MS or extreme anxiety/hypochondria?

[Parrotsmuggler]

About two weeks ago, I was working on some schoolwork on the computer when I realized that I felt a little lightheaded. I got up from my chair and felt slightly dizzy. I immediately became worried and cancelled my workout for that morning (I thought that maybe I had had a TIA - my father had one a few months ago, so I guess that's why it came to mind). I looked up dizziness on the internet and read about the various medical conditions that can cause it. I soon realized that it was very unlikely that I had had a TIA or a stroke. However, MS did come up in my search and I spent awhile reading up on the symptoms of MS. Later in the day, I got a tingling feeling in my left foot and since then everything has gone downhill. Over the last two weeks, I've developed just about every MS symptom there is, some have stayed with me, others have gone away, only to be replaced by others. I've experienced:

-intermittent tingling in feet, legs, hands, and face
-a feeling of weakness in my legs and arms
-muscle twitches all over my body
-seeing floaters
-a feeling of being off balance
-perceived hand/forearm weakness
-finger twitching, eye twitching
-sometimes I feel like my vision is blurry but when I rub my eyes, it goes away
-fatigue
-lower back pain
-leg stiffness/leg pains
-chest pain
-sometimes I feel as if the tips of my toes have gone numb, but when I touch them, the sensation is normal
-lack of coordination (I feel like my movements aren't as precise as they were before)
-a feeling of tightness in my face, intermittent pain in my face
-itchiness all over
-overreaction to the cold
-sometimes I can feel my heart beating very strongly, sometimes it feels like it's skipped a beat.

I just don't know what to make of all this. I've seen three GPs and they've all said stress. I went to the ER and the doctor said my neurological exam was perfect (unfortunately, they didn't give me an MRI). And yet I really don't feel that all this is being caused by stress...I mean, the most stressful thing in my life right now is the thought that I have MS.

Any opinions would be appreciated. Thanks.

[Roger Gould, M.D.]

Stress is the wrong word.  This is a very familiar onset of anxiety disorder focused on ms.  It is impossible for ms to come on like this, so suddenly, and not have any neurological signs. You should see a therapist or ask your doctor for Klonopin for your anxiety.

[born2bfree]

hey guy, check the topic two below yours. we are all discussing the "symptoms" that arise from anxiety. without even knowing you or seeing you i'd bet a million dollars you don't have MS. I've had these SAME symptoms for about a year now and I also thought I had MS, ALS, Parkinson,Some undiagnosable condition. STRESS causes anxiety and after awhile, our body just says enough of this stuff. Its starts acting weird and then this is where the nasty cycle starts. The symptoms start and you start worrying about them which causes more anxiety which in return causes more symptoms. in keeps getting worse until you can get some sort of control of it. you first have to get piece of mind that you are "physically" fine. once you get that in your head(which isn't easy to do because a person keeps thinking something else is wrong)it is then you stop the nasty cycle. it doen't always mean your going to get better right away but at least you can then begin to cope with the root cause of how it all began. I've been going thru this for about a year now and believe it or not there have good days but let me tell you, the bad days still come. the difference is i realize this is anxiety and not a physcial disease. if you ever want to email me my email is ***@****.
God Bless and hang in there. It does get better and easier to live with.

[born2bfree]

also look up the term derealization. it may answer your "dizziness" symptoms.

[Parrotsmuggler]

Thanks for commenting. I'd really like to believe that what I'm experiencing is anxiety, but it's very tough to believe this when all your symptoms point to one disease...MS. Unfortunately, the symptoms of MS coincide almost perfectly with those of extreme anxiety so it's impossible to tell what symptoms are being caused by what.

Even right now, typing at the computer, both my forearms feel weak and sore, my left eye is twitching, etc...so frustrating. I'll tell you one thing, if this isn't MS I'll be signing myself up for CBT!

[born2bfree]

i bet the reason for your weakness is that your totally tense with your body. i bet if you check yourself right now, your back is tense, your arms are clenched, you probably are sleeping tense. i was there, i could barley walk a half a mile without feeling like i had to sit down, previous to that i was jogging a couple miles a day without a problem. just sit back a TRY to relax and not focus on everything you notice about your body. you realize stuff that you've probably had for years but now it will be something you will worry about. sit down and say a prayer that god will give some peace and relaxation. it helps.

[Parrotsmuggler]

What's crazy about health anxiety is that a person can create any physical symptom. When I was worried that I had testicular cancer, I had pain and aching there. When I was worried that I had bone cancer, I had shooting pains in my legs. When I thought I had a brain tumour, I felt off balance, had head and eye pains and felt nauseous. Thinking about these past instances of hypochondria makes me feel better to some degree.

