Mechanical Valve noise - do you hear it from inside or outside?

[Bina]

My big dream was to have a tissue valve,
But seeing how my recovery was so awful, I'm glad that I went mech.

 

[MikeB]

Is the sound of a mechanical valve something you hear from 'outside' like a ticking clock, or something you feel from inside, like a pulse. I cannot sleep if there is the slightest sound & have used earplugs every night for many years - so would earplugs
work to mask the sound?

At 57 my preference would be mechanical (2 family members have had warfarin without problems) but the sound could be a decider - I would not expect to be able to choose
a valve manufacturer.

I have had mine for 8 years and the only time I hear it is when I think about it or talk to someone about it other than that it blends in with the rest of noises and it hasn't been an issue. It took a few months to get used to after surgery but as I had said many times I am happy with my decision and have no regrets about it. Hopefully you can get past the ticking quickly and you can live your life as you did before.

 

[Jeff Edmonton]

Now that I have the new valve, week 2 now, the sound reminds me of a barbaque electric starter going click click click. Spring is coming so bring on the T-Bone steaks, baked potato's fine tasting wine and good company with family and friends. Never take anything for granted, we have but one life to live and every choice we make has an effect.
"May the Gods continue to be kind in 2011"

 

[mknuppel]

I've had my for almost three years. Rarely hear it. Body position does have an effect. I use a white noise machine at night. As my Dr says " if you hear it, it is a good thing".

Best of luck on your decision and surgery!

 

[Protimenow]

I've had my St. Jude for nearly 20 years. At first, it was loud enough for my kids to hear through a hollow door -- it made playing hide and seek nearly impossible. Others could hear it from many feet away.
As some of the studies reported above have shown, the clicking/ticking is louder INSIDE the head than it is outside the body. This explains why I don't think I've really heard with the valve sounds like from anywhere but the inside of my head.

It DOES seem to get quieter with time. My hair cutter (who I've been going to for decades) commented that he can't really hear it anymore, but it was very loud when I first had my surgery. As others have reported, you DO kind of get used to it, and it's easiest to hear it when you're trying to hear it. If you don't try to pay attention to it, it probably won't bother you.

I don't think earbuds are the way to go if you want to stop hearing the click. (Of course, if you're playing music or white noise, the sound in the earbuds may cover the clicking). With things in your ears, I'd be concerned about somehow keeping the sound INSIDE the head, rather than letting some of the vibration radiate OUT the auditory canal (not that any microphones put into the ear would pick up the sound).

For me, at least, you CAN get pretty used to the clicking, and it does seem to get softer. (And it makes it awfully easy to take your pulse, hands-free)

 

[Eva]

From the first day of the surgery, I did not hear my valves. A young nurse standing by heard it and she was looking around for a clock!! Neither I nor she were wearing watches and she was very surprised when I told her it could be my valves!!

I only hear it at night, after a long tiring day, and only when I lie down on my side and the room is very quiet.

I am like you...a very sensitive sleeper and I do not want any noises. My clicks surprisingly are a joy and sometimes I make an effort to listen to their music.

So, Do not worry about it. You might be among the lucky majority who do not hear their valves.

Good luck

 

[LeakyUK]

Well, thanks everyone. The decision is made, it will be a Carbomedics (Sorin) mechanical. I get 'whats on the shelf' and thats fine with me. The surgeon had a look at 'FRED' - a large benign lump on my arm (which I refused to have removed) and said - "I can see you dont like operations" and advised a tissue would last about ten years so the decision was made. Potential noise was not mentioned, but I am sure I will get used to it. My local GP surgery runs an INR clinic with an immediate result, so management will not be an issue. No date yet though June seems possible.

 

[yotphix]

June is an excellent month for OHS. I was given a 6 month window and picked June. The toughest part of the recovery is in the summer so you can sit out in the sunshine and listen to the chirping birds and enjoy the flowers. Lots of daylight hours are a plus too for getting your recovery walks in. By the time winter rolls around you will be substantially recovered and better able to deal with it's unpleasantness.
Congratulations on your choice by the way. I am the proud wearer of a Carbomedics 29mm aortic valve. I wouldn't trade it for anything.

