Purple feet and a musical heart

"Acrocyanosis is a painless disorder caused by constriction or narrowing of small blood vessels in the skin of affected patients. The spasm of the blood vessels decreases the amount of blood that passes through them, resulting in less blood being delivered to the hands and feet. The hands may be the main area affected. The affected areas turn blue and become cold and sweaty. Localized swelling may also occur. Emotion and cold temperatures can worsen the symptoms, while warmth can decrease symptoms. The disease is seen mainly in women and the effect of the disorder is mainly cosmetic. People with the disease tend to be uncomfortable, with sweaty, cold, bluish colored hands and feet."
http://www.acrocyanosistx.com/


Natalie has had pretty sensitive feet since she was born. The normal dark, poor circulation she has as a newborn, but she just never grew out of it.
At her 6 month check up, I mentioned it to her doctor, and low and behold it happened right there, her feet turned purple just while she was sitting. I wondered if it was her femoral artery getting occluded, because circulation would return upon standing. But it also would happen at home after lying and taking a nap...i would change her diaper and there her purple feet would be. Her pediatrician checked her out and thought it wasn't anything too alarming but still wanted us to see a pediatric cardiologist to make sure she wasn't overlooking anything.
Well, we saw the pediatric cardiologist last week and she was diagnosed with the above problem, acrocyanosis. It is harmless, painless and nothing we can do to prevent it. Changes in temperature can exacerbate it...cold to hot, hot to cold. What he told us is that basically her blood vessels in her feet are having vasospasms and decreasing the amount of blood to them. He said, it will get worse before it gets better and she will outgrow it around 2-3 yrs.
He also heard a murmur, and did an echo right away (to make sure her decreased circulation wasn't a result of a "whole" in her heart), everything looks good for her heart. She has Still's murmur, named after the physician who discovered it.

"In fact, no one knows exactly what causes a Still’s murmur. People have looked very closely using ultrasound at the hearts of children with this murmur, and compared them to the hearts of children who do not. No difference has ever been identified. It is very clear however, that the Still’s murmur is not caused by any type of heart defect. Having listened to thousands of children this murmur, my personal opinion is that young children have very healthy, elastic hearts that “ring” when they beat, in very much the same way that a soda bottle makes a musical sound when you blow over the top. Indeed, I suspect the Still’s murmur is a sign of health, given how generally healthy the children are who have it."

http://www.larserickson.com/PatientInfo/Murmurs_Stills.htm



So we are very happy that our little Natalie has 2 "normal" things, purple feet and a musical heart.