Slight valve leak common?

I posted this in the anxiety forum but I thought I would copy and paste the post here I guess I'm just looking for some reassurance.

I can post this in the heart section if I need to but when the cardiologist said I had a very slight leaky valve do you think he was telling me that to give me a reason for the small heart murmur? He said that he had a heart murmur as well and that it was bigger than mine. He assured me it was nothing to worry about but then he wants to see me again in a year so that worries me... I know murmurs are very common but they don't always mean a leaky valve. Seems like I read somewhere that lots of people have small leaks as well but I may just be telling myself that to make myself feel better... thanks again every for being so kind and understandingI went back and looked at my paper they give me and under todays diagnosis it just said sinus tachycardia, when I went to take my stress test I was watching the screen while I was waiting and I thought I seen something so that tore my nerves up and myheartbeat got up to like 130 before I even started running lol, its a weird feeling having all those wires hooked up to you. people that have nerves of steel have no idea how luck they are...

Hi jl8806,

The heart has several valves, leaking, or I believe it is commonly known as regurgitation, occurs when a valve seal is less than perfect. But this forum is populated by various members with less than perfect aspects to our hearts, such as arrhythmias or dysrrhythmias. Fortunately for all of us, perfect conditions don't need to exist to be reasonably healthy.

The valves work like check valves, they permit flow in one direction then close to prevent the blood from returning. Alas, sometimes the seal is less than perfect and regurgitation results. Mitral Valve Prolapse is well known and rather common, and if the prolapse is significant enough, some regurgitation occurs. This type of situation can be visualized on Echo Cardiograms. Did your doctor say which valve?

Sinus tachycardia means that your heart was functioning in a regular rhythm at a rate over 100 beats per minute. Like you said, adrenaline can easily cause it to go above 100, exercise, etc.

Yearly visits are pretty generous, if he wanted to see you every 3 months or every 6 months, it may be because he was afraid something is deteriorating, but yearly, no, those are routine visits and he can check to be sure nothing changed, and I'm betting he doesn't expect any changes.

What made you go to the doctor to begin with?

And no he never said what valve, he didn't seem concerned about it at all, that's why I was wondering why he even told me unless he was just telling me the reason for the murmur...