Mechanical Valve Question

[mecretired]

guyinva: I have had my St. Jude valve for almost 5 months now. I am a smaller person--with less "body acoustics" so I think mine is a bit louder than some. But it is certainly not a problem. I hear it and my husband does. But I haven't had anyone else tell me that they hear it. The first time I spent the night away from my husband, he told me he didn't sleep well. He thought it was because he missed my "ticking". One insteresting plus is that I don't have to stop to check my pulse, I can just hear it. Good luck with your decision and your surgery. Stay tuned in to this site. It can truly be a life saver.

 

[mecretired]

Al Capshaw, I saw in your post that you are an engineer. I thought you might be interested to know that my cardiovascular surgeon had been an engineer. Mary

 

[edjspi]

Hello! I am 12 days post-op, got an ON-X valve... my second - had a bovine tissue valve in 2004. I definitely hear the clicking like most have already stated here. i was very worried about it because I was used to NO noise for 6 years with my tissue valve. But, surprisingly it is not nearly as bad as I thought it would be. and I understand it will only get better from here...

 

[dick0236]

......and I understand it will only get better from here...

I'm glad that things are going well. I believe that the noise issue will take care of itself......if not, at least you won't hear it over your DRUMS:biggrin2:.

 

[edjspi]

Ha! No doubt! I don't think there is any chance I will hear the valve over my drums!
Guess I'll just have to play drums more often

 

[carolinemc]

I am late in coming in but I have a st.judes valve. For a short time after surgery, I would hear it at night when I went to bed. But after some time, you get used to the ticking and will no longer hear it. You get to tune it out very easily. You will do fine. Just do whatever the doctor tells you. You will be just fine, ticking, being part of this fine bunch of friends.

 

[yotphix]

Hi,

You must be having the surgery about now, and in just a few days you will be home and discovering for yourself how it sounds/feels. As others have said though, it can start rather loud and then gets quieter and quieter as time goes on. When mine was new, anyone could hear it from across a quiet room (great fun at family dinner, and useful for getting kids to quiet down). Just the other day I was trying to let someone hear it and they were unable even with their ear on my chest. (If I wasn't married I would definitely be working that trick for all it's worth!) Look forward to your own response to this thread so we know how it sounds to you.

Oh, just saw that your surgery is tomorrow. Best of luck in it, we'll see you back here in a few days.

Paul

 

[Guest]

After another night of hardly sleeping, I'm not at all happy with my choice of a mechanical valve. I know I can't do anything about it now, its in and its gonna stay in, but come on, I wish they had told me about the clicking. Its driving me crazy. I'm just over 4 weeks post op now.

 

[Guest]

is crying again..

 

[kfay]

Topmommy, I'm sorry you are having such a hard time adjusting to your valve. I don't have any "tips" for you since I have a tissue valve, but I've read in the past that people seem to get used to them over time. I hope this is the same for you. You may want to start you own thread so you'll get more responses instead of posting onto this older thread. Hang in there, hopefully things will get better for you.


Kim

 

[Eva]

Al Capshaw, I saw in your post that you are an engineer. I thought you might be interested to know that my cardiovascular surgeon had been an engineer. Mary

The surgeon who operated on my FIL at CC in Florida was a young mechanical engineer too??!!!

After another night of hardly sleeping, I'm not at all happy with my choice of a mechanical valve. I know I can't do anything about it now, its in and its gonna stay in, but come on, I wish they had told me about the clicking. Its driving me crazy. I'm just over 4 weeks post op now.

Topmommy, I'm sorry you are having such a hard time adjusting to your valve. I don't have any "tips" for you since I have a tissue valve, but I've read in the past that people seem to get used to them over time. I hope this is the same for you. You may want to start you own thread so you'll get more responses instead of posting onto this older thread. Hang in there, hopefully things will get better for you.
Kim

Tommy, I feel sorry for you too, but go ahead and start a new thread as Kim suggested. You might get some tips and more help. Specify if you hear it all day, or certain times of the day. I hear mine only after a long tiring day, but the sound is not annoying at all...if any, it is comforting.