The thing is, this case somehow feels different from the others. I've never experienced so many symptoms at the same time and they were never this persistent. Maybe the stress had just gotten worse and worse over the years and I've finally reached the breaking point.

[Jenny Wren]

Hello there.  I want you to know that you are not the only one with these strange happenings.  Mine all started about 6 years ago with facial tingling.  I started looking up stuff on the net and bang, guess what came up? MS.  I panicked, cause my gram was diagnosed with MS when she was 60.  Not to long after looking this stuff up, I started getting really paranoid, and noticed every little thing about my body, soon I started with muscle twitches, creepy crawling sensations ( only with clothes on), muscle tension, headaches, heart palpitations, you name it, I probably had/have it.  I never endured numbness though.  I finally after 6 years, decided to have a brain MRI done, the only thing that came back was sinus infection.  I still to this day worry about MS, I know its sometimes hard to diagnose.  I have felt a little better knowing that after 6 years probably something would have shown by now (MRI).  My next step is maybe trying an antidepressant, although Prozac didn't seem to work in the past when this all started, your mind can play havoc on your body, I hope that the problem with you, and me, and also a number of people here turns out to be "HEALTH ANXIETY".  By the way, I seen your postings on the MS forum, it's a scary thing.
I hope you feel better soon.

[Parrotsmuggler]

Thanks for responding. I hope you don't mind if I ask you a few questions. Did the majority of your symptoms begin after you started reading up on MS? Did you experience pretty much the same symptoms as me?

[Jenny Wren]

Hi there, yes the symptoms all started after I read about this, at that time, my only symptom was nausea, and somewhere on the net MS came up as a potential symptom, that's when I panicked.  After that, it's been all downhill, been this way for 5, maybe 6 years.  My symptoms don't follow the typical MS pattern, mine are there all the time, I have found that when I'm busy, I don't notice it at all, it's when I try to relax, or I'm bored, go figure, the mind is complex, I wish everyday that all these feelings will go away.  If you find any helpful information, please let me know.  Try to relax, better said than done.

[Jenny Wren]

I have 15 of your symptoms, by the way.

[Jenny Wren]

Go to www.anxietyzone.com, and read "my story in a nutshell", I think you will find it interesting.  Oh yeah, by the way, do you ever get a tight feeling in your face, and then a tingle?  Just curious, what about your lower eyellid twitching?  Let me know.  See ya later!

[Parrotsmuggler]

Thanks for answering Jenny. In answer to your questions - I don't get lower eyelid twitching, but I do get upper eyelid twitching (actually, it's hard to tell whether it's my eyelid or the actual eyeball itself that's twitching); it primarily affects my left eye but happens in the right occasionally. I do get a feeling of tightness in my face, but only on the left side. You see, when I first felt lightheaded I thought that I had had a TIA or a stroke. As you undoubtedly know, when a person has a stroke, only one side of their body is affected. My first real MS-type symptom was a feeling of tingling in my left foot. I suppose that (if my symptoms are actually due to hypochondria) the symptoms came on in a way that was consistent with what I was fearing. So the next tingling feeling I got was in my left hand, then I got some twitching on the left side of my face, etc. I came to realize that there is no way that I had had a stroke, and the symptoms started appearing on both sides!

It's funny, part of my brain is telling me that there's nothing wrong with me. That if I truly had all of these MS symptoms, the docs would've been able to see something in my neurological exam. The other part of my brain (or the devil sitting on my shoulder) keeps telling me that this could be it, the big final death blow that I've been worrying about for the last 5 years. I'll tell you one thing, if I turn out to be fine I'm going to have to go in for some therapy and maybe try some different meds. Something is out of whack in my life and I need to find out what that is and take care of it.

[spiderbaby]

I can tell you I have sure been there!  When I first thought I had MS 8 years ago, the neurologists said no, but we can do a lumbar puncture just to be sure.  I freaked out - there was no way I was doing an LP.  My "MS" symptoms took 6 months to go away and all I was left with was a constant vice-like headache.  I have had this headache non stop for 8 years.  I had one more "MS" symptom outbreak 3 years later.  THis one lasted for 5 months.  I went to the MAYO clinic and the best doctors in the world said - it is not MS - but let's do a lumber puncture.  I again said no.  At that point I figued whatever I had was not going to kill me after three years.

