Clicky noise

[karla]

Has anyone experienced a "click and thud" type of feeling/noise that coincides with your breathing and NOT your heartbeat? I know this sounds kind of weird but that's what I am having since AVR with St Jude valve and aneurysm repair on 3/7. I can hear the mechanical valve as well with every heart beat but this other noise/feeling does NOT coincide with my pulse - it happens every time I breathe in ( click or thud) and out ( click or thud). It seems to come from the same area as the new valve would be. There is no pain, shortness of breath, or any other symptom involved and I am progressing pretty nicely I think - hit the 1 mile mark this morning and will do it again later today.
It causes no problem except at night it drives me nuts. I have started using "white noise" to drown it out.
Had appt with family doc last week who commented on how loud things sounded but was pleased with everything in general. Have appt with cardiologist adn surgeon next week for first postop visits...
Thanks for any help/thoughts.
What an awesome site this is.
karla

 

[Greg a]

It just may be that your pericardial sac has not adhered to the chest wall just yet and gravity plays tricks is there any sensation that goes along with the sound?

 

[Lynlw]

Since you had an annuerysm repair do youhave a dacron graft? Sometimes people with a mech valve with graft describes something close to what you seem to be descibing

 

[TheGymGuy]

I am bookmarking this thread. I thought you would talk about mechanical valve, but since it is something else and if you do find out, I would very interested to find out details.
How is everything going Karla?

 

[Bill B]

You know the heart and lungs are intimately connected by a "virutal" space between the membranes that surround them, the pericardium and the pluera, as well as by the fact that when the heart beats, blood surges through the lungs. This is why when you breathe in, which is accomplished by your ribcage muscles expanding the chest, and the diaphragm being pulled down, this pulls the lungs out, dropping the pressure in the chest cavity, not only causing air to rush into the lungs but also expanding the heart and its vessels so that filling of the heart and stroke volume increases. And when the heart expands and contracts, because of the same connection, it causes a small puff out and in of air from your lungs. I too noticed after surgery that when my mouth was open and I was lying down quietly, not only was the click of my valve audible from my open mouth (and less audible when I closed my mouth), but the air pulsed out my mouth just as I mentioned - a tiny breath - with each beat of my heart. I never noticed this before surgery. My guess is that it is more noticeable after surgery because the hard, inflexible leaflets of the mechanical valve close with more of a sudden impact and sudden pressure change than natural valves.

 

[bocco]

So this morning after taking a shower I stopped to catch my breath after drying off. I thought I heard the water dripping. It was me.

Karla, I have the same valve and I do have the click but no thud. I'm sure your Dr. would have said something it didn't sound right.

 

[JeffF]

Hi Karla I have the thud too. I can hear/feel it when I take a deep breathe or hold my breathe. Mine has seemed to get quieter or maybe I just don't notice it anymore.

Let me know if you find out exactly what it is. I have twice forgotten to ask my cardio...

 

[karla]

It just may be that your pericardial sac has not adhered to the chest wall just yet and gravity plays tricks is there any sensation that goes along with the sound?

Yeah, it almost feels like a vibration. In fact, several times when i have been talking and it was thudding hard, my voice kind of vibrated. maybe that's too strong a word - perhaps "trembled" is better.
How long does it take for the pericardial sac to adhere again, i wonder?

 

[karla]

Since you had an annuerysm repair do youhave a dacron graft? Sometimes people with a mech valve with graft describes something close to what you seem to be descibing

Hi, Lyn,
I think I have a dacron graft....the surgeon explained everything to me in the hospital but being in a drug-induced haze, i didn't think to write anything down and I don't remember for sure what all he said. I see him next week and will be asking him all the particulars. thank you!

 

[karla]

I am bookmarking this thread. I thought you would talk about mechanical valve, but since it is something else and if you do find out, I would very interested to find out details.
How is everything going Karla?

Hi, Vadim,
I will sure let everyone know what my surgeon says about this when I see him next week.
I have been following your progress every day and you are an inspiration!
Things are going pretty well here - 4 weeks tomorrow! The only problem I had was a bout of afib that was controlled easily with a little increase in my beta-blocker. I just said to my husband that i honestly can not remember when I felt as good as I did today. For someone who got short of breath walking across the room preop, i walked 2 miles today and have energy to spare. In my younger days, ( I am almost 53 now), I was a pretty decent athlete. My goal is to run again in the next year or so.

 

[karla]

You know the heart and lungs are intimately connected by a "virutal" space between the membranes that surround them, the pericardium and the pluera, as well as by the fact that when the heart beats, blood surges through the lungs. This is why when you breathe in, which is accomplished by your ribcage muscles expanding the chest, and the diaphragm being pulled down, this pulls the lungs out, dropping the pressure in the chest cavity, not only causing air to rush into the lungs but also expanding the heart and its vessels so that filling of the heart and stroke volume increases. And when the heart expands and contracts, because of the same connection, it causes a small puff out and in of air from your lungs. I too noticed after surgery that when my mouth was open and I was lying down quietly, not only was the click of my valve audible from my open mouth (and less audible when I closed my mouth), but the air pulsed out my mouth just as I mentioned - a tiny breath - with each beat of my heart. I never noticed this before surgery. My guess is that it is more noticeable after surgery because the hard, inflexible leaflets of the mechanical valve close with more of a sudden impact and sudden pressure change than natural valves.

