fine and has never had any synptoms but we still see the cardiologist every 2 years, just so they can watch it and make sure that there has not been any changes.

In the beginning we went to the cardiologist every 6 months for an echo and EKG, after she turned 1 - we went every year until she was 8 - then she started every 2 years. Our 2 year appointment is in July of this year.

Sometimes these conditions are harmless but need to be watched for change and possible need for intervention.