I cant sleep!
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Jkm7
Well-known member
Most of us have trouble sleeping our first days/weeks home post op.
It is common for us to sleep a few hours, wake, and have trouble going back to sleep.
Sorry but time and healing seem to be the best remedies unless you are willing to take sleep meds. You could speak with your doctors to see if they recommend sleep aids.
I found if I read for a little while I sometimes was able to go back to sleep.
It took time to get back to my normal sleep pattern.
Best wishes.
It is common for us to sleep a few hours, wake, and have trouble going back to sleep.
Sorry but time and healing seem to be the best remedies unless you are willing to take sleep meds. You could speak with your doctors to see if they recommend sleep aids.
I found if I read for a little while I sometimes was able to go back to sleep.
It took time to get back to my normal sleep pattern.
Best wishes.
sweetmarie
Well-known member
I couldn't agree more with Jkm7. I too had that problem. I could constantly hear my mech. aortic valve ticking, right up to my throat. the ticking would get louder if my mouth was open. I found that sleeping on my back as opposed to my side was the quietest position. You're body is still undergoing major changes to adapt . Your heart was working harder to pump through the defective valve, it doesn't "know" you have a new valve so it is still pumping the same volume (that thumping you feel in your head, we call that "pumphead"). With time it will begin to adapt to the new valve opening and regulate itself.
It's been two years and my incision is still itchy at times. My sternum was sensitive for over a year, I could feel it when sneezing and coughing. But guess what, I'm alive, and grateful to the world of medicine.
I quickly read all your post and couldn't read what valve you finally decided on?
It's been two years and my incision is still itchy at times. My sternum was sensitive for over a year, I could feel it when sneezing and coughing. But guess what, I'm alive, and grateful to the world of medicine.
I quickly read all your post and couldn't read what valve you finally decided on?
pellicle
Professional Dingbat, Guru and Merkintologist
I did ... it was better than hospital, but still took a few days.
eventually I got so tired I slept ... is there much pain or just discomfort?
Are you taking any pain medication?
eventually I got so tired I slept ... is there much pain or just discomfort?
Are you taking any pain medication?
pellicle
Professional Dingbat, Guru and Merkintologist
ahh, so somone else has this problem.
Mine still sounds 'thump thump thump'
some positions are better than others
sweetmarie
Well-known member
I can still hear it after two years although it's not as loud but it's like anything else, you get used to it and don't hear it anymore, or at least not as often.
ski girl
Well-known member
I found that a glass of wine helped me sleep! However you may be on drugs that are incompatible with wine. Warfarin, BTW, is very much compatible with wine, as long as you are consistent with your wine drinking. 
As for the ticking valve . . . AAARGH. And earplugs made it worse!
As for the ticking valve . . . AAARGH. And earplugs made it worse!
I cant sleep!
I think this is why there is a lot of sleeping during recovery. I feel like, night or day, I could only sleep maybe an hour or two at a time. I'd sleep for a few hours then walk or eat or read (maybe a dose of pain meds) then sleep for a few more hours...and repeat.
I was forever waking myself up because I would roll to a painful position. I tried building pillow walls to prevent rolling. It didn't really work. That got better and better as my sternum healed.
I had some anti-anxiety meds from before surgery that helped if it was really bad...like when your body is so so tired, but your mind won't stop.
It does get better...
I think this is why there is a lot of sleeping during recovery. I feel like, night or day, I could only sleep maybe an hour or two at a time. I'd sleep for a few hours then walk or eat or read (maybe a dose of pain meds) then sleep for a few more hours...and repeat.
I was forever waking myself up because I would roll to a painful position. I tried building pillow walls to prevent rolling. It didn't really work. That got better and better as my sternum healed.
I had some anti-anxiety meds from before surgery that helped if it was really bad...like when your body is so so tired, but your mind won't stop.
It does get better...
I had trouble sleeping mainly because I don't like sleeping on my back. I was able to find a comfortable position from time to time but as soon as I moved a bit I'd get a sharp *** of pain from the motion of the sternum. That coupled with being on lasix the first week home meant I was either up every hour or so for a bathroom break or wakened by the pain. Sleeping in the recliner helped but it really just took enough time for things to begin knitting together so that every small move didn't wake me up.
Jkm7
Well-known member
I also have bovine cow valve and, of course, there is no ticking from a tissue valve.
I had some pumphead but it is not as described above.
