From Strong to Soft Heartbeat

[FUAnxiety]

Hi. I'm a 22 year old male and for the past 5 years or so I've had a pounding heart where I've always been able to feel my heart beating, specifically in my abdomen area. My stomach and shirt would always be visibly shaking with my pulse and when anxious it would pound even harder.

The past month, however, it feels like my heart is beating a lot softer. Today, I often cannot feel my heartbeat and cannot see my pulse in my stomach except when I'm anxious. When I'm anxious, it still pounds (what feels like) extremely hard. I guess this is more normal to have an unnoticeable heartbeat so maybe I shouldn't even be worried but I'm not used to this at all and it's making me very worried because I don't know what could have caused this change. I haven't changed my diet or exercise and I'm more stressed than ever.

My first guess is that my blood pressure may have dropped. A few years ago I went to see my doctor about my pounding heart and when he took my blood pressure it was very high (around 180 systolic). I then sat in a room for 5 minutes to calm down and the systolic number dropped to about 155. However, I don't think my blood pressure was normally that high and I just attribute it to anxiety or "white coat syndrome".
I bought a blood pressure monitor about a month ago at the time when my heartbeat was starting to feel softer and I've been taking a lot of readings since and they have been pretty good (usually 110-130 systolic, 60-80 diastolic when sitting) but this is when I'm at home, completely calm. I don't know what my at-home blood pressure was when I had a pounding heart so I don't know if it even dropped. Also, I believe my resting heart rate has increased a bit over the past month (maybe around 10 bpm).

Other possible causes I've come up with: weight gain (weight around stomach area causing me to not feel the pulse there anymore? I haven't really gained weight in the past month though), heart is contracting differently or failing or there is some blockage (afraid of this).

So, are any of the causes I've listed above plausible? Should I be concerned about this change in heartbeat forcefulness and potential drop in blood pressure considering I haven't changed my lifestyle? Are you able to see / feel your heartbeat at all times?

I've developed fairly severe hypochondria over my heart to the point where I'm constantly checking my pulse, losing sleep worrying and even having dreams about waking up with a heart attack... I just want to know if I should be concerned at all. I have an appointment next week but a week seems like so long.

Thanks.

[LeoS2017]

Did you find out why your heart started beating softer??  I have the same issue, my heart started beating a lot softer in like a month ago.

[achillea]

Can you do all the things you normally do, without fainting, barfing, or breaking out in a cold sweat?  If so, the 'softness' of the heartbeat is absolutely irrelevant.

[sharon6922]

Have you been on a ecg (eck)? get it checked out xx

[is_something_wrong]

Hi,

First, you can't determine your blood pressure from taking your pulse. Even if you could somehow determine your pulse pressure (sys minus dia), you can not know if your blood pressure is 100/60 or 150/110.

A high cardiac stroke volume will make your pulse harder, yes. But lots of other factors also matters, such as blood vessel dilation, the position of your arms, temperature, etc.

Sometimes my pulse is weak, sometimes it's strong. It doesn't really matter, and constantly checking this may make you turn into an OCD-ish condition. You need to break this cycle.

Blockages or a failing heart will not cause these symptoms, so you don't have to worry about that. The chance your heart is failing is not any higher than any 22 y/o, in other words negligible. Your problem is not your heart, it's your anxiety.

[Martin1990]

I have the same problem I was at ER cause of high blood pressure it was 195/130 they said it was a hypertension. I was diagnosed with H. Pyroli, not I'm taking blood pressure pills lisinopril 20gm, and amoxilin and other for h. Pyroli well I got in a strick diet just fruits and vegetables, sometimes chicken. There is times when I feel my hearth raised to 120bpm when walking but I think that's normal and sometimes out of nowhere just laying down it feels like it beating harder not faster 90 BPM or so. My question is cause I was at the ER now every day I'm always checking my hearth beat can that be causing the trigger to beat faster? I just keep thinking about it all the time. I just relax for 5 min. And I'm fine so can thinking so much about affect my hearth beating?

[Martin1990]

I'm 26 years old by the way