33 and worried about abdominal aortic aneurysm. Pulse in abdomen.

[scared88]

I went for a quick jog and I don't feel bad afterwards, not winded or particularly short of breath. According to Google Fit I jogged 1.15 km (0.7 miles) in 7 minutes at average speed of 6.3 km/h (3.9 mph). Hopefully that means the heart is in an OK shape

[Fishmanpa]

I went for a quick jog and I don't feel bad afterwards, not winded or particularly short of breath. According to Google Fit I jogged 1.15 km (0.7 miles) in 7 minutes at average speed of 6.3 km/h (3.9 mph). Hopefully that means the heart is in an OK shape

Hopefully? You can put this to bed now

FMP

[scared88]

Hopefully? You can put this to bed now

FMP

HR went up to 160 though and I see my pulse very clearly in my neck and I can see my head move with each beat when I stare at it in the mirror.
But yes, hopefully I'm ok.

[Fishmanpa]

You can put this to bed now

FMP

[yorkshirepudding]

I know the thread is a couple of weeks old now but I can understand your worries. I have the same thing. My whole stomach moves when I lay in bed. I went to the docs and he did an examination and said it felt fine - correct width etc. I went for an ultrasound for something else and they said the same. So, yes - it can be completely normal for this to happen. Anxiety genuinely does not help. I think a discussion with the GP about your worries is not unreasonable but then you must move on. You are very young to have to worry about this though.

[anom]

Thank you so much for posting that. This sound very similar to what I've been doing although I've not gone down the route of paying for a cardiologist. I hope you're right that the doc would have heard a murmur if there was any in my heart through the stethoscope. You said you have a murmur that you knew about before going in? Did they find out where that murmur is coming from?

I thought £200 to see a cardiologist was probably sensible, I would have eventually dragged myself to my GP who would have either told me to go away or refer me but I'd have been waiting months, especially during the worst parts of the pandemic/NHS struggling. I had some discrepancy with my CT scan results (they didn't actually mention my heart at all) which caused me to ring my GP, I think we just agreed if they had seen anything of concern I would have heard about it. He also said paying privately basically made me skip about a 3 month long queue so wasn't a bad idea on my part as all he would have done is refer me. (I've also paid 2k privately for a colonoscopy for basically my own sanity, but thats another story)

He straight up rejected any issue with heart valves, said things about the murmurs radiating if it was regurgitation due to hearing the blood going back the wrong way. I already knew I had a murmur as when I was 16ish I had a holter monitor and some other bits (due to the same issue actually, this is when it all began, it just wasnt as bad back then) They never mentioned anything else about it back then but the cardiologist this time put on his letter to my GP "non radiating murmur in the mitral valve area" and left it at that. Kinda tells me they can pick up a lot about your heart just from listening! I'm sure if you had a serious problem it would have been picked up.

There was something else I read about this knackered valve about how it affects your blood pressure, I can't remember the name but it was the first number continues to get higher while the second number keeps dropping (so you might end up with something like 170/50) It was at that point I started testing my own blood pressure, it was high but..normal (like 150/90) which actually gave me some comfort as I just assumed it was high in the first place due to all the anxiety I was going through. As I say I still have the exact same problems now but my BP can be 125/80ish because I refuse to get in a tizz over it regardless of how much it annoys me.

[scared88]

I thought £200 to see a cardiologist was probably sensible, I would have eventually dragged myself to my GP who would have either told me to go away or refer me but I'd have been waiting months, especially during the worst parts of the pandemic/NHS struggling. I had some discrepancy with my CT scan results (they didn't actually mention my heart at all) which caused me to ring my GP, I think we just agreed if they had seen anything of concern I would have heard about it. He also said paying privately basically made me skip about a 3 month long queue so wasn't a bad idea on my part as all he would have done is refer me. (I've also paid 2k privately for a colonoscopy for basically my own sanity, but thats another story)

He straight up rejected any issue with heart valves, said things about the murmurs radiating if it was regurgitation due to hearing the blood going back the wrong way. I already knew I had a murmur as when I was 16ish I had a holter monitor and some other bits (due to the same issue actually, this is when it all began, it just wasnt as bad back then) They never mentioned anything else about it back then but the cardiologist this time put on his letter to my GP "non radiating murmur in the mitral valve area" and left it at that. Kinda tells me they can pick up a lot about your heart just from listening! I'm sure if you had a serious problem it would have been picked up.

There was something else I read about this knackered valve about how it affects your blood pressure, I can't remember the name but it was the first number continues to get higher while the second number keeps dropping (so you might end up with something like 170/50) It was at that point I started testing my own blood pressure, it was high but..normal (like 150/90) which actually gave me some comfort as I just assumed it was high in the first place due to all the anxiety I was going through. As I say I still have the exact same problems now but my BP can be 125/80ish because I refuse to get in a tizz over it regardless of how much it annoys me.

Thanks for responding, knowing that I'm not alone with this helps! You mentioned earlier about having bounding pulses, been reading about that and it seems it is what I have however I don't feel mine, like I don't feel my heart beating in my chest unless I put my hand over my chest. same with my neck. I just see it, does that count as a bounding pulse? Cause everything I've seen mentioned talks about them being felt, which I took to mean felt as in feeling your heart beating in the chest or your arteries, without touching them.
Anyway, have you noticed yours becoming more obvious after a big meal? Happened to me today. Hoping to get over this soon, there isn't

[anom]

^

Ah, I can feel mine 24/7, I wish I couldn't feel it! People at work couldn't understand when I said I can tap on the desk in rhythm with my heart, its constant, it doesn't really take any additional effort to "hear it" its just..there!

I can see it in my neck if I look for it, I can see it a bit in my chest and see it a lot in my abdomen.

Mine gets worse through the day and I would say yes, its food related. It's like theres not enough room in my body for my heart when my stomach gets filled upt? (the cardiologist wondered if I had a small chest cavity - again I'm just assuming a CT scan would have turned up anything obvious like valve issues/enlarged heart etc)

It actually gets to the point where I skip breakfast and lunch a lot so it bugs me less but obviously I have to give in and eat eventually and just suffer with the annoyance on the night. Now don't get me started on alcohol! That has me bouncing all over the place.

[scared88]

^

Ah, I can feel mine 24/7, I wish I couldn't feel it! People at work couldn't understand when I said I can tap on the desk in rhythm with my heart, its constant, it doesn't really take any additional effort to "hear it" its just..there!

I can see it in my neck if I look for it, I can see it a bit in my chest and see it a lot in my abdomen.

Mine gets worse through the day and I would say yes, its food related. It's like theres not enough room in my body for my heart when my stomach gets filled upt? (the cardiologist wondered if I had a small chest cavity - again I'm just assuming a CT scan would have turned up anything obvious like valve issues/enlarged heart etc)

It actually gets to the point where I skip breakfast and lunch a lot so it bugs me less but obviously I have to give in and eat eventually and just suffer with the annoyance on the night. Now don't get me started on alcohol! That has me bouncing all over the place.

I mean I can feel mine too sometimes after running up the stairs or lifting something heavy. I had 2 CT scans many many years ago for an unrelated matter, one was for abdomen and the other for thorax, so not exactly chest CT but hopefully they would have caught my valves too.
But yes I only reallly just see mine, is that not a bounding pulse? Is that only when you can feel it beat inside you?

[scared88]

Still struggling to shift this worry. The pulse on both sides of my neck is still quite noticable when I look at myself in the mirror! It's on each side of my Adams apple, up towards the jawline, if that description makes sense.