Pumphead refers to the loss of memory and some fogginess some of us experience post op. Some say they have no symptoms but others do. For most who experience some slowness or loss of some memory, it usually restores in short order. Mine was sometimes having trouble finding the right word, a little slower with numbers and math than I used to be but nothing truly extreme.
Be patient with yourself, katm.
Your body has been through a trauma and needs to heal at its own pace. Listen to your body. It knows best when you are doing too much.
I had some pumphead but it is not as described above.
Pumphead refers to the loss of memory and some fogginess some of us experience post op. Some say they have no symptoms but others do. For most who experience some slowness or loss of some memory, it usually restores in short order. Mine was sometimes having trouble finding the right word, a little slower with numbers and math than I used to be but nothing truly extreme.
Be patient with yourself, katm.
Your body has been through a trauma and needs to heal at its own pace. Listen to your body. It knows best when you are doing too much.
Oilman
Well-known member
Katm,
Sleeping was the hardest thing for me to achieve, right back to the day after surgery, I could only manage 3 hrs a day for that hospital stay, didn't help to be next door to the nurses station, I would even ask to have door closed, helped a bit. Once I got home I still found shutting my mind off was hard to do. I have not been able to have little naps in the day time in the past 6 weeks I've been home, I just lay down and rest when needed. As for bed time, it was much more of a challenge, I guess one of the distraction is having a new mech valve, so I would have to listen to make sure everything was running good,lol,and the odd PVC, which can keep you from falling to sleep. I told my doctor of the difficulties I was having and he prescribed me some Adivan, which I used 1mg just before bed and off to sleep for 7 hrs I would go. I used the trick for the first 4 weeks at home and now I can do it without for the last two weeks. So it does get better.
I too have all the sensations of a thumping valve or feeling the heavy pulse in the throat, but it is short lived. Most of the time it is just a smooth clicking noise. As far as bed comfort, we had picked up a sleeping wedge of foam from Bed,Bath and Beyond. I did most of my sleeping on my back for the fist 5 weeks just to let the sternum heal . As in week two I experienced some bone thumping, and asked my surgeon about stretching wires, he advised me to sleep on back as long as I could, so I did.
I know the sleeping problems will get better and is a result of the surgery, cause I never had a problem sleeping in my past, day or night. I will be starting back at my office job in three weeks if all goes good, that will be 9 weeks post op, I'm thinking that will change my sleeping habits again.
Good luck with your sleeping Katm, I'm sure you will find something that will work for you, take care and try to get some rest in between the walking and meals. I know it seems slow in the beginning, but you will gain momentum for sure.
Sleeping was the hardest thing for me to achieve, right back to the day after surgery, I could only manage 3 hrs a day for that hospital stay, didn't help to be next door to the nurses station, I would even ask to have door closed, helped a bit. Once I got home I still found shutting my mind off was hard to do. I have not been able to have little naps in the day time in the past 6 weeks I've been home, I just lay down and rest when needed. As for bed time, it was much more of a challenge, I guess one of the distraction is having a new mech valve, so I would have to listen to make sure everything was running good,lol,and the odd PVC, which can keep you from falling to sleep. I told my doctor of the difficulties I was having and he prescribed me some Adivan, which I used 1mg just before bed and off to sleep for 7 hrs I would go. I used the trick for the first 4 weeks at home and now I can do it without for the last two weeks. So it does get better.
I too have all the sensations of a thumping valve or feeling the heavy pulse in the throat, but it is short lived. Most of the time it is just a smooth clicking noise. As far as bed comfort, we had picked up a sleeping wedge of foam from Bed,Bath and Beyond. I did most of my sleeping on my back for the fist 5 weeks just to let the sternum heal . As in week two I experienced some bone thumping, and asked my surgeon about stretching wires, he advised me to sleep on back as long as I could, so I did.
I know the sleeping problems will get better and is a result of the surgery, cause I never had a problem sleeping in my past, day or night. I will be starting back at my office job in three weeks if all goes good, that will be 9 weeks post op, I'm thinking that will change my sleeping habits again.
Good luck with your sleeping Katm, I'm sure you will find something that will work for you, take care and try to get some rest in between the walking and meals. I know it seems slow in the beginning, but you will gain momentum for sure.
Carol
Well-known member
I think if you are on metoprolol it inter fears with melitonin.I have been on it for years and have trouble sleeping if I wake at night.
I had the same problem. I thought I would never sleep for more than 3 hours. My solution was to go to bed early and get up when I could no longer sleep. I also took a nap in the morning and afternoon. Walk as much as you can for exercise. Sleep will come, for me not until at least the third week.
