For those with a mechanical valve

[Mileena46]

WoW! I have searched high and low for someone who also heard the valve in their throat!! If my husband can't hear it I can open my mouth really wide and he can! Mind doesn't jump around yet, it mostly stays in my neck and throat, there are times when I think I can FEEL it beating there as well.

It's really odd, today my valve is quiet, after several days of it worrying me being more loud than usual. I had even began to have nights when I would have to concentrate in order to hear it, now I am back to it being so loud I can't fall asleep.

It's good to know others are having the same issues I am. Makes me feel more NORMAL

Mileena

 

[lcwhitney]

My valves are louder when it is quiet and I hold my mouth open. When I had bronchitis the sound was deafening. I also notice them more if I lay my head on the upper par t of either arm but especially the right arm. My nephew Lance calls it my watch and says it drives him crazy if he puts his head on my arm.
Lettitia

 

[miles]

Mine seems louder at night in the quite as well. I, however, do not find it a bother, rather a comfort. The noise reminds me to appreciate the extra years I have been given.

 

[halleyg]

WoW! I have searched high and low for someone who also heard the valve in their throat!!

Hi Mileena,
My valve is sometimes loud, sometimes completely quiet. I also can hear it more if I open my mouth, then close it and it's quiet! My surgeon said that my esophagus makes for some good acoustics, plus being thin, idk, but same thing here. Definitely normal (I think )

 

[kpearse]

I hear my valve every so often. Most times it's others that hear it. I know my cats go nuts sometimes, they tilt their head and just look at me. lol

 

[catwoman]

WoW! I have searched high and low for someone who also heard the valve in their throat!! If my husband can't hear it I can open my mouth really wide and he can! Mind doesn't jump around yet, it mostly stays in my neck and throat, there are times when I think I can FEEL it beating there as well.

Mileena:

I heard my valve "in my throat" for several months post-op. In fact, I remember telling someone about it about 8 months post-op. It wasn't bothersome; I found it amusing, in fact. But I haven't heard it in quite a few years now.

 

[Dale]

My valve gets louder sometimes -- usually when I am overtired or dehydrated (I think). When I was going for regular blood tests before my home tester, they told me to drink water before I came in the morning because I had little veins and it made it more difficult for them to hit the vein if I was dehydrated. (water, veins, blood -- I don't get it) My nutritionist told me the same thing.

I have tended not to drink anything after 8 pm as I have trouble sleeping anyways, and I don't want to have to get up to go to the bathroom in the night ...(too much information).
I know what you mean when it's loud as it bothers me when it happens--but like some of the other comments, I would rather hear it than not!

Dale

 

[acr]

Ha it's not just me then. I get the same advice as Dale, drink water prior to going to see the vampire at INR time. On the subject of the mechanical valve, my noise is pretty random, sometimes loud, sometimes not. I've never worked out what causes either condition. So long as it keeps ticking I'm happy.

Ade

 

[dwb]

3.5 years after surgery, I still notice periods when the beat is much more pronounced than others and can keep me awake sometimes; i just figure it goes with the territory and it is nothing to be too concerned about, hopefully I see other posts mention that sleeping on the left side helps reduce the disturbance, but for me the opposite is true: it is either right side or on my back.

 

[Mileena46]

Hey dwb,

I agree it's worse on my left side as well.


Halley,

Well we can pretty much rule out the "thinness" where I am concerned!

Mileena

 

[wcasey5]

If I lay on my left side, and kinda prop myself up on an angle, my valve takes off like crazy. Doesn't happen all the time, but I would say every 4th time I do it. I'm assuming my heart is beating like crazy too. I sit up and take a deep breath and it goes away. Weird eh?

 

[realkarl]

I got used to sleeping on my right side almost all the time, to reduce the thumping noise, or rather sensed heartbeats. Not so much ticking, when covered by my down comforter. I also always feel the heartbeat more in the morning than at night. After I had my pacemaker implanted on the right side (failed to thread leads from the left), I have been forced to sleep on my back and then on my left side. It has been hard to get used to sleeping with the thumping. Last night I was finally able to sleep a while on my right side again, and it was wonderfully quiet, but this morning I am paying back with more pain at the implant site.

Wrt. to ticking noise, I can rarely hear my valve during the day, due to air condition and other noise sources, but when I went back to Norway over Christmas, the ticking was so much louder all the time, simply due to being in a quiet environment. For the first few days, it was hard to sit down and read with that loud ticking noise.