I am currently in a bad state with weird MS symptoms.  The worst is my feet burn and tingle.  I think the anxiety from these pushed me into a hyper anxious state that has caused all kinds of other symptoms - mostly debilitating fatigue, panic attacks, burning in my face, arms & shoulders.  This sucks big time, but I know it is not MS.

I know what it feels like to panic and drive yourself crazy because you don't know what is wrong with you.  I know what is like to have 15 doctors say they aren't sure what is wrong with you - they have never seen anything like this before.  I know what it is like to spend thousands of dollars on "alternative" practitioners who tell you you are just toxic.  It is enough to drive you crazier!

[Jenny Wren]

Do you know of anyone who has MS?  Sometimes people will know someone that has it, and they become obsessed about it and hope and worry that they don't get this.  Then the symptoms start.  Mine started all on left side, then gradually spread everywhere.
How old are you?  How long have you had these thoughts and fears, and when did the symptoms start?  My ear rings alot on the left also, it will start as a high pitch then gradually go away, weird.  What we are experiencing is sensory, it's kinda rare to have just this type of feelings all at once with MS, I've had facial tingling for 6, then came the rest about 1 year after that, doc said I probably wouldn't have a normal brain MRI after 5-6 years of these symptoms.  Maybe try to get a MRI.
Talk again soon.

[Jenny Wren]

What kind of tests did you have done?  Any MRIs, what kind, did you ever end up having the LP?  How old are you if you don't mind me asking?  Male or Female?  I'm 35, female, started thinking maybe hormonal since my gram went through menopause at 39, nothing sparked this, nothing traumatic, just ziltch, done.
Maybe that's me, I dunno.  Talk again.

[spiderbaby]

Hey Jenny Wren.  I heard you could sing ;-)

Well, I am 40.   I have been dealing with this strange syndrome for 8 years now.  I had thought I was healthy previously, but who knows.  All my blood tests have been normal.  I do have active Epstein-Barr titers, Mycoplasma titers, and elevated T-3.  The doctors don't seem to care about any of this so I am not sure why they ran the tests.

I wake up every morning now with burning pain in my arms, shoulders and hands.  Is it from anxiety?  I don't know.  What has me puzzled is, why would I have anxiety upon waking if I had good dreams?  

I am currently taking Remeron to sleep.  I take 15 mg. before bed and it lets me sleep for a few hours.  Then I have to take another 15 mg. to get a few more hours sleep.  This is only when I am in severe anxiety/stress.  Normally, I can take 15 mg of Remeron and sleep for half a day.  I am wondering if stress/anxiety disturbs the sleep cycle and I am not getting any stage 4 sleep and that is why I wake up in so much pain.

Who knows!

Thanks for chatting, Jenny Wren.  It is good to meet you!

[Jenny Wren]

That's funny, when this all started with me 6 years ago, my doc ran bloodwork, he said that I have a reactivated infection EBV, it's been downhill since.  There has been others on here with the same problems that have elevated EBV titers, did you ever here of them saying that they think EBV causes MS, I have, they were talking about it on Lymenet a few weeks ago, the lymies there seem to feel that MS is lyme untreated, maybe someday they will find what's behind that, theres a lot there that was misdiagnosed with chronic fatique, fibromyalgia, MS and many other conditions and then later find that they have lyme disease and treated and are better, I may have to go this route, and find a doc that treates Lyme if this is my cause.  Oh yeah, I can sing, but not that good, my grandmother that I was very close to called me this about 2 days before she died, she always called me Jenny Lou Boo, but that day I was Jenny Wren, so thats the story.  Take care, it was also nice chatting with you.

[spiderbaby]

Oh my gosh - I have never heard the EBV MS connection - but it doesn't surprise me.  I don't think doctors even know if someone can suffer from EBV outbreaks when their titers are high.  My GP just says "If you had mono you will always have EBV titers".  That's it.  

I know for sure I don't have Lyme, as I live in Arizona and we don't have it much down here.  Also, I have never had a tick bite except for when I was a child.

Good Luck with your journey.  It has been nice to talk to someone who knows.

Spiderbaby

[englishlad]

wow guys! haha we should all get together in a bar and get our problems off our chest! we all have alot in common i swear to god! its amazing what your mind will do if you are fully convinced there is something wrong with you. i was fully convinced that i had high blood pressure and even went to extremes to buying my own personal monitor which totally made things worse!! i found myself coming home from work just to check it and convince myself that it was normal which it never was cuz i would stress myself out over it! it became an obsession and had to visit a doctor 2 times last week and have them convince me that i was normal( im still not fully convinced by the way! =(..i took numerous blood tests which were all fine,and now they have givin me xanax which helps alot!now, my mind is under the idea that maybe my blood pressure is only normal when im on xanax!eeeeeek!!! my ekg had some st elevation on the 1st day but none 2 days later when i went back,  however now im worried about my heart,and for peace of mind,im seeing the cartiologist tomarrow!! guess ill be taking another xanax pill!!! anyway . best wishes to everyone!!!

