“Will My Husband’s Heart Valve Click?” Asks Jodi

I too am having trouble adjusting to my click, click. I’m surviving on 3-4hours sleep per night. My son over the tv hears it and jokes about it, I’m able to laugh sometimes about it but overall it’s very depressing. My dr has said to me….
If you can hear it remember your alive. Please talk to someone about it it’s not healthy that your taking this strong medication to sleep. I had my aortic valve replaced 6/9/2016 I’m 53 years old.

Hi Steve
I had a mechanical valve put in after a aortic dissection. Just yesterday, after I went to get my INR readings done, I asked the nurse about the noise of the valve. I am booked in to see the doc and get some more sleeping tablets. Some days I hardly notice it but other days I cannot sleep. Unfortunately the blood thinners appear to be essential but preventative in nature. Its summer down here in Oz so I sleep also with a noisy fan going.

Sorry to say it but, no it does not.

I had my mitral done in 2001, said I’d never do it again, but had to have my aortic done in 2009! Both are mechanical valves and so now double the click. They can be entertaining for kids, but I wouldn’t want to be the person sat next to me on a flight! I never thought I would get used to the noise, but I did. True, I am always aware of it, especially at night, but it can also be useful to be aware of any changes to my ectopics or other oddities. So for those concerned it will always be a problem, relax, you do eventually forget it, although I do crave silence, just remember, if it does go quiet – you got a problem!

Does the clicking have anything to do with weight. I am thin and they keep saying its because of that that my clicking is so loud. I am trying to think of somethig that might help. Ladies…. push up bra’s?? do they perhaps help? I am used to meditating in groups and I can tell you its torture for me now. Hear it all the time and dont want to disturb others 🙁

I had my mitral valve replaced with a metal one last November. I spent many nights on this blog reading other people’s experiences to try to prepare; I was a very nervous patient. The clicking noise of the valve is fairly loud at times, and obviously (and thankfully!), it’s constant. I found it very difficult to sleep with it when I got home from hospital, and I still do sometimes. I leave a fan on in my room at night to drown out the clicking noise. I’m nearly three months out from surgery now, and I’m starting to get used to it. I am still very conscious of the noise, but other things have been a far bigger adjustment. I had a job interview last week and I was very worried the interviewers would comment on it – they didn’t. I’m 24, so I’m quite conscious of it in social situations, too. But it’s important to remember, its a small price to pay for continued good health. If I focus on the annoyance of it too much, and let it become ‘a thing’, I will be defeating the purpose of having had the surgery in the first place. I really do empathise with all those who find it tough to deal with – I feel your pain! It’s very much one day at a time. Thanks to all the blog posters on this thread and others, you all helped me in more ways than I can say or than you will ever know.

i would LOVE to have a double click. my single click isn’t quite enough for me 🙂

Chrisalien i also had a dissection type a and new arch and mechanical valve also more dissection im dealing with. What type did u have?my email is orangeventura@yahoo.com if u want to chat.thanks

Hi Brian
Yep I had what they call a bentall procedure and it was dissection type a. All my info I have at my workplace so i will grab it next week. I am also allergic to the contrast they use when they give you a CT scan. HAH. The dissection should have killed me, they told me, then they gave me the CT scan and I went into anaphylactic shock , which almost killed me, then they did it again this time getting me to take antihistamines and other medications, and I went into shock again.
So cheated death 3 times….I really dont want this to be a habit.
When you say more dissection, what do you have to get done?

Hey chrisalien,well i had a new arch and grafted to my desending and a mechanical valve which i hate. Found out under the descending graft im dissecting down to both iliacs. I have a 3.2 dissecting anerysm on right iliac and the rest of my aorta is dissecting. They told me i had a 10percent chance to live i told thm to let me die thn i woke up aftet a 8hr surgery still wanting to be dead. Now im living in hell since they saved my life which is a joke. Im suicidal and goin nuts cause of wat they did to me and now wat i have to face in the future if i make it. U can email me if u want at orangeventura@yahoo.com i am now 46 and ths happened 9months ago. I would like to know more bout u? None of us really survive and when we due were not the same. I hope to here from u. Thanks

Hey its brian if u sent me a mess i deleted by accident wasnt sure if it was u.

I had m surgery 6 weeks ago. On-x Valve. It clicks quite a bit. Yes, it’s annoying, but the worse part for me? I am a sound designer. I record sounds. I have no idea how I will record sounds again now. Any microphone picks the click sound quite well. Maybe recording days are over =/

To build on this though… better the recording days to be over, then all days. Or maybe all my recordings will come with a natural watermark.

Just found this site. I have a mechanical aortic valve. I can hear it click when the room is very quiet. Doesn’t bother me. I enjoy ocean swimming and on two occasions dolphins have swam right up to me out in the wild. My theory is that they hear the clicking and are curious. As long as the sharks don’t think it’s the dinner bell…

wha happens if the clock stop making the ticking noise . but the clock still works . is there a major issuie on that ?

Hi, how is the sound for you now? I’m on here because mine is bothering me right now. Can you feel yours too? Mine feels like a constant tapping on my sternum, sometimes it’s more of a thud. I got mine In January 2015 (I was 27). I hope in time the sound and feeling lessen! What I try to remember is this is better that repeated operations throughout my life if I were to have chosen the pig valve. I also have kidney disease (got my kidney transplant after a 9 year wait in December 2015!) so my cardiologist said a pig valve would only last 5 years rather than the usual 15, but I’m sure no one would want that surgery again even every 15 years! The downsides of the metal valve are worth it IMO – you just have to distract yourself when it’s bothersome.