20 Astonishing Varieties of Heart Disease: Your Ultimate Roadmap to Cardiac Chaos

9. Heart Murmurs

Heart murmurs are another type of heart condition. They are sounds caused by blood in or near the affected individual's heart. The sounds can often be heard as swishing or whooshing sounds. Heart murmurs can be congenital, meaning they are present at birth, or develop over time. Innocent heart murmurs are harmless, do not indicate heart disease, and typically do not require any treatment. They do not trigger other symptoms aside from the sound itself. Abnormal heart murmurs, however, have an underlying cause and often do require treatment. Symptoms of abnormal heart murmurs vary depending on the cause. Examples of symptoms include shortness of breath, sudden weight gain, an enlarged liver, chronic cough, chest pain, fatigue, and dizziness. Blue-tinged skin, particularly on the lips and fingertips, is another sign of an abnormal heart murmur.

10. Inherited Heart Conditions

Inherited heart conditions cover a range of rare heart diseases. They are the result of a mutation in one or more genes. With one of these conditions, individuals with a genetic mutation can have a fifty-fifty chance of passing the same mutation, and thus the condition, on to their children. The majority of research on inherited heart conditions surrounds those that can result in serious arrhythmias and potentially sudden cardiac death. One significant example is hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, which can cause a deadly arrhythmia. Other symptoms, though rare, include chest pain, heart palpitations, shortness of breath, and fainting. Examples of common inherited heart conditions that can trigger arrhythmias are Long QT syndrome, Short QT syndrome, and Brugada syndrome. The first two involve abnormally long or short QT intervals. This interval is the electrical recovery phase of the heartbeat. Long QT syndrome can result in rapid and chaotic heartbeats and cause fainting. Seizures happen in some patients. Sudden death is rare, but can happen in Long QT syndrome. Short QT syndrome fainting and heart palpitations as common symptoms. However, sudden cardiac death is also common in Short QT syndrome and may even be the first symptom.