If you have a mechanical valve...

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Enudely

Active member
Joined
Oct 14, 2010
Messages
27
Location
Seattle, WA
Did it tick like crazy at first? Did you feel every heart beat like a small pop in your chest cavity?
I am 2+ weeks post op and going sort of nuts over this. Every time I try to relax or sleep, my heart is just keeping me awake. When I take a deep breath, it pounds harder and louder when my ribs expand. Kind of hard to relax. Right now it sounds like there is a loud, fast watch sitting on my chest. I am a musician too, and very sensitive to these kinds of things.
Tell me it will go away soon!
 
Your body/mind is more "in-tune" of what's going on, and yes the "tick" sounds loud until you and your body becomes accustomed to it.

Try to re-assure yourself that it is good thing that you can hear it and while your laying in bed, try to change your position - a slight change may soften the watch noise.

Everyone is different, I think it took me about 5 weeks (maybe less) to 'tune it out'. Instead of focusing on the tick in bed, I would focus on a 'happy place'.

Good Luck and try not to fret.
 
Was your Aortic Valve Stenotic (partially closed) before your Aortic Valve Replacement?

IF SO, your heart muscles have 'built up' to pump against that partially blocked valve.
Now that you have a new and un-blocked valve, your heart muscles will continue to pump as they did before until they 'recondition' to your new valve. Even people who received Tissue Valves report this phenomenon if their original Aortic Valve was stenotic. It can take several weeks, sometimes even a few months, for the heart to recondition to it's new reality.

Moderate Exercise, Cardiac Rehabilition, and TIME all help to relieve a "pounding heartbeat".
Unfortunately, it always seems to take more Time than we like :-(
OTOH, it beats the alternative...

Remind yourself that "Patience is a virtue" (yeah Right!)

'AL Capshaw'
 
One idea- could listening to music or falling asleep to the tv help? I've heard white noise or music with headphones can help drown out the ticking until you get use to it.

It's not good sleep hygiene, but it may be better than being kept awake.
 
I second the TV idea. I found it a little unbearable in the first weeks, for the above mentioned reasons. Since I wasn't working yet anyway, and was tending to take naps after each walk, I just watched TV until I fell asleep. The noise is certain to diminish with time. (Mine kept getting quieter over the course of the first 18 months and now I have to be in a nearly silent room to hear it. I kind of miss it.) You will also become less attuned to it.
That you are a musician reminds me of a performance I saw once where a drummer taped a mic to her chest and used her own heart beat as a metronome and improvised to it. The harder she played the faster it beat until she collapsed, exhausted after about 4 or 5 minutes. If you are on beta blockers you might just have yourself a reliable metronome there, fixed at your restricted max!
 
My heart was beating in my throat and noisy at the time, so I had my husband rip the batteries out of all our wall clocks because I was getting overwhelmed. Now it is a non-issue and actually comforting that I know what my HR is at any
given time. Just a nice thump thump.
 
Enudely

What position was the valve installed in, [Eg aorta]?

What is the make and model?
 
My valve is still LOUD! I am over 18 months out and still hear it! I also hear it in my throat, it still keeps me awake at times....I can give you some comfort in this.....though mine hasn't gotten softer, I have gotten USE to it. I am sitting here on the computer right now with the tv in the same room and I can still hear it. There have been times...(few and far between) that it so quiet that I have to concentrate to hear it. I LOVE those times! They don't happen often enough though...So, even though the ticking seems to always be there, it does not drive me nuts anymore unless it is exceptionally bad. I also find that if my INR is on the high side of my range, it is quieter. Don't ask me why, and others will tell you that isn't possible...but I am always right....if my heart is loud...my INR is on the low side.....if its quiet I am on the high side. What was your INR at last check??

Mileena
 
I can only hear mine at the quietest moments. I think as a musician we (went to Berklee back in the day) tend to be more aware of sounds because part of what we learned was critical listening. I think as time progresses you'll notice the sound less and less. At least "it's got a good beat and it's easy dance to".
 