 

[Protimenow]

It may help a bit, at night, if you have some soft music playing in the room (you may be able to try earbuds in your ears). This may not drown out the clicking, but it will help fold it in with the music.

My wife didn't mind the click - she said that it reminded her that my heart had been fixed.

After these 2+ months post-op, I realize that the click can be somewhat annoying - but I'm pretty sure that you WILL eventually get used to the clicking and pretty much ignore it. Also, from personal experience, I know it can get softer over time.

 

[Lily]

After another night of hardly sleeping, I'm not at all happy with my choice of a mechanical valve. I know I can't do anything about it now, its in and its gonna stay in, but come on, I wish they had told me about the clicking. Its driving me crazy. I'm just over 4 weeks post op now.

I'm very sorry for your frustration, but it will likely still get better and quieter. I went with a tissue valve and it really beat hard in my ears echoing through my pillow at nights too, for maybe several months, if I recall correctly. I think part of it was because my old valve had just sloshed for years, and never ever had a good tight beat, so just having a regular heartbeat was kind of new to me. Could it be similar for you? Plus, it seems to take some of our hearts awhile to just calm down after surgery. Hang in there; it will likely bother you less and less. Best wishes and post again

 

[scott.eitman]

Be patient, it gets better. I remember feeling the same. At 5 months, I am much more used to it. At 4 weeks, I was thinking about a re-replacement as well. For the most part, I do not notice it nearly as much now as then. I do notice it when I first lay down, but it does not bother me much anymore.

Best of luck to you
Scott

 

[clement]

Just had a St Jude mechanical valve 10 days ago and I am confirming that the clicking is pretty loud.
It is kind of comforting.
My kids can hear it several feet away and think that it is funny.

I 'd rather have this noise than going thru the pain of another ops soon.
The after surgery pain will make you cry. The clicking noise will make you smile.

Good luck,
Clement

 

[normofthenorth]

To guyinva (if he's still here) and Topmommy and to whom it may concern:

If you're bothered by mech-valve noise soon after surgery, you may be interested to hear that I was bothered by my TISSUE-valve noise -- it felt like it was "beating out of my chest"!! -- for the first 2-ish weeks after my AVR surgery. I posted at the time that if I'd gotten a mech valve, I would have been blaming it for keeping me up and fairly often WAKING me up -- except it was a nice soft, quiet, flexible pig valve that was doing that! Really, I think it was my nutty heart, which has been taking its own sweet time calming down and lowering its resting heart beat post-op, and has also thrown in a lot more PVCs (premature heart-beats) than I ever had pre-op.

So it is quite likely that your mech-valve sounds will also fade, as your heart settles down into its new rhythm, and maybe even into its old one.

Also, if anybody is concerned about this issue and hasn't gotten a valve yet, there are one or two studies indicating that the Medtronics ATS mechanical valve (details on their web-site) is significantly quieter than the other 3 leading mech valves. I think atcs.jp/pdf/2007_13_3/172.pdf is probably the most substantial study on the subject, entitled "An Evaluation Study on the Quietness of the ATS Valve" by Tomofumi Umeda. The ATS web-site even presents a number of studies (and SEM micro-photographs) suggesting that the ATS valve may be BETTER than the much-vaunted On-X valve at avoiding "thromboembolic events" (aka "clot throwing"), even at lower INR levels than the On-X(!). (See atsmedical.com/Physicians.aspx?id=2470 and atsmedical.com/Physicians.aspx?id=2476 .)

So it might be a good choice in a mech valve in general (with quietness as a "bonus"!), as long as your chosen heart surgeon has it available and is comfortable with it.

 

[bigsidster]

I also have a St Judes Mechanical valve and I am quite happy to have it.I am 210 pounds and I could hear it when it was first new.When we got home it was hard to tell if I was hearing my valve or my wife walking across the hardwood floors.I am 8 weeks post op and do not hear it.