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Mental Health (Expert Forum)
Hypochondria, MS, Somatization disorder, or what?
Answered by
Roger Gould, M.D. - Mental Health, Wellness
Questions posted in the Mental Health forum are being answered by Dr. Roger L. Gould, author of the Mastering Stress and Depression program and affiliated with the UCLA. Department of Psychiatry. Topics covered include anger, attention deficit disorder (ADD), bipolar disorder, dementia, electroconvulsive therapy (ECT), learning disabilities, memory, obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD), panic, personality disorders, phobias, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), schizophrenia, stress, transitions, and work problems.
Hypochondria, MS, Somatization disorder, or what?
by Jenny Wren, Oct 24, 2006 12:00AM
My problems started back in 1998 with migraines (mom and granfather have them), then in 2000, I started having left sided facial tingling (headache side), of course I googled "facial tingling", MS came up, my gram was diagnosed with MS at age 60. Of course I panicked, then started having anxiety attacks that left me with 3 months of extremem nausea. At that time I had lots of bloodwork done, everything normal except that I had a positive reading of a reacctivated EBV infection. Went to doc, he said that this would not cause the nausea. It lasted 3 months and left as fast as it came one day. So decided to go to neuro about these migraines, wanted to do brain MRI, I refused, I was scared, so over the next 2 years I tried to get on with my life. 2002 I fell in a hole in our yard and hurt my back, I went to the chiro, he adjusted me and told me that he thought I had MS, Fibromyalgia, or a brain stem tumor, I totally freaked, he said this because of the lower back pain and facial tingling. On the way home from his office, I started having a burning sensation come over my body, it started in my legs, up my back and down my arms, I was really upset. When I got home I called his office, they told me that I needed to see a specialist, I was never burning before this, I explained to them. The burning went away, and then the itching started. It was on my feet, hands, back, and butt cheeks, this lasted for about 2 weeks. This all occured right before the Thanksgiving holiday. Needless to say, I was a basket case that year throughout the entire holiday season, I decided in Jan to start an antidepressant. I took Prozac, and althought the side effects were awful the first two weeks, I kept taking it. Now April of this year I had to put my mind to ease and I decided to have the brain MRI done. It was normal, was I happy at that, no, so doc sent me for cervical MRI, found a bulging disk, she said that this could be the cause of the facial tingling, and neckaches/headaches, great, so now along with these headaches, my ear started to hurt inside, ENT doc said no infection, to my surprise I noticed that when I take a 1/2 xanax it goes away. The only problem that I have now is, now this is strange, so bear with me please, I sometimes can't stand clothes up against my skin, it feels like little bugs crawling under clothing. I just recently started buspar for anxiety, its been a week now, only 7.5 mg at night, and it seems to have made these sensations diminish a good bit. I'm sorry to ramble, but do you think its possible that all these sensations are a result of me having "health anxiety?" I am still scared about MS, but my doc said that it would have showed up on MRIs by now, being said its been 5 years that these weird bug crawling sensations started. Could you please tell me what you think of my royal mess? Is this some type of manifestation of a mental issue? Or am I truly just a HYPOCHONDRIAC? Thanks so much for the patience and thoughts!!!
Doctor's Answer
by Roger Gould, M.D., Oct 27, 2006 12:00AM
, Oct 27, 2006 12:00AM
I can only mirror back what you tell me so can't make a diagnosis but what you described is somatization of anxiety, and you may also have a disc problem, so keep the two separate and keep yourself sane by reminding yourself that evey time you treat your anxiety with a medication, your symptoms diminish...That tells the essential story.
I gotta say, this all sounds very well like it could be anxiety. Especially the feeling you got on the way home after the doctor freaked you out. In my experience, Anxiety and Health anxieties go hand-in-hand, and somatization definitely happens as well. Keep taking your medication regularly, take the xanax when you feel "odd"... If the xanax makes you feel better, there's an excellent chance that this is all anxiety related, and the buspar should start working. If it doesn't, try prozac, paxil, or zoloft--I don't know much about buspar. I have seen every specialist there is--cardiologist, endocrinologist, allergist, neurologist, ENT, have had MRI's, blood work, physical exams, you name it. They told me I could have an adrenal tumor, a pituitary tumor, MS, thyroid disfunction, mitral valve prolapse, allergies, asthma....
All that comes back is slightly off blood work, slightly off reflexes, and no diagnosis.
So.....I take medication for anxiety, and it seems to help all of my symptoms....whether there is an underlying biological cause for the anxiety, I don't know, but if the anxiety medication helps, chances are, that's what was wrong.
Mild, but persistant headaches(last for days), distorted vision with some hallucinatory symptoms--flashing lights & colors, loss of balance, extreme fatigue, daytime drowsiness with nightime insomnia, excessive sweating, constant state of anxiety and agitation with waves of panic lasting weeks at a time, diarrhea, confusion, intrusive thoughts, skipped heart beats, shortness of breath, hot flashes, vertigo, tremors....the neuro exam showed that my reflexes didn't respond properly, but weren't quite enough to warrant additional testing beyond the MRI....I'm sure there's more...I'll post as I think of them.