Weird things noticed after AVR - Let's hear about yours

[Sten Osis]

There are a couple of weird things I've noticed after having aortic valve replacement. The first was actually being able to hear the mechanical valve clicking, which I expected, but still weird.
Another is my heart rate is at least 10 beats faster than before surgery. Maybe that's the beta-blockers...........
Also, when I take a deep breath it feels like my heart beats harder, or is more noticeable during the deep breath. When I exhale, it seems normal again.

Mike

 

[Phil]

There are a couple of weird things I've noticed after having aortic valve replacement. The first was actually being able to hear the mechanical valve clicking, which I expected, but still weird.
Another is my heart rate is at least 10 beats faster than before surgery. Maybe that's the beta-blockers...........
Also, when I take a deep breath it feels like my heart beats harder, or is more noticeable during the deep breath. When I exhale, it seems normal again.

Mike

Hi Mike,

I could have written this post. You describe everything which is currently happening for me. I hear my valve more in bed and when having a wee, but on the whole I thought it would be louder and more intrusive. I'm glad it's not. My heart rate is about 15 beats faster, but I have been told it will go back to more of a normal range (for me) once the heart properly heals. I kind of like the clicking at night - hearing a nice rhythm when I have been plagued by aFib for many, many years is a beautiful thing.

All the best.



Phil.

 

[Sten Osis]

Phil, I've been very lucky to have not had afib..........knock on wood.

Here's another thing: strange, fleeting sensations in and around the chest incision; almost like a small electric shock. A nurse told me this would happen around three weeks post-surgery, caused by nerves that were cut beginning to heal.

 

[canon4me]

Regarding strange things....I have a tissue valve and very happy with it....but I am one month post op and I am having this pain just off the side of my sternum...over my heart that when I take a breath it hurts a little but at the same time it kind of tickles like a low intensity electrical shock and I've notice that if I maintain firm pressure of that spot with my hand....when I breath then, it's not nearly as noticeable and darn near nonexistent. I too, wonder if that has something to do with nerve endings from the surgery or possibly that stainless steel wire they wrapped my sternum in irritating a nerve(s). I hope it disappears in time rather than having to live with it for 15 years or so.

 

[AmyR]

Sten Osis yes i feel exactly all that you are feeling. Unfortunately the PVC's are more prominent in the inhale mode since the heart beat is more clear. all should be fine. Part and parcel of a good heart. All the best.

 

[yotphix]

Those odd sensations around the sternum can carry on for quite some time. I had areas of my chest and upper abdomen that were numb, and others that were extra sensitive for nearly three years. (Not the good kind of extra sensitive, but the uncomfortable kind. Getting tattooed in the region next to the incision was about the most painful thing I've ever felt. I think my fingertip imprints are probably still in the tattoo shop chair.)
As to hearing the ticking more in the bathroom and bedroom, I think that's likely because those rooms are so quiet. Hearing it more when your lungs are full kind of makes sense too, since it will resonate better in your chest cavity in that state. You definitely get used to it, and eventually you'll probably forget that you can hear it at all, until a child sitting on your lap suddenly looks up at you in disbelief and says 'uncle Sten, did you swallow a clock?'.

 

[AZ Don]

Also, when I take a deep breath it feels like my heart beats harder, or is more noticeable during the deep breath. When I exhale, it seems normal again. Mike

Yes, I've had this since the initial pain settled down and it can be annoying. It feels like my lungs are pushing my heart so that it pounds against my sternum. The PA explained that during open heart surgery the pericardial sac is cut open but not closed. Over time scar tissue will form which will close the sac. So as I understand it, prior to surgery the heart is in a nice protected sac and after surgery not as much. I was told this was normal and that it should clear up within a few months. I am 6 weeks post op now and still have it.

Re. the faster heart rate. It's not likely from the beta blockers - they slow down the heart rate. It's normal for the heart rate to be faster after heart surgery and as you recover it should slow down. Because of beta blockers, and increased dose due to afib, I can't compare my heart rate now to what it was before surgery, but I can say that it was faster after surgery and that it has slowed down over the past 6 weeks.

 

[AmyR]

"You definitely get used to it, and eventually you'll probably forget that you can hear it at all, until a child sitting on your lap suddenly looks up at you in disbelief and says 'uncle Sten, did you swallow a clock?'"

Hahaha... that was funny... I had my valve repaired so when my niece came to ask me how i was feeling, she tried hearing my heart, she stuck her ear to the side of my chest and says " Uncle you know what? i can heart your heart beat" and she said that with a surprised expression. All i did was burst out laughing and then regretting cause my incision hurt after the laugh.

 

[scott.eitman]

There are a couple of weird things I've noticed after having aortic valve replacement. The first was actually being able to hear the mechanical valve clicking, which I expected, but still weird.
Another is my heart rate is at least 10 beats faster than before surgery. Maybe that's the beta-blockers...........
Also, when I take a deep breath it feels like my heart beats harder, or is more noticeable during the deep breath. When I exhale, it seems normal again.

Mike

I have to say the beating harder when taking deep breaths was a strange one for me. Along those lines, my heart also seems to beat harder when I am dehydrated.

I do get the clicking, but mainly that has gone away. It is more that I feel it. I had an appointment with a new Primary Dr on Wed. The Nurse Assist took my blood pressure and then said "why does it sound like a clock beating at the same time as the heart beats." ...and I had just mentioned the mechanical valve.

A fun one for me is that people can put their hand on my chest to feel it beat.

 

[tom in MO]

I had most of the above. I also had a patch about 3x4" on my left breast that was totally numb. I was told that a nerve had been cut and it would be that way forever. They were wrong, I got the feeling back in about 2 months.

 

[epstns]

Tom - You're lucky with the numbness. I have a patch on my chest, left side, that is still numb over 2 years post-op. It is a side effect of the single bypass they did when they replaced my valve. They told me that the nerves would repair themselves within 6 months or so, but I guess that didn't happen. No big deal - just feels wierd.

 

[tom in MO]

"Just feels wierd"...no it doesn't...it doesn't feel However I know "how it feels" since I've been there

 

[steprightup]

What a great idea for a thread. Sten, I'm experiencing these things now. Glad I'm not alone.

Have any of you experienced anesthesia brain? Can't think of a word, or say the wrong word. Or in one case, forget that something took place?

I've noticed one other thing: I've gotten pain in my limbs that swells for about a minute then goes away. It's happened in my left arm twice and my right arm once. I have no idea if this is related or is simply coincidental (I did not experience it before the surgery).

 

[Sten Osis]

Re: Weird things noticed after AVR - Let's hear about yours

Yes. My wife accused me of repeating myself several times since my surgery. I'll blame the anesthesia........ He he he.