Did your family’s baby have a heart murmur at birth? And did the mother of the newborn baby or infant child take antidepressant Paxil during pregnancy? If so, the newborn may be suffering from a Paxil birth defect injury.

The baby heart defect known as a heart murmur involves an extra sound the heart makes beyond the familiar beating sound when the heart’s valves open and close as they pump blood through the body.

Such murmurs can be easily detected via an exam with a stethoscope. A heart murmur that’s heard at this point may vary in degrees of intensity. But just because your baby has a heart murmur doesn’t mean that it’s serious. In fact, heart murmurs are very common and often involve no distress.

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Some newborn infants or babies are afflicted with a heart defect known as Wolff-Parkinson-White Syndrome. If their mother took antidepressant Paxil, chances are that the defective drug caused this Paxil birth defect injury or Paxil heart defect.

When it comes to Wolff-Parkinson-White Syndrome, that means the heart of the newborn baby or infant child has an additional electrical circuit or pathway, and it can produce a rapid heart rate condition called tachycardia.

While Wolff-Parkinson-White Syndrome is a fairly common reason for an infant’s rapid heart rate, it should not go unheeded. The heart’s electrical “wiring” is that important.

In a normal heart, electrical signals pass along a heart pathway that enable the heart to beat regularly and prevent acceleration of beats or extra beats. When an accessory, or extra, pathway arises, that can produce an extremely fast heartbeat rate known as supraventricular tachycardia. And this condition is called Wolff-Parkinson-White Syndrome.

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Among Paxil heart defects is a mitral valve prolapse, a condition where the valve separating the heart’s lower and upper chambers fails to close properly. Ordinarily, this valve allows blood from the heart’s left side to flow in a single direction, and closes to prevent blood from shifting backward during a heartbeat. If the valve doesn’t properly close, that is mitral valve prolapse.

For many, this heart birth defects condition doesn’t do harm and the victim isn’t even aware of it since they experience no symptoms. And even with some symptoms, the baby heart defect can be treated with medications.

But in some cases the prolapse can result in blood leaking backward as the valve fails to close properly. That ailment is named mitral regurgitation. Also, a mitral valve with this abnormality in its structure can have a heightened danger of infection from bacteria.

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Among the many serious Paxil birth defects is one called hypoplastic left heart syndrome. An immediate sign of this condition is a blue coloration of the baby soon after birth (called cyanosis), due to the fact that the blood being circulated is not oxygen-rich, as it needs to be.

This congenital heart disease (one present at birth) occurs when the heart’s left side does not completely develop, with the result that the heart’s left side is unable to send enough blood to the body. The heart’s right side then must compensate by providing oxygen-rich blood for the lungs and the rest of the body.

To understand the term better, let’s break it down. “Hypoplastic” refers to the state of being incompletely developed. As for the left side of the heart, it includes the left ventricle, the aorta (the blood vessel carrying blood from the heart’s left ventricle to the entire body) and the aortic valve and mitral valve.

The aorta and the left ventricle tend to be smaller than normal with this condition, which is more apt to occur in a male baby than a female baby, but can arise in either sex.

Hypoplastic left heart syndrome must be addressed with surgery. Otherwise, the right side of the heart, being overburdened, eventually would fail to function. Again, heart surgery is required to save the baby’s life.

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Another congenital birth defect caused by antidepressant Paxil is the fairly common congenital heart defect known as bicuspid aortic valve. That means the aortic valve has just two leaflets instead of the normal three, resulting in the fact that the valve may allow blood to leak back into the heart, known as aortic regurgitation.

Often the result of a Paxil birth defect or Paxil heart defect caused by the defective antidepressant, bicuspid aortic valve may not be apparent immediately via symptoms. In fact, in some victims the injury may not become apparent until adulthood.

However, if the valve becomes narrow or leaks blood, it can produce such symptoms as paleness, trouble breathing, an irregular or rapid heartbeat, a tendency to tire easily, fainting or chest pain.

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Some infant newborn babies harmed by Paxil birth defects or Paxil heart defects may suffer the congenital heart defect known as an atrial septal defect, or ASD. That means the wall separating the atria, or the heart’s upper chambers, does not completely close.

The opening between the two chambers normally closes naturally soon after birth of the child. When this does not occur, blood flows from the left to the right atria, which is known as a shunt. This causes pressure to build in the lungs of the newborn baby.

If this condition is relatively small, it may not be readily apparent and might not even be detected until adulthood. But if the shunt is large, it can cause shortness of breath and other maladies for infants, such as respiratory infections and difficulty in breathing.

Should the defect be moderate to small, an ASD may not require treatment. However, if the ASD is fairly large, the heightened blood flow and shunting of blood back into pulmonary circulation even can cause disability in later life.

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Though a common congenital birth defect, ventricular septal defect (VSD) cannot be dismissed. Rather, in its worst cases, it can lead to heart failure, even though many sufferers of the heart defect do not have dire symptoms.

A VSD concerns holes in the wall separating the heart’s left and right ventricles, or chambers. That wall is not present until just before birth, when it develops. Any hole in the wall is a VSD.

If the hole is small, a newborn baby or infant child may show no signs or symptoms of VSD, and no treatment may be needed. However, a physician should monitor the baby’s progress to ensure that the hole eventually closes and the condition doesn’t worsen. Many small holes will close on their own.

If the hole is large, the baby may show signs indicative of heart failure, including rapid heart rate, labored or rapid breathing, perspiring while feeding, paleness, shortness of breath, respiratory infections and lack of weight gain.

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Pulmonary stenosis, also known as pulmonary valve stenosis, happens when the pulmonary valve does not open widely enough, inhibiting blood flow to the lungs. The pulmonary valve is the valve between the pulmonary artery and the right ventricle -- or chamber -- of the heart.