My half abaked theory is that since OHS essentially kills you (heart and respiration stopped) your subconcious that runs your heart, lungs, etc. gets really paranoid and upset. It won't let you sleep well because it fears that you will be "killed" again. I woke up after surgery and didn't sleep for my first 20 hours after.
My half abaked theory is that since OHS essentially kills you (heart and respiration stopped) your subconcious that runs your heart, lungs, etc. gets really paranoid and upset. It won't let you sleep well because it fears that you will be "killed" again. I woke up after surgery and didn't sleep for my first 20 hours after.
Wow Tom, I never thought of it that way. Could be way more true that we believe. Was the same as you, no sleep longer than 3 hours, then it was up and sit in recliner and read. Walked during the day and tried not to nap too much hoping I would be pooped out enough to sleep. This routine went on for about as you say 3 weeks, then the sleep time increased by about an 1 hour every day or so, until poof I was sleeping through the night (I told our daughter it was pay back for all the times she got me up at night when she was a newborn
Anyway Katm, hang in there. You are doing all the right stuff and are on the road to a good recovery.
sweetmarie
Well-known member
That may explain my wide awake syndrome. After about 16 hours in ICU, I couldn't sleep. The nurses were getting on my nerves at night because the lights were on and even though I had curtains around me, the light above kept me awake and I could hear the nurses laughing and I thought that they were incompetent, they were young nurses working the night shift and I started to panic, I had the feeling I wasn't in good hands. I had to stay one extra night in ICU because they didn't have any semiprivate rooms available. Now I know the problem was me, not the nurses, but being just out of OHS, I didn't know that.
lubdub
Member
I cant sleep!
Hi,
I rember my first night home after OHS was awful. I think my phrenic nerve was irritated by the drainage tubes which meant I couldn't get into a position in bed without my diaphragm spasiming - fortunately things got better over the next couple of days. The other thing was having to change pyjamas during the night because I would be drenched with sweat.
Everyday I seemed to improve a little and before I knew it I was feeling kinda "normal" ... I understand how you feel - unfortunately it just takes time .
D
Hi,
I rember my first night home after OHS was awful. I think my phrenic nerve was irritated by the drainage tubes which meant I couldn't get into a position in bed without my diaphragm spasiming - fortunately things got better over the next couple of days. The other thing was having to change pyjamas during the night because I would be drenched with sweat.
Everyday I seemed to improve a little and before I knew it I was feeling kinda "normal" ... I understand how you feel - unfortunately it just takes time .
D
Rachel
Well-known member
I agree with you on your theory Tom!!!! I didn’t have any troubles falling asleep, but I remember being AFRAID to sleep!
Rachel
Heart Of The Sunrise
Well-known member
I agree with Tom as well. I am still pre-surgery. The first month or so post diagnosis I was afraid to sleep. I would catch myself falling asleep and wake-up afraid that I would not wake up!. It was horrible. I am doing much since I started my cardiac prehab. I am walking two miles a day and also doing mental prep for surgery with the help of my new therapist. The better I prepare myself physically and mentally for surgery...I believe I increase the odds for a great outcome with no complications.First consult with surgeon is Feb. 5th. Surgery date rapidly approaching!
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One of the reasons why I think the OHS experience is "special" is I've had three surgeries before OHS and had no major trouble sleeping after surgery with those first 3. Two of them were more painful than OHS. For those first three, I woke after anthestesia and then slept quite readily with the normal complications of pain and finding the right position. This was in stark contrast to my OHS experience.
I also believe that my OHS experience had more of an effect upon my psyche than previous surgeries. One of them was like OHS, long illness, saved from death by the surgeon's blade. It did not affect me personnally the way OHS has. I think OHS affected "me" more than before is because I am 20 years older, but also because of the "death" experience of OHS.
Netflix noticed this change in me and for the first time started recommending films with "strong female leads" within a month after surgery. However, this could be due to all the great care I was getting from the lovely women nurses though
I also believe that my OHS experience had more of an effect upon my psyche than previous surgeries. One of them was like OHS, long illness, saved from death by the surgeon's blade. It did not affect me personnally the way OHS has. I think OHS affected "me" more than before is because I am 20 years older, but also because of the "death" experience of OHS.
Netflix noticed this change in me and for the first time started recommending films with "strong female leads" within a month after surgery. However, this could be due to all the great care I was getting from the lovely women nurses though