Makes sense!

 

[karla]

So this morning after taking a shower I stopped to catch my breath after drying off. I thought I heard the water dripping. It was me.

Karla, I have the same valve and I do have the click but no thud. I'm sure your Dr. would have said something it didn't sound right.

HAHA. I have looked for dripping water, too....more than once! LOL

 

[karla]

Hi Karla I have the thud too. I can hear/feel it when I take a deep breathe or hold my breathe. Mine has seemed to get quieter or maybe I just don't notice it anymore.

Let me know if you find out exactly what it is. I have twice forgotten to ask my cardio...

I sure will. I have no doubt it's nothing serious - just annoying as heck.

 

[markp66]

I had his after my surgery and still do now. It seems to be getting less noticeable. Lots of people here have said that the thumping sensation will decrease over time. It seems like that is the case for me although I hope it gets even better as it's still slightly bothersome at night. Also, if I put my hand on my chest I can actually feel my heart beating pretty hard. It's so strange how the noise feels so loud but hardly anyone else can hear it. Nobody (except my girlfriend) has noticed a ticking/ any noise, even when I've pointed it out to them. My camera mic seems to pick it up though if its placed over my heart!

From what I have read and heard the dacron graft definitely makes things slightly noisier (although more of an internal thumping sensation). Good luck and glad everything else seems to be going well.

 

[TheGymGuy]

Hey Karla, first of all, awesome job on walking a bunch this past week and the 2 miler on wednesday!!! Also, wanted to let you know that I hear ticking/clicking but its from my valve, yes, I know it does not apply. I have an ascending aortic graft and I think that amplifies the ticking a bit. Funny thing is that I use the ticking to measure my heart rate and it makes things easier as I do not need to hold the pulse line on my wrist. What is frustrating (or nice, depends how you look at it) is that at times I cannot hear it at all, especially if outside and then I have to revert to old measures.

I'm off topic, the reason for my post is that I liked Bill B's explanation; the anatomy of it makes sense. Did you ever see your dr to confirm this?

 

[karla]

Thanks, fellas! I agree, the anatomy, as explained so nicely by Bill, does make sense..it also seems like lots of folks with Dacron grafts have like symptoms. I asked my fmaily doc about it last week but i don't think he quite got what was I was asking about. I see the surgeon next week and will ask about it then and let y'all know what he has to say.
Vadim, i do the same thing as far as counting my heart rate without using the wrist. HAHA. Since I can differentiate which sound is associated with my breathing and which is associated with the heart beat, it makes it nice and easy. Who woulda thought?

 

[Purdue]

I experience the same thing. Large mechanical aorta valve and 4.7 AA graft repair for me in February. I have a tick and thump sound that is present 100% of the time and if I elevate my heartbeat, the thump gets more pronounced. Try pulling in a lot of air in your lungs (deep breath)...hold it...and open your mouth. Doing that for me creates a very loud and hard thump. Opening my mouth seems to create a sound channel of some kind. I'm just the recovering person and not a doctor but think it's my lungs pushing all my hardware outward and thus the extra thump. Given that I was failing before surgery, my wife says she loves the sound and reminds her that I survived

 

[karla]

Went to see the surgeon today and asked about the clicky thud. He couldn't give me a definite answer but guessed there might be some cartilage rubbing around in there. EKG, chest Xray, echo all done and all fine. No pain at all in the sternal area. He is not concerned in the least so i am just going to ignore it and live with it.
I saw my cardiologist yesterday and asked him, also. Again, he didn't know what might be causing it other than " You have new things in there now that will take some time to settle in..."
Thanks, everyone for your thoughts!
karla

 

[chaconne]

This is something I experience on a regular basis since my surgery almost a year ago. Doesn't bother me too much but it is kind of weird.

 

[TheGymGuy]

Wanted to update here and say that, surprisingly, more than half the time I cannot hear the click. I hear my heartbeat (more so than a click) in the AM and PM, but through the day its not very noticeable. When I exercise and push myself the heartbeat goes up and clicking gets louder, which is kind of cool as my workout partners get a kick out of it. We joke that I am now a bionic man, and can perform better because of this

Also, sometimes in a quite meeting in my office I can hear the clicking and try to see if anyone notices and says something, I would even try to point my chin up a little and point in peoples direction. I guess I am weird, but once you are recovered from surgery and mostly back to your normal self, the click is a minor thing which you can even make a fun thing.