Hi. I am a 29-year old man, moderately overweight with borderline hypertension. I am in otherwise good health and recently quit smoking, though I still sneak a few from time to time. I feel absolutely fine pretty much all the time except that occasionally my heartbeat is very strong and sometimes prevents me from falling asleep at night. I am a very anxious person and am a hypochondriac, so I wonder if this has something to do with it, though I don't always feel particularly anxious when it happens. The heartbeat /pulse isn't even particularly fast, it just feels very strong in my chest. I've had it on and off for a few years but it has been a bit more frequent recently. Has anybody heard of anything like that? Please respond. Thanks.

Pat,
Sorry to have to tell you this but from what you say you could become a candidate for heart disease - if you are not one already!
You can't quit smoking and then "sneak a few" - smoking is one of the key causes of heart disease and causes permanent, or at least long term, damage. Boot it right out of your life. Try hypnotism if you are really stuck - it works well. Get a refresher too, if needed.
You are overweight so you need to pay attention to your diet and get some serious exercise - exercise being the most important thing here - a daily exercise routine.
You have hypertension - this could result from your anxiety, and your physical condition and the smoking would not help.
If I were your GP I would send you for a stress test - you can do it yourself - trying running around the block and see how you pull up.
At a guess I would say the loud heartbeat is a blood pressure/anxiety effect - they can easily feed on one another. How about getting a digital blood pressure cuff and plot your BP over the coming weeks as you exercise more and bring your weight down? Also check out your family history. Get a cholesterol test too.
Taking an active interest in your condition may help give you more confidence and should help curb the anxiety. However, meditation is the best tool to combat anxiety long term.
I just wish I had had this advice at your age!
Good luck.
Beefy :wave:

I've read on the internet that a pounding heart is due to excess fluid. I suffer from the same symptoms that you describe (strong heartbeat that's not particularly fast). I'm certain that this problem isn't due to hypochodria or nerves.

So what have you done for it Catherine?

I've tried a couple of things, but nothing seems to work consistently. When this problem started, I'd been working really hard on my house and had inadvertently lost some weight (down to 104 pounds on my 5' 6 frame). I thought that maybe I'd become anemic and started taking iron supplements and mult-vitamins. I went for an entire month without eating sugar. Resting does seem to help, but why should I have to rest to feel normal? Obviously, something is wrong, and I'm hoping that the problem fixes itself because the doctors that I've seen haven't helped at all.

Have you tried anything?

No. It's very infrequent and doesn't really intefere with my life. I just worry a lot. Maybe once every three weeks or so for an hour. Other people I asked said that is not necessarily a symptom of excess fluid and that anxiety could cause it, though maybe that's not the case for you. Was just curious more than anything because I tend to worry a lot.

How frequent is yours?

Since January I'd say it's been occurring at least once a week. I usually only notice it when I'm in bed; I'm not sure how long the pounding lasts because I either fall asleep or get up and do something else. I worry a lot, too, now that I have this problem.

Well, no one else is really responding to this post so it must not be too much to wory about...lol. I've done a little research on the internet and what I come up with mostly is anxiety or perhaps high bp. When it's not constant, I don't think it's a huge problem, so perhaps we should both just relax a bit, eh? I think many opf my issues would go away if I were able to lower my anxiety.