Heart Murmur Question

[atrickpay]

Hey, i've been up and down the internet and this forum for some information regarding the navy's stand on heart murmurs. I have found a few subjects about it, but nothing definitive. I've just been lurking here as of a few weeks ago, and this place is definitely a gold mine for a Naval Officer hopeful like myself, so maybe someone can help me.

Back to the question. I am just now beginning the application process, still have yet to take the ASTB, but I want to get all my facts straight beforehand. I have had a clear medical history my whole life, good vision, etc, but in high school I remembered my doctor saying that I had a slight heart murmur. Well now that I am going to be applying for SNA, I figured I should get it checked out because I don't want to get medically DQ'd. Especially if it's once I have been selected. It would royally suck to end up finding out at OCS that i'm NPQ, because if I get into BDCP then I owe the Navy something, and I don't know what happens in that case.

About my murmur, the cardiologist said I have 'mild regurgitation in the tricuspid and aortic valves.' This is apparently very common in athletes and not really a problem to me right now. When it might be a problem is when i'm applying for SNA. I guess I will have to check the box that says 'heart conditions, murmur'. In doing this do I throw up a red flag that will prevent my selection? Speaking of, I also have to check the 'illegal drug use', thanks to trying pot once :icon_rage, because I have it in records during my security clearance application. But anyways, I could not find any specifics on the NOMI website regarding what is grounds for DQ, so i'm wondering if any of you have past experiences with murmurs and what happened because of it. Any help is appreciated, thanks!

Patrick

 

[Herc_Dude]

Well, some doctor when I was in middle school thought he heard something and called it a murmur. Of course, he was the only guy to ever hear it and when I moved on to another doctor so went my murmur.

Maybe get a second opinion from another doctor and then go from there. If you have it then you have it, but don't give NOMI that much med ammo against you that easy.

 

[feddoc]

http://www.airwarriors.com/forum/search.php?searchid=3198999

Murmurs are not that uncommon amongst athletic people. Do you have access to another doc, possibly a cardiologist?

 

[atrickpay]

I have already searched the forums and read the previous posts (most are multiple years old). The thing was most of them didn't specify what kind of murmur was a bad murmur, because there are numerous things that can cause them.

I originally visited my family doctor, who recommended that I get an echocardiogram at the hospital. Thats what I did, and he heard the murmur as well, and the echo proved that I have it, but it is minimal as I mentioned. The reason I ask is because I found the Airforce Regulation on murmurs and it actually mentions that mild regurgitation is acceptable, but anything worse is not.

Navy is my first choice though, so I would like to know if they have similar regulations or if they are more strict, and would DQ me immediately.

 

[feddoc]

My guess is that you will be ok. Go here: http://navmedmpte.med.navy.mil/nomi/nami/WaiverGuideTopics/pdfs/Waiver Guide - Cardiology.pdf

Then type in 'regurgitation' in the search binoculars.

 

[atrickpay]

Thank you, that document helped a lot. Also reading over my results I realized it was 'Mitral and Tricuspid', not aortic. Just have a few questions on the acronyms they use.

"Tricuspid regurgitation: TR is frequently encountered (40-70% of 20-40 year old normals). "Physiologic" TR is generally classified as a regurgitant flow with velocities of 0.20-0.26 M/s. Alternatively, the ratio of the jet to RV area as measured by planimetry can be performed. Mild TR is less than or equal to 20%, moderate TR is 20-34%, and severe TR is >35%. In the absence of RAE or RVH, mild to moderate TR is NCD."

What is NCD?

Also what are the ICD codes for?

ICD-9 CODES:
Valvular Diseases Not Otherwise Specified:
424.0 Mitral Valve
424.0 Mitral Regurgitation
424.2 Tricuspid Valve (Stenosis and Insufficiency)

It also says:

WAIVER: Waiver can be considered for mild mitral regurgitation provided it is not associated with mitral stenosis or connective tissue disease.

Which i'm guessing is my case, since they made no mention of stenosis. So i'm guessing when they say it can be considered, it means that they don't hand them out to everyone. From what i've heard if you qualify, a waiver usually isn't too hard to get, but I don't know if that is once you already have your foot in the door. I guess since this is considered a valve regurgitation I don't need to check it off as a heart murmur since they are technically not the same, so I dont throw up any flags. Thanks again for all the help, its looking like this won't be as much of a problem as I thought.

 

[feddoc]

NCD = Not Considered Disqualifying
ICD = International Classification of Diseases Docs can assign a code to any disease/condition

 

[atrickpay]

Thank you feddoc, you've been a lot of help. The NCD meaning is definitely a relief :thumbup_1

 

[picklesuit]

N-O equals Naval Opportunity...if there is no documentation of a heart murmur there is no reason to bring it up.

When I went in for my NOMI visit they found some random weird shit on my ECG and they didn't NPQ me...something about a late 4th beat or something...I think it depends on the severity...as for the illegal drugs, don't add on to it, you only did them once, you can't remember who you did it with or got it from, and don't use any of those people you can't remember as a reference (those guys in the black SUV are really good at digging)

 

[atrickpay]

N-O equals Naval Opportunity...if there is no documentation of a heart murmur there is no reason to bring it up.

When I went in for my NOMI visit they found some random weird shit on my ECG and they didn't NPQ me...something about a late 4th beat or something...I think it depends on the severity...as for the illegal drugs, don't add on to it, you only did them once, you can't remember who you did it with or got it from, and don't use any of those people you can't remember as a reference (those guys in the black SUV are really good at digging)

Do you think that my echo was not documented? I mean they sent us the results. Or do you just mean documented with the navy themselves (unless they find it at the physical, then I guess I just have to deal with it)? Also about the drug use, I had already mentioned it on when I got my security clearance a few years ago. The guy said 'once is only considered experimentation'. So I guess I could bring that up if it was ever mentioned again. The whole 'well the security clearance guy said..'

Thats why I was wondering what I should do, because like you said theres no reason to bring it up if it's only going to hurt me.

 

[WIDGET]

i had a heart murmor at birth that "they" said closed by the time i was 2. the flight doc asked me about it. listened. and said, "yeah .. you have a bit of a murmor." and moved on with the physical.
turned out that i was a lot more worried about it than the doc was.

 

[atrickpay]

i had a heart murmor at birth that "they" said closed by the time i was 2. the flight doc asked me about it. listened. and said, "yeah .. you have a bit of a murmor." and moved on with the physical.
turned out that i was a lot more worried about it than the doc was.

That makes me feel better, thanks =)

 

[atrickpay]

Just to update this thread for future searchers, I received my waiver and got my final select with no issues. I did tell my recruiter and MEPS about the murmur because I would rather know now if I am going to get NPQ'd than wait for NAMI to do it. So for those of you with mild heart murmurs, try not to worry about it too much. =)

 

[feddoc]

Very good news to read about.

 

[Sharkbait14]

Just to update this thread for future searchers, I received my waiver and got my final select with no issues. I did tell my recruiter and MEPS about the murmur because I would rather know now if I am going to get NPQ'd than wait for NAMI to do it. So for those of you with mild heart murmurs, try not to worry about it too much. =)

That is good to know... thanks!