Quote Originally Posted by bin tenn View Post
33 (almost 34) here, some family history of early-ish heart disease - fatal, even. I completely understand your worry, no question about that. However, I can say that I occasionally feel these same sensations, and I highly doubt they're related to the heart at all. I get all sorts of stinging, aches, pains, numbness, tingling, etc in my neck, shoulders, back and arms. Yours, like mine, is probably related to nerves and/or poor posture (same problem here).

My BP also runs fairly high (145/90) in any professional setting, even a dentist office. If I check at a pharmacy or even at home, same thing. I always relax the best I can, take a reading, then sit for a minute or two and take another reading or two. The subsequent readings are always consistent and very normal (~120/68).

A single elevated reading is not indicative of any problem. At least, the way I understand it is you need to have multiple (not sure how many) instances of consistently elevated blood pressure at rest, without any factors such as anxiousness, then you *may* be diagnosed with hypertension.
Well the second pharmacy reading was certainly closer to normal but still high, I hope that if I had managed to relax some more that it would have been even closer. Another thing that has gotten me in a bit of a twist is that I can see my heartbeat in my chest and abdomen. Now, I've seen people say that they can see it too but they are usually very skinny which I am not. I have noticed this before and years ago too but I'm really noticing it now.

Other than the fast heartbeat/BP and air hunger I dont have any symptoms of heart failure or disease.