Mechanical valve

[heartsafire]

Hello I'm new to this forum, hoping to find out a little info about valve. Can you hear the valve clicking all the time? My father had valve replacement 7 yrs ago. He could hear it clicking most of the time but here in last couple of weeks he does'nt hear it all the time. He has Dr. appt for this week and he has been having some chest pains and i was wondering if this was normal. He also had his cartoid arteries cleaned out about 1 year ago. He will be 60 in May. Hope to hear from someone out there. Thanks! heartsafire

 

[RobThatsMe]

Hi Heartsafire,

I like the name! I have a St Judes mechanical aortic valve and I can hear it clicking when it is very quiet, usually when I am laying in bed. If I take a breath, it isn't as load as when I hold my breath still. Sometimes I think I may feel it clicking more than actually hearing it. anyway, I guess the clicking is re-assuring! But, not sure that just because you can't hear it, that it is malfunctioning. I would think there would be some serious indications if it were.

How about some others... How's your hearing? lol

Rob

 

[Christina]

Heartsafire,

I sure like that handle!

I also want to welcome you to our wonderful cyber family of valvies and others who have had similar surgeries but are in need of support before they go into the hospital. Just want to assure you, you've come to the right place. We are here to listen and learn from eachother.
Since August of 2000 I have a mechanical valve. But I believe that not all valves are the same. They all sound different. I used to have a site where you could hear all the different sounds, but it won't come up anymore, so I think they took it off the web.
My first valve was a "Sultzer Carbomedics", and man was it was loud! I could hardly stand it. I would have had a hard time getting used to that one if it would've stayed in me but I had to have a redo after eleven days, and my surgeon decided to use the St.Jude's the second time around.
This valve is 1000% better for me. Like Robthatsme said before me, I can only hear it when it is completely silent in the bedroom and I am on my left side and ready to go to sleep. During the day I can NEVER hear it or feel it thumping.
If your father is experiencing chest pains he should see his cardilogist just to make sure everything is okay.

Keep us posted!

Christina
Congenital Aortic Stenosis
AVR's 8/7/00 & 8/18/00
St.Jude's Mechanical

PS. 3/9/02 I tried the heartvalve sound site again and it worked today. Here it is:
http://www.carbomedics.com/references/ValveSounds/sounds.htm

Hope this helps!

 

[Jessica_B.]

Hello!

Hello!

And welcome to the site!

I had double valve replacement a few years ago. My mitral and aortic valves were replaced about a year apart with mechanical valves.
Like Christina I could hear them clicking away only if it was very quiet at night and I was in a particular position in bed. At first I heard them quite often though, especially after the AVR but with time my awareness of the clicking sound decreased.
Since he has chest pain associated with some type of change in the condition, he probably should be in touch with his cardiologist.

Good luck,

/jessica

 

[Nancy]

Hi Heartasfire-

Let me add my welcome also. This is such a wonderful site. You'll love it. My husband Joe has had his aortic mechanical for 25 years and has a mitral mechanical 2 years old. He's so used to them, he never hears them, only sometimes in bed when it's quiet. I can hear them though. It's like people living next to a train track or airport. They tune it out after time. The pain should be checked with the cardiologist though.

Good luck to him, and keep us up to date about his situation.

 

[Lorraine]

Heartsafire,

Welcome to our VR.com family! You will find a lot of questions answered and get plenty of information from this warm and great group!

I have an Aortic and Mitral mechanical valve put in last March. Sometimes I hear them clicking in unison and sometimes a little off from each other. Very rarely during the day though. Usually at night, on my left side and it's very quiet. For a month after surgery I heard them all the time. Then like Nancy said, you kinda block it out.

As for your fathers pain in the chest I would have that checked out. The pain and the louder sounding valve could mean something. The cardio would find out for sure! Keep us posted on what happens. Take care and God Bless!

 

[McCln]

Heartsafire

Heartsafire

I am sure that what I am about to say has been said. I had mine done Septemeber 13, 2001. And there are times, mostly at night, when I hear the clicking of my mechanical valve. I am glad to hear the sound. And there are time when I feel my heartbeat through the chest. It is telling me that the heart is getting stronger. I hope your father is feeling better. Chest pain of any kind should never go without getting it checked out. You are a good daughter to find out information. And I am sure that otherwise, he is doing fine. I hope he is very active for it is good to build the heart up. Let us know what the doctor says. Okay? You keep hanging in there for him and look out for him.

Caroline
09-13-01
Aortic valve replacement
St. Jude's valve

 

[Johnny Stephens]

This issue of whether I will be able to hear my valve(s) once I have my surgery has been weighing on my mind as well. Consensus seems to be that the patient more or less tunes it out, but that others may notice it more.

I'm interested in what tactics or approaches the clickers here use to explain it to others that notice it but are unaware of your situation. My work requires that I be in meetings with varying numbers of people for most of every day and I'm just visualizing the click click becoming prominent during an awkard pause in a heated meeting

Thanks as always to all

Johnny

 

[Nancy]

Hi Johnny-

The clicking sound is quite subtle when others hear it, and they might not be able to determine in what direction the sound is coming from, but in a quiet room, it might be noticeable. What you tell others about the sound depends on just how impish you are.

Joe, who has a devilish streak, has had people ask him if he hears a strange ticking sound and he says "I don't hear anything, I don't know what you're talking about". This leaves them in quite a quandry, because they either have to move closer to him to find out if it's him, which brings them up close and personal or they have to flee to a safe distance. It's his little "valve patient" amusement. He finds it entertaining.

 

[Gail in Ca]

Generally, I cannot hear the carbomedics aortic valve I have during the day, too much white noise.
I just played a concert, ( sitting in the clarinet section) and during an oboe concerto and her solo I was sitting there listening to the oboe cadenza and lo an behold I could really hear that darn valve! I worked on ignoring it right away and then I didn't hear it again. So, at quiet moments I can hear it clicking away. No one else seems to hear it that sits around me.
Gail

 

[RobThatsMe]

Hi Gail,

Hmmm.. Sounds like you have your own built-in Metronome. Hope you don't start playing to that tempo if the band is in another.

If so, guess you can truly say that you march to the beat of a different drummer!

Being a musican myslef, I had a good laugh when I read your post!

Rob