Hello,

I have already been reassured that my palpitations are harmless, however, I have some other symptoms that I would like addressed.

1) It feels as if my head is bobbing in sync with my pulse.
2) I can visibly see my pulse in my carotid arteries in my neck. It's not just barely visible, it's quite visible.
3) Whenever I get up for a lying down position, my heart beats hard, but beats slow. It doesn't seem to speed up until I am up for a while. I can feel it beating really hard in my chest.

These symptoms, in combination with the heart palpitations and chest pain I sometimes experience have me worried. My cardiologist thinks I'm fine since im only 22, but I'm not so sure.

I had an echo in January of last year, and it showed slight left ventricle enlargement...But docs don't seem concerned.

Since that Echo, all of these other symptoms have popped up. Anything to be worried about here? Could the left ventricle enlargement be a sign of aortic insufficiency (with the head bobbing)? My cardiologist listened to my heart a few weeks ago and seems not concerned at all. I would like to have another echo but don't know if she will order it for me since I had one last january.

Your thoughts???

Thank You

Okay, your apprehension that something is wrong with you is on a runaway train.

You've simply become vigilant to entirely normal physiological changes that have been occurring all along but never given attention. Once a person believes something is potentially wrong, they begin taken note of every subtle nuance and finding it to be inconsistent with prior history.

Not a one of the observations and associated factors you've mentioned constitutes anything at all other than normal physiology. People develop notions that changes in physiology are not good and I'm constrained to point out here that the exact opposite is the actual case.

Lastly, you are attempting to evaluate and diagnose yourself in the entire absence of the requisite skills and training to do so. Think of it as placing a loaded pistol into the hands of a toddler and before closing the door behind you as you leave him to resolve the dilemma on his own, instruct him to hit the bullseye. The risk of self-injury obviously dwarfs the chance that he will be able to figure out all of the correct sequences necessary through repeated skills and training in order to actually hit the bullseye. You should likewise take into consideration your relative skills at clinical medicine.

You're going to be fine and again, everything you've mentioned appears to be in good working order. Pounding heart is merely a consequence of increased cardiac force necessary to make rapid adjustments to blood pressure. The ability to visualize an arterial pulse is entirely common as well and does not suggest hypertension or any other disorder.

Take a breath and relax.

Best regards,

Rutheford Rane, MD (ret.)