Hey there, im new to the site but glad I found it. This is exactly the site I may need. Im a 31 yr old dude thats fairly healthy no major health problems in the past. Im hypertensive and have been since I was about 16, but ive taken medication and its never been an issue. I recently started having some chest issues. Its hard to describe part of it but I will try the best I can. It feels kinda like spasms in my chest and my heart seems to kinda skip a beat and it feels like I skip a breath at the same time and then my heart rate will skyrocket. Its gone as high as 170 bpm. Its only for just a brief time but it is happening more and more often. Im also getting very fatigued. I got concerned and went to see a cardiologist(scary stuff for me) He did an exam and said he heard the murmur and then he did an EKG. After he came back and told me that there was an abnormality on the EKG. He said something about it being indicative of having small holes in the heart. He scheduled me an Echo so he could take a look at the heart. Im having it soon. I have been researching and everything I have seen says that holes in the heart are caused by congenital defects. I would think that if I had some sort of congenital defect I would have known it by now. Is there any other cause of a hole in the heart other than that? and if its congenital is it possible not to be noticed until later in life? Any help you can give me would be greatly appreciated.