 

[Mileena46]

The noise of my valve was a horror to me. I heard it as soon as I woke up in ICU. I tend to hear it in my throat. No other way to explain it....it feels like a clock in my throat. I am not going to lie to you, it drove me CRAZY! I complained on here a lot about it because I just couldn't seem to get use to it. Also if you have any PVCs or PACs going on there is NO way to miss them! This bothered me so bad, I developed some major anxiety issues....told my cardiologist I sooo wished I had gone with tissue. Everyone kept telling me it would get better with time and I would grow not to notice it so much. After a year, it had not improved at all. I couldn't sleep at night, didn't want to add another pill to all the meds I take by taking something to relax me.

Now, I will be 2 years in July....and in the last couple of months my valve has quietened a lot! I kept telling everyone it would never happen, but just all of a sudden...when I lay in bed sometimes I have to concentrate to hear it....and even then have trouble. Not to say that I NEVER hear it....I do....when I exercise or am in a closed bathroom, but I am sooooo glad that it got better, because hearing my valve was never a "small" issue with me. I am a very light sleeper and can't stand any noise at all....so the constant ticking was a horror! I hope that you get a quiet one, and it doesn't bother you, but I thought you should hear the whole story, because it def was a HUGE problem for me.

Mileena

 

[bdryer]

Hi Leaky

Good on you for making a decision. Just remember it takes a year for the heart to remodel, so it MAY be a little noisy. Even tissue valves can be noisy during this period. My human valve with an opening of .5 was noisy if I did something that elevated my BP, like over eat before bed time. The hypertrophy of the Left ventricle exerts an elevated opening px on the valve, increasing the noise which abates as the heart atrophies during the remodeling period.. You will find that lying on one side may be quieter then the opposite side. Play around and sleep with a fan.

I scored with my On-X which generally makes a thud thud sound not a clicking sound when noticeable. Others have found On-X to generate more noise then a St Jude. Give that Carbomedics baby time and you will be great buds!

 

[Rocky]

I am 12 weeks post-op. I had a St Jude mechanical valve installed. I did a bunch of research and found out the positive and negative of it. I was very prepared when I met the surgeon and he explained the choices. I told him that I did not want to rivisite surgery and did not see the blood work, or the Warfarin as an issue for me. He agreed that it was the best choice.

I can not hear it, but I can feel it. My daughter says she can hear it from 5 feet when it is quiet. I notice it mostly at night when I am settled down and I need to re-arange the pillows to keep it from noticing it in my ears.

My experience with ear plugs in the hospital after surgery is that ear plugs made it more instrusive and I could hear the ticking sound of the valve.

I think we can get use to anything, given enough time. I would rather deal with ticking and the occasional annoyance of the Mecanical valve than go through surgery again in 10 or so years when I am 70 to 75 years old.

 

[dick0236]

I am 12 weeks post-op......
.....I think we can get use to anything, given enough time. .

Hello Rocky, and welcome to the forum. There is a wealth of info here.

For most people, the "ticking" eventually goes away as our mind, and body, get used to the valve. I cannot remember when I was last aware of the "ticking"...or felt the "thumping", but it was a long, long time ago. Recently, a new physician remarked that it was one of the quietest valves he had ever heard. My guess is that, as the heart reconfigured around the valve, the sound has become very muted. Maybe in forty years, your valve will be as quiet as mine:biggrin2:.

 

[BDMc]

I sometimes hear mine each way. I think I hear my heartbeat with earplugs anyway, something I don't like about using them. For me it was much louder for several months after surgery. Now I rarely hear it. One friend here had quite a time with his, as it is so loud you can hear it standing next to him.

 

[Chris M]

Well, thanks everyone. The decision is made, it will be a Carbomedics (Sorin) mechanical. I get 'whats on the shelf' and thats fine with me. The surgeon had a look at 'FRED' - a large benign lump on my arm (which I refused to have removed) and said - "I can see you dont like operations" and advised a tissue would last about ten years so the decision was made. Potential noise was not mentioned, but I am sure I will get used to it. My local GP surgery runs an INR clinic with an immediate result, so management will not be an issue. No date yet though June seems possible.

Hi Leaky, I was told the same thing about tissue too, which is what I was initially leaning towards when I went to see my surgeon. Ten years suddenly seemed like a very short time indeed. I'm glad now I went mechanical as he suggested (I'm 56), though I have no idea what he installed - as you say, whatever tends to be "on the shelf", I guess.

