Heart Palpitations when laying down - regular event, cant seem to get used to it

[jake]

Howdy all:

So when I lay down at night, or sometimes when I take a seat and watch television, I can feel my heart beating in a pretty pronounced way. BOOM - BOOM - BOOM - BOOM In my throat, sometimes in my ears, and in my chest. The heartbeat is not irregular or fast or slow of typical, just very pronounced and very annoying. I can get up and start walking around and it just disappears.

EKG's have been normal, and pulse rate is steady.

Now I am 9 months post op and I know that I have a fresh new chunk of ascending aorta and still have a bicuspid heart valve. Is this typical? Can I look forward to this going on for the rest of my life? Anyone else have this going on after OHS?

 

[Bina]

Hey Jake, I don't want to discourage you, but my pounding heart while leaning back on a chair or sofa has continued
and I am almost 6 years out. It is not nearly as noticeable or annoying as it was early on, but I wondered if my
heart has enough room in there or I am just too skinny and notice everything more.
Hopefully some of the -replaced aorta guys- will have a better answer for you.

 

[Julian]

I'm only 4 weeks post op but I've noticed when I breath in deeply that I can really feel my heart thump. It almost feels like that conduit they put in there is really amplifying the sound or something. Almost like when my lungs press against it and it has less room, I can feel and hear it more. Maybe for me it will go away with time but I've noticed that and it kinda sucks.

 

[hook]

I am over a year out, and can feel my heart when I relax as well.

 

[Greg a]

Hey Jake, I don't want to discourage you, but my pounding heart while leaning back on a chair or sofa has continued
and I am almost 6 years out. It is not nearly as noticeable or annoying as it was early on, but I wondered if my
heart has enough room in there or I am just too skinny and notice everything more.
Hopefully some of the -replaced aorta guys- will have a better answer for you.

Four years for me and I find it is more laying on my left side .......I tell my wife it is cuz I look at her trying to score points LOL

 

[Bina]

Four years for me and I find it is more laying on my left side .......I tell my wife it is cuz I look at her trying to score points LOL

LOL....Greg, you are such a hound dog.

 

[normofthenorth]

Mine also pounds when I relax (ALSO ~9 months post-OHS!), but it's also way slow when it does, almost always <60 and often <50 and occasionally even <40(!!). Mine's been diagnosed (after a 48-hour Holter) as PACs, and the main treatment (according to my Cardiologist and Wikipedia both) is "reassurance". When I first noticed it, it would keep me from falling asleep, but a few doses of that "reassurance" have largely solved that problem! ;-) In a week or two I'm scheduled for a routine echo cardiogram, which may or may not add some more info to the mix.

Re: "Can I look forward to this going on for the rest of my life?": The famous Russian-American composer Igor Stravinsky used to tell a a "funny" story at his own expense. He said "My Doctor tells me I have serious blood condition. I asked him, 'Doctor, will it last long?' He said 'No, not long, but all your life!'" (Imagine the story told in a very thick Russian accent. The voice file is probably online somewhere. . .)

Unlike Stravinsky's problem, yours MAY last long! ;-)

 

[Eva]

Howdy all:

So when I lay down at night, or sometimes when I take a seat and watch television, I can feel my heart beating in a pretty pronounced way.

Occasionally, I feel the same if I did not get enough sleep the night before.

 

[jake]

OK, so after discussing this with a few doctors, and a couple of my fellow automotive technicians, and reading what you all said, I think I may have some insight. Not being satisfied with the assertion that "that’s just the way it is" I had to go searching for an reasons I could wrap my analytical head around. Here is what I came up with by consensus:

Reason #1:

Your pericardium has been compromised because of heart surgery. The analogy was presented as to suggest that if you were on one side of a thick wool stage Curtin, and the Curtin is closed, any noise (banging, talking, etc) would be significantly muted by the closed Curtin. After OHS, the curtain is drawn back and now you hear it all!

Reason #2:

Now that you ascending aorta is no longer made of meat (which has the ability to absorb pulses) the pulses from your heart beating are now being transmitted throughout your chest cavity through the new conduit which absorbes little if any pressure. The old "meat" conduit used to have some give to it, the new one does not! Now at each heart beat, the "pulse" from that beat has no rebound from the natural aortic material, it hits that solid piece of new conduit and from there, is transmitted through your chest cavity.

Reason #3:

I have a bi-cusped heart valve, thus, the pressures on the outlet side of my heart are higher than normal anyway. The new piece of ascending aorta just added a “megaphone” for that increased pressure of blood leaving my heart and entering my aorta. I was told that this is why I was put on a strict weight lifting limit for one year post OHS to prevent any bulging where the new aortic material ends and the existing aorta begins (anastamosis).

I suppose that any of these reasons could cause this “pounding” to occur, unfortunately, I have all three going on.

It was suggested that the pounding sensation is always there, I just don’t notice it until I sit down or lay down and there is nothing else to distract me or draw my attention. I am told that the more I fixate on it, the worse it will get. In other words,

"FORGIDDABOUTIT."

I guess I will have to accept that.

 

[hetmarie]

I asked my dad if he had the same loud thumpa-thumpa that I was experiencing post-op and he says that even to this tday sitting or laying in certain positions he still gets bothered by the loud pronounced thumping in his chest. He had his bentall procedure (mechanical valve & ascending aorta replacement) in 1983. He says if it really bothers him, he changes positions. Hopefully it gets better over time, or at the very least you get used to it...

 

[Sara C]

Hi Jake,
I also have these palpitations that you describe. I am four months post-op and had similar experiences with this. My cardio finally said this is "normal" at my three month post-op appointment and actually gave me similar reasons as the three you listed. She specifically mentioned that the pericardium is removed and then "laid" back onto the heart after the repair- thus disrupting the heart's natural insulation.
Someone else posted about the slow heart rates- I get this too and find the pounding sensation feels more pronounced when I am not doing activities, my heart rate is slow (runs upper 40's and 50's at times) or when sleeping (or trying to sleep). Initially it felt like a small pony kicking inside my chest but it has calmed down somewhat. I had family and friends put a hand on my chest and feel it too so they could help me deal with it. It is louder and more pronounced when inhaling for me as well. It certainly keeps me up at night and has been at the least very uncomfortable and most wondering of I needed to do something about it (like take more beta blockers) or if there is something wrong.
I will ask my cardio about the ability of the ascending aorta replacement graft's ability to absorb the pressure changes. I hadn't really thought of that but it does make sense. I was really glad to see your post as I haven't seen much discussion about this problem. As I am writing this, I can count my pulse just by feeling the beats in my chest (the definition of palpitations).
One reason I like to work out and do cardiac rehab is to increase my heart rate; it makes the pounding seem normal. Since you are 9 months out, I guess I better accept this as an OK symptom and not get too obsessed about it.
Thanks for sharing,
Sara