Heart pounds against ribs

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HiMyNameIsDale

Member
Joined
Feb 29, 2012
Messages
23
Location
Buffalo, New York
It feels like my heart is beating or pounding against my sternum whenever I take a deep breath in. My heart does not feel like that when I breath normally. Only when I take deep breaths. Is this a normal experience? Has anyone else experienced this? Does this kind of thing go away over time? It is a little uncomfortable and I hope it goes away.
 
I've never experienced this problem before. Maybe someone here will help shortly. If you're really worried, it's always better to call your doctor.
 
It's hard to say if its the same or not, but for awhile sometimes deep breaths resulted in heavy thumping feeling for me. Other times it was deep exhales that seemed to cause heavy thumping feeling. These instances seem to happen every day a few times a day, for weeks or maybe months after surgery.

Five months later now I don't seem to recall whenever the last time may have been.
 
My heart rate stays between 50 and 70 depending on what I am doing. Not including exercise though. I am currently on beta blockers (50mg). I just feel my heart beating against my sternum and I can actually hear it hitting my sternum if I inhale deeply. My wife could hear i too when I showed it to her, although we were in a quiet room. Again this problem is only if I inhale really deep or inhale deeply and hold it. When I breath normal I do not feel the sensation. I hope there isn't something wrong or that it goes away with time. I might just be paranoid.
 
I have something that sounds similar - I feel and hear a thud every time I inhale and exhale. The deeper the breath, the greater the thud. If a very deep breath there might be 2 thuds. It is not associated with my heartbeat....it is something that I only feel when I breathe. I asked all of my docs about it when I saw them for postop visits: PCP, cardiologist, and surgeon. While none had any real answers, they weren't concerned, either. The surgical PA suggested it might be cartilage moving around a bit as the rib cage expands and contracts with the inhalations and exhalations. I'm not sure I buy taht since it is exactly the same since I had surgery - no better but no worse. Since all my postop testing was good and I am doing more and feeling better every day, I am ignoring it as best I can. I use a fan at night for the white noise effect and that seems to help a bit. I asked about this several weeks ago here at VR and someone said that some folks with aortic grafts described a similar feeling/sound.
I would suggest that you let your docs know about it anyhow...can't hurt. If you ask your docs, I'd be really interested in what they had to say.....
Good luck!!
 
Hey Dale,

When you take a full breath in and fill your lungs, there is slightly less space for the heart. So, with filled to the brim lungs you can expect heart to be a little snug in there and that might be what you are feeling. That or your lungs push it a bit when they are filled. I think this is normal. Given that our pericardiums are left open post OHS, I would expect the heart to be a tiny bit louder. At this moment your heartbeat might still be a little strong, just like mine was, and it might feel a little weird. As the heart remodels it will feel better and be calmer.

My basic understanding is that heart is a muscle, and by putting it through various ranges we rehab it to work better with new parts. Heck it will rehab/remodel on it's own over time, but in my head if I give it a bit of a challenge, even if a small one, daily, it should remodel sooner.

How is everything else going? Sleeping well? Eating well? Walking daily?
 
Hi Dale,

Right after my OHS for valve replacement (tissue) and ascending aortic root repair, I experienced what felt like my “heart shaking my entire chest” (I mean my upper body would literally move with each heartbeat) this happened a couple times and would last for a couple minutes. I was told that I was okay. Then about a couple months after surgery I could sometimes still feel my heart pounding in my chest especially if I took in a deep breath. I’m currently 9 months out of surgery and I don’t feel my heart at all anymore (and I’m pretty small without much cushion, so I do feel just about everything).

I have really no idea what caused this, but I was told (by another heart patient) that this sensation could have been caused by the stronger and sturdier aortic graft and that my body just wasn’t used to it.

Hang in there, lots of things will get better as you heal.

Rachel
 
TheGymGuy is on the right track. Many of us feel the thumping because of the lungs filling and applying pressure or using up the
available space. Some patients with AVR as well as the aorta graft have mentioned this issue.
My surgery was a regular AVR and I have the heart pounding against the sternum and ribs. It is a drag, but most important is that
the HR remains in a good range during the initial recovery phase. I stayed on Metoprolol to help calm the HR and my anxieties.
 
Heart Pounding on deep breath

Heart Pounding on deep breath

yea, I got it! It happens all the time to me and sometimes even when I dont take a deep breath. It has been explained away many times by many doctors, but the bottom line is............they all say its pretty standard stuff after OHS.

I sure dont like it because sometimes it feels real wird and a bit unsettling, but its our brave new world.
 