I have a local INR clinic at my GP surgery too but can't use that until my INR is correctly established and stable. Today I had to go to a hospital ACT clinic to have my first INR check since I left hospital - inconvenient and expensive (taxis both ways as my hubby doesn't drive) and I got a bit tearful as I re-entered the hospital environment but hopefully we can nail the INR value within a week or two and I can then go locally. The test was a painless pin prick to the finger, I'm glad to say, as it will be locally.

As for the noise issue, experiences seem to vary enormously from what I've read here. I think the true answer is that none of us know what it will be like until we get there as we are all so individual. In my own case I accepted that I may have to live with a small internal noise. As it happens I am delighted to find that I cannot hear a thing 99% of the time. I do sometimes wake up in the dead of night and, if I'm lying in a certain position with my mouth open, I can hear a faint click in my throat. But I really have to stop and listen for it. I am so happy about this because I too dislike noise, though I expect I eventually would have learned to live with it had the situation been different.

I do hope you have a pleasant surprise too. If not then it will probably not be much different from learning to ignore a clock ticking faintly in a room. If it's regular and steady it can be filtered out from your conciousness. Where I live we have the low background noise of the screeching and shunting of railway rolling stock ~ I hardly notice it now.

Good luck!

 

[Bob in Colorado]

My experience is exactly the same as Protimenow. I do hear it any time I am sitting still in a quiet location. Sometimes at night it is a bother. But for some reason my pulse is slower and steadier now, and being able to hear that is a joy

 

[Jeff Edmonton]

The sound at week 12 is much less, I can still hear it at times but it is a much softer sound and it rarely bothers me any more. I think I made a good choice and am pleased with the end result so far. I am over the stress and fear that came with the surgery and am ready to go back to work and get all stressed out again...NOT!

 

[Natina13]

Superman
I am confused by your post, as I was told the mech. valves would last a lifetime. May I inquire why yours was changed on your second surgery ?? My plan is to have the mech....with my next surgery....when my tissue one gives out. I am hoping by then, we will no longer need blood thinners, they will be silent and less chance of forming blood clots.
Renee
Go Team 2011 !!!!
BAV and 3 proximal arteries dx in 11/2010 4/14/2011 AVR with a Edwards "Magna" Bovine Tissue Valve and a triple bypass ( with no complications, other than having to receive 2 bags of platelets and 4 blood transfusions)

 

[njean]

I was very aware of the 'racket' my valves made when I first had them implanted 36 years ago. For a while I thought I'd never get used to the ticking but as the months turned into years, and the years turned into decades, the sound of my valves became a soothing comfort and I embraced them like a beloved friend. I focused instead on staying alive and thanking God each day for allowing me to stay on this earth just a while longer.

I hope that you too will find the sound of your new valve soothing and comforting!

 

[pem]

Some people report that others hear their mech valve, so that's obviously through the air. I'm sure there's some bone-conduction hearing going on, too.

I recently read a study (I don't remember which valves were studied, but the findings might generalize to all mech valves) comparing the loudness of the clicking from inside and outside the body. I don't remember how it was measured, but the findings suggest that it is louder for the person with the valve due to sound traveling inside the body, perhaps from bone-conduction, as Norm suggested. If I remember right, about 70% of the sound traveled internally, but don't hold me to that.

I think I read the same study as Norm suggesting that the ATS valve is quieter than the On-X valve. I have become leery of studies on valves, though, as I understand that they are almost always biased by funding and research agendas. I agree that there are lots of individual differences that may play into this more than any "average" will tell you. If you are a person with a heightened sensitivity to sounds, I would seek the quietest valve you can get that doesn't compromise your other priorities. There does seem to be an adaptation period during which the perceived loudness lessens - it isn't clear whether it is actually quieter or if the person is simply desensitized. Desensitization is well-established over a variety of perceptual phenomena, so it wouldn't surprise me.

Good luck with your decision.

 

[scott.eitman]

I was very aware of the 'racket' my valves made when I first had them implanted 36 years ago. For a while I thought I'd never get used to the ticking but as the months turned into years, and the years turned into decades, the sound of my valves became a soothing comfort and I embraced them like a beloved friend. I focused instead on staying alive and thanking God each day for allowing me to stay on this earth just a while longer.

I hope that you too will find the sound of your new valve soothing and comforting!

Thanks, It is comforting to hear from people who have this kind of experience.