Pulmonary stenosis often arises as a congenital heart defect, or a heart defect at birth. It can range from mild to extreme cases, and though pulmonary stenosis is uncommon, it can arise in conjunction with other more common forms of heart defects.

Infant babies with mild to moderate pulmonary stenosis may not exhibit immediate symptoms of the heart defect, and they may not require treatment. However, the heart defect then can do one of three things: it can get better, it can stay the same or it can get worse.

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If your child or newborn infant baby is diagnosed with coarctation of the aorta as a Paxil birth defect or Paxil heart defect, that means your child has a narrowing of the aorta, the major artery coming from the heart. This makes it harder for blood to pass through the artery and bring nutrients and oxygen to the rest of the body.

Coarctation of the aorta is among the more common congenital heart defects, or heart defects present at birth. It also may be present alongside such other heart defects as ventricular septal defect, bicuspid aortic valve and defects where just a single ventricle exists.

In about half of such cases, the symptoms of this heart defect will be manifest within a few days of birth. Such symptoms include cold legs or feet; shortness of breath; nosebleed; and high blood pressure.

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The Paxil heart birth defect known as patent ductus arteriosis involves the ductus arteriosis blood vessel not closing normally soon after birth. This causes blood flow between the pulmonary artery and the aorta to be abnormal. Those are the two most significant blood vessels carrying blood from the heart to the body.

The ductus arteriosis is needed while the baby in in the womb, but once the child is born and begins breathing, it no longer is necessary and normally closes within the first two days after birth. When it does not close but remains open, or patent, blood circulation will be abnormal between the lungs and the heart.

Also known as PDA, this condition can be common in infants who also suffer the congenital heart defects known as pulmonary stenosis, hypoplastic left heart syndrome or transpositions of the great vessels, or arteries.

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Truncus arteriosus is the congenital heart defect or disease involving a single blood vessel, the truncus arteriosus, emerging from the heat’s left and right ventricles, rather than the usual two blood vessels, known as the aorta and the pulmonary artery.

Normally, the aorta comes from the heart’s left ventricle and the pulmonary artery emerges from the heart’s right ventricle. To supply blood to the heart muscle, coronary arteries emerge from the aorta immediately above the valve at the aorta’s entrance.

But with truncus arteriosus, only  one artery emerges from the ventricles, and often a large opening exists between the ventricles, known as a ventricular septal defect. Due to this, red blood, which is oxygen-rich, mixes with blue blood, which lacks oxygen. This mixed blood then is pumped to the coronary arteries, the lungs (where much of it winds up) and the rest of the body.

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Another congential heart defect which constitutes a Paxil birth defect is one known as double outlet right ventricle, or DORV. This is, in fact, a congenital heart disease involving the aorta rising from the right ventricle instead of the left ventricle.

The left ventricle is the chamber of the heart which pumps blood to the body of the newborn child or baby as a whole. The right ventricle is the heart’s chamber which pumps blood specifically to the lungs of the infant.

Normally, the aorta must come from the left ventricle, carrying oxygen-rich blood from the heart to the rest of the body, while the pulmonary artery comes from the right ventricle, carrying oxygen-poor blood to the lungs.

For the condition of double outlet right ventricle, both vessels carry oxygen-poor blood from the right ventricle, meaning the body as a whole receives oxygen-poor blood. Meanwhile, no arteries or vessels arise from the heart’s left ventricle to pump oxygen-rich blood to the body.

All this means the heart must work much harder to supply oxygen-rich blood to the body of the baby or child, and blood pressure to the lungs may be high.

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Among several baby heart defects caused by antidepressant Paxil is interrupted aortic arch, or IAA. This congenital heart defect signifies the incomplete development of the aorta, the chief blood vessel carrying oxygen-rich blood from the heart’s left ventricle to the entire body.

Infants or newborn babies who suffer this heart birth defect may suffer lethargy, paleness and coldness, especially in the lower parts of their body. Newborns with IAA also may experience low appetite. The remedy is open heart surgery.

The condition’s “interrupted” designation involves the fact that the aorta, when it leaves the heart, first rises into the chest to supply blood to the blood vessels in the head and arms. The aorta then descends in a semicircular arch to the body’s lower half. When part of this aortic arch is discontinued or absent, that signifies an interrupted aortic arch.

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A Paxil birth defect or heart birth defect known as transposition of the great arteries or vessels occurs when the two major blood vessels funneling blood from the heart are switched, or transposed. These vessels are the pulmonary artery and the aorta. The condition is a congenital heart defect, meaning it is present at birth of an infant or child.

Symptoms of transposition of the great arteries or vessels include bluish skin, shortness of breath, poor feeding and a clubbing of the toes or fingers of the newborn baby. A bluish skin may occur in the baby’s trunk (torso) or fce. Also, a murmur may be detected when a physician examines the child’s chest.

However, the condition may be diagnosed even before birth. That can be done via a fetal echocardiogram.

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Many heart birth defects in infants can be serious, including Tetralogy of Fallot. This is a congenital heart defect which causes cyanosis, or bluish discoloration of the skin due to oxygen-poor blood reaching the body’s general circulation.

Technically, Tetralogy of Fallot is a failure of the heart’s right ventricular outflow tract to form properly. That leads to malformations such as an overly muscular right ventricle or an improper positioning of the aorta.

It also can cause PS, or pulmonic stenosis, which involves an overly narrow part of the main pulmonary artery near the pulmonary valve. Another Tetralogy of Fallot condition is VSD, or a ventricular septal defect. This heart defect involves an abnormal opening between the heart’s two lower chambers.

All of these abnormalities of the heart require surgery, and further, what is known as open heart surgery.

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