[rthomas003]

hey ive had all the same experiances except reaction to the cold for me its the heat (also a ms sign) ive just had a bunch of tests done including a very pricy mri with contrast and everything is normal, i would bet money on it that your suffering from anxiety, i thnk thats whats going on with me and it was good to see soemone else list so catagoriacally all the same symptomology, i didnt know anything about ms though before my symptoms, i had all those symptoms THEN looked into what could be causeing it and found there were alot of similaritys to MS so that makes it harder for me to beleive its just anxiety, i think your post just sealed it for me though. try and put it out of your mind, i know what your going through and its horrible to feel like your life as you know it could be on its way out, dont spend another day feeling like that, put it in your mind that your ok and if you cant do it then talk to your doctor about medication, im trying to avoid meds because (though ive always had some anxiety) it was never like this before so i figure if i was ok before i can be ok again,anyway i wish you the best of luck ,hope you feel better soon.

[Parrotsmuggler]

Well, I had a brain/c-spine MRI w/contrast done yesterday. The technician who took the scans could see how nervous I was so he broke the rules and told me that from what he could see everything looked fine. While I was still in the MRI machine, he sent the images over to a neurologist at the hospital affiliated with the MRI centre, and the neurologist said that everything looked great. So I guess it's time to stop worrying about MS. I still don't have the official report back from the radiologist, but I think it's safe to assume that a neurologist would not say that everything was fine unless he was damn sure that there wasn't a problem. I was quite relieved yesterday and for a few hours, my symptoms seemed to dissipate. Unfortunately, my symptoms creeped up earlier today...I guess it will take awhile for my body to get out of MS-mode.

[Energizer]

Let me first say that reading your comments today have helped me calm down a bit.  For the last six months I have convinced myself I had Hepatitis C.  I Google searched symptoms I was having after returning from a trip to Mexico.  Hep C kept popping up and matched my symptoms and still do almost to a T.   I have had bloodwork done twice, with all Liver enzyemes normal.  In the second test I had a HCV anitbody test run along with HAV and HBV.  All negative.  

I too have been suffering from physical ailments such as tingling and pain in my feet and hands, mild headaches that come and go like the wind, vague and intermittent abdominal pain, discomfort in my rib right rib cage (front, side, and in my upper back under my shoulder blade.  My left eye is not as clear as it used to be and also have swelling of my lower eyelid over night with a small round whitish spot on the inside of my left eyelid.  Also periods of fatigue and one weekend of what I would definitely term as malaise about six weeks after my return from Mexico.

This is a vicious cycle that I have struggled to break even with tests that confirm the opposite.  Hep C is a very mysterious virous that I understand can cloak itself for some time.  If I felt well for a long enough period I believe I could break the cycle.

I believe now what I had was a bacterial overgrowth with extreme anxiety about having Hepatitis C.  After reading your comments, I had to share what I have been going through.  Please reply with any questions / comments.

[roll 'em]

Hi parrotsmuggler have you had your results yet? I can relate to your situation and the other posters. Have had MS symptoms for months now tingling,pain in hands, fatigue, feeling of dizziness etc (although good point about derealization born2befree). Went to doc then ms specialist neuro who did exam and told me no way MS- NO MRI needed. You would think thats enough but still cant shake the symptoms. Amazing how many people have exactly the same issues- which hopefully will convince me its anxiety related.

[Parrotsmuggler]

I got the official MRI report back a few days ago...no signs of demyelination. Am I happy about the MRI? Yes, but..(there's always a but), as anyone who's read up on MS knows, it is possible (and not a 1 in a million chance either) for a person to get clean MRI results and still have MS, particularly when the disease is in its early stages. I think the figure is 90%, 90% of people who go on to develop clinically definite MS show lesions on MRI at the time of the first flare-up. Now 90% is a nice figure, but it's just not good enough for my messed up mind.

What I need to do is try to get in to see a neurologist as soon as possible. My GP can try to reassure me all day long, but frankly, he doesn't know as much about MS as I do. He's said some things that really show how little he knows about the disease. For example, the last time I saw him he said that there are no treatments for MS besides steroids. Talk about outdated information! Anyways, I'll only really believe the words "you don't have MS" when they're coming out of a neurologist's mouth!