Tick, Tick...

Tick, Tick...

Body acoustics vary from individual to individual. As others have noted in their replies to your post, it does take some time to get used to all of the changes that result from valve replacement surgery.

I still notice valve noise from time to time even though my aortic valve was replaced back in March, 2007. I'm lots less sensitive to valve noise than I used to be.

-Philip
 
As I posted elsewhere, after my AVR with a PIG valve, my heart was "beating out of my chest", both faster than normal and way louder. For a week or two after I got home, I would often wake up in the middle of the night remembering being awakened by a booming heartbeat in my throat -- and all this was with a TISSUE valve! If I'd had a mechanical valve to blame for the noise, I would have regretted my choice, pure and simple. Now that I'm (back) on metoprolol (B-blocker), my heart-rate is more normal, and I think my rate of PVC premature beats has dropped, too -- and they seem to have included most of my bass-drum heartbeats.

These things do settle down eventually, although you may be left with some residual mechanical ticking that didn't come with my porky. With luck, we'll be able to compare notes in a month or two -- both SANE!!
 
Im 6 weeks out with a St Jude Mechanical heart. My ticker is loud too. My daughter can hear it from across the room. Mine was an aortic replacement, and I find if I lay on my left side I hear it louder than if I lay on my right side, I dont know why.
I also sleep with a noisy fan to help block out the ticking.
I find too if I think about it positively that it helps too. I know its ticking. Im alive. And happy to be.
 
I have a St Jude AVR/April 2004. At first the clicking and hearing my heartbeat all the time was distracting and I wanted it to stop and then after a while it was a comfort to know it was still working. I mostly hear my heart beating now and not the clicking of the valve. I hear it mostly when I'm sitting quietly but not much during the day when I'm at work. I do think there is a correlation w high/low INR's and the intensity of the noise. I test at home so I check whenever I think my INR is off or when I've had a glass of wine. It will get better w time, can't remember exactly how much time before the sound became comforting. Hang in there, it is all new. Wishing you a speedy journey back to feeling well.
 
mainframe said:
I can only hear mine at the quietest moments. I think as a musician we (went to Berklee back in the day) tend to be more aware of sounds because part of what we learned was critical listening. I think as time progresses you'll notice the sound less and less. At least "it's got a good beat and it's easy dance to".[/QUOTE]

Right on :)
Click to expand...
 
enudely,

Did this get better for you? I had a mechanical valve installed March 7th, and it is keeping me awake. Just wondering what your experiences have been since you posted this in December.

Jason
 
First, it's completely normal for the valve to get louder and your heart to pound when you inhale. Expanding your chest cavity to draw in air creates a virtual vacuum around the heart which allows the heart to expand and fill with more blood and cardiac output goes way up. It happened before you got your mechanical valve but just wasn't as noticeable.

My valve never "ticked" but it made a pronounced "thump" and it really bothered me initially when my heart rate was in the 90s post-op. Once it got into the low 80s I was not bothered by it. Now my heart rate is about 60 and I can still sense the thump, even sitting here at the computer with the TV going as well. I can feel it rather than hear it. It doesn't bother me at all. So, I expect you will be much less bothered as time goes on and things settle down.
 
My St Jude mechanical valve + Dacron tube is also quite noisy 3 months after surgery.
Next time (hopefully will not happen), I will ask the surgeon to do some kind of soundproofing work...:)
 
My valve only ticks in some positions, if I lay flat on my back it thumps a bit at times too. I usually keep moving about until I can't hear it. One thing you could try is coughing and clearing your chest as this often helps me another thing I have found is to wear an ear plug for 5 minutes, which amplifies the sound, then when you take it off it doesn't sound too bad. As I have got fitter my heart rate has dropped to around 50 b.p.m. at night there has been some improvement.
I certainly have sympathy for you as I had the same feelings at first, I certainly was not aware of the sound before my operation but I tell myself that it is good to hear it despite everything.
 
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