When I woke up from my surgery (aortic valve replacement and upper aorta replacement) I felt my heart pounding. When I took a deep breath I could see my chest quiver with each beat. My girlfriend could notice it too. I spoke with a friend who had the same valve replaced and he mentioned the same thing. My cardiologist didn't seem to think it was a problem. I still feel it sometimes two years later.
 
Same issue

Same issue

My sugery to replace my aceending aorta was on 2/8/12. Yes! I feel my heart beat with a deep breath. Im anxious to here what my cardologist has to say next week. Im sure over time I will get use to it, but it would have been nice to know upfront. I had an AVR in 96 and did not have this issue. Just the clicking then.
 
This is a normal physiologic effect. The deeper the breath, the more negative the vacuum created inside your chest. This expands your lungs and draws air into them, but everything else inside your chest, including the vena cava and the heart chambers, expands from the negative pressure around them, blood flow increases and the stroke volume goes up and you feel this pounding from the suddenly increased cardiac output. Yes, it is much more noticeable after valve surgery, but it is a natural effect that was occurring before surgery as well. This is nothing all all to worry about. Completely normal. It will recede with time, but just know that when you breathe in, your cardiac output rises.
 
jake said:
yea, I got it! It happens all the time to me and sometimes even when I dont take a deep breath. It has been explained away many times by many doctors, but the bottom line is............they all say its pretty standard stuff after OHS.

I sure dont like it because sometimes it feels real wird and a bit unsettling, but its our brave new world.
Click to expand...

I have it. Has gotten slightly better at 9 months post op but I still have it everyday. Yes especially when taking a deep breath. Its weird sometimes through out the day I cant really hear or feel it even when taking a deep breath and other times its loud as all heck and people can hear it thumping even without taking a deep breath, and I surely feel it. To me it seems it may be related to "how" the heart is beating. Some parts of the day I can be at 70bpm and I can barley hear and feel the valve, other times its beating at 70bpm and it thumping like crazy...I can't figure it out..."Beats" the heck out of me LOL! :biggrin2:
It seems to only happen below 90bpm, after my heart goes up with exercise there is very little or rarely hard thumps. :confused2: Oh and for me I've noticed that when I have "thumping" episodes it seems harder to take a deep breath sometimes.
 
I experience the exact same sensation and it does not worry me. I also get the rib cartilage subdued "clicks' rolling over at night. Dr had me cough with his fingers on the sternum before discharge to make sure my wires were tight and I'm trusting that would not change unless I'd abused it or had trauma.
 
Does anyone know how long it takes before it goes away, what about exercise and movement bad or good for it?
I am 6 weeks post op and this is my main complaint other than coughing and other aches and pains...
 
It never completely goes away since the increase in cardiac output is a normal physiologic effect, heightened by the compensation that heart muscle made when you had your bad valve. With mechanical valve leaflets snapping open and closed more sharply than native valves, this will always be more noticeable. Mine is still more noticeable than before surgery, but it is not nearly as dramatic as it was initially in the early post-op months. It seems to have faded very slowly over time as tissues around the valve have healed and the heart muscle has gradually remodeled so it works less hard. My main point has been to reassure people this is normal, does not signify a problem, and eventually it will be much less pronounced. However, PLEASE discuss it with your cardiologist. Even though I'm familiar with the physiology operating here and am not bothered by it, there may be something more to your situation and your cardiologist will know exactly what is going on and what, if anything, should be done. For some people, beta blockers may be of help to reduce rapid and/or excessively forceful heart beats and other drugs are CLAIMED to be beneficial in speeding up remodeling of the left ventrticle.
 
I have heard that this is more pronounced with folks who have had their ascending aorta grafted, as some have mentioned above. I certainly had it quite loudly when I first came out of surgery, and over the first year it became much less noticeable. Whether this is due to the fact that i became used to it, or it became quieter, I don't know. I do notice that if it is more noticeable it seems to follow the higher blood pressures that I get when I check, which would make sense as well. Again, it has either gone away or become less noticable over time for me.
 
After my first surgery in 2004 my heart would randomly pound for a minute or two in the first six months post surgery, I put this down to being enlarged and no longer having to work with a damaged valve.
My heart also pounded for a few months after my second surgery when I received a graft; however my heart was normal at the time of surgery so I have no idea why this was the case.
It was actually worse after the second surgery even though my heart was normal?? In rehab classes it was a strange sensation when the heart rate became elevated, I could feel the pounding if I placed the palm of my hand against the upper sternum. I was actually concerned this was going to be the new normal every time I exercised!! Fortunately by 6 months post surgery it had stopped and I haven't had it since.
I have a tissue valve so I do not think this is just a mechanical valve issue.
 
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