i was wondering can anxiety mimic ms?

[alwaysworried86]

Hey my name is Jen and i am a 26 year old that until lately was in perfect health. It all started one day i woke up with my left thigh completely numb, and from there i woke up the next morning with the whole left side of my body numb, now i have had anxiety problems before and of course after all these symptoms panic kicked in full force but this feels more real than anything i have ever experienced before.
Well to go on after that all kinds of weird sensations have been happening, pins and needles in my legs, constant twitching of muscles, pain everywhere, shooting pain, muscle pain and then recently i ahve double vision, this is all mostly happening on my left side, i have went to the doctors who ruled out anything like a stroke and they all say that they dont see any signs of anything happening in the brain from an in office neurological test but the weird pins and needles sensations and constant humming is driving me crazy i do not as of now have any muscle weakness but overall feel horrible and its as if my circulation has turned off no matter how i lay/stand/sit something goes tingly, numb etc....my toes have went to the point where they have been completely white and lost all movement and feeling.
I guess what i am basically asking is could all of this really be caused by anxiety?, i go for an eye test and ct in a couple days but i am freaking out and cant take it any longer, i am terrified that i have ms:(...please give me an suggestions or thoughts you might have,
thanks so much!!!

[jocelynk22]

Wondering about an update! What did you find out?Im currently going through this,,, and my anxiety is making the wait for tests unbearable. (and probably making symptoms worse)

[alwaysworried86]

As an update i went for an eye test and everything looks good so far, still wants to send me for a visual acuity test next week but for now looks good and today was my ct scan, technician says i will have the results in a couple days!...anxiety waiting for results kills me lol but i am being patient and hoping for the best!

[loveandlivelife]

what ever happened with your diagnosis.  I hope you are ok.

[alwaysworried86]

thanks for all your support, i will let you know how it goes with the doctors next week, and yes i am still trying to breathe :)

[supermum_ms]

I strongly suggest you take a step back for a moment, stop researching MS because it is not helping and could in effect be making everything worse. It is important that you try to make a concous effort to re-focus your researching efforts, if that is what you feel you 'must' do, onto the dx you already 'have' been given and at one time took medication for and that is 'Health Anxiety'! Please try to get a better understanding of this condition, you probably will find this more helpful to you.

If you are under going further tests i highly recommend you get clarrification/confirmation of your dx health anxiety and suggest you have your mental health fully assessed by a trained psychologist or psyciatrist, so if that does end up being the cause of your situation, then you can start a better treatment program.

Cheers........JJ  

[alwaysworried86]

hey thanks for replying, my doctor is sending me for a ct next week and i also have an appointment with my eye doctor next week as well. I have had a full blood/urine check and work up. Yes i have had health anxiety in the past but this seems more real than what i have experienced before. My family doctor dx me with anxiety and put me on anti anxiety meds before.

And thank you but right now its hard to breathe...i keep reading more into the symptoms of ms and just laying in bed my whole leg starts twitching and moving on its own, and i also read that another sign is when your neck is elevated you will get pins and needles and thats how my legs started, this is all very scary but even reading your post is making me feel better because i know someone cares so i want to thank you for that :)

I wasnt sure where to post to ask for some help so i have also posted in the ms forum with more detail as to what is going on with more of a description what i posted here is more of a general idea if you could maybe take a look at that and tell me what you think?....i appreciate the talk...
Jen

[Lulu54]

Hi jen, I am also from the MS forum. I would have to agree with JJ that a good deep breath is in order here and perhaps these symptoms will quiet a bit if not completely.  

i just talked to someone on our forum t                                                                                                                                                      oday about all the noises our body makes. the more we focus on our body - becoming hypersensitive to everything - the more we think something is amiss.

There is always the possibility that this is something other than anxiety and you have to work through that with your doctors.  MS is usually a harder disease to diagnose because there are so many mimics and there is no test for definitively  proving MS.

Good luck with this and I hope you begin to feel better and get on with enjoying life.  Good luck with getting answers you can live comfortably with. One other point - MS is usually not as devastating as it used to be - we have many, many drugs to help and our lifespan is that same as others.

wishing you well, Lulu

[supermum_ms]

Hi Jen, I've just popped over from the MS forum to see if I can help at all. It is very true that anxiety can mimic sx of MS but let me try to be very clear, there are many other conditions that mimic MS, some just as serious but 'most' are not eg viral, low B12, hypoglycemia etc. Even many of the mental health drugs can cause similar sensory sx if they are the CNS type, so firstly BREATH!

From my perspective this "....my toes have went to the point where they have been completely white and lost all movement and feeling." could indicate you possible have a pinched nerve or something of that nature because that has no relation to MS and it could also explain your sx.

I would suggest you need testing beyond a basic neurological exam, did your dr send you for any tests at all eg, blood, MRI, CT etc? Do you generally have 'health' anxiety? How were you dx with anxiety, family dr or full psych assessment? Have you discussed these sx with your psych, if so whats his/her opinion and if not why not?

I hope you are breathing! Its important that you try to find your inner calm, please dont fear for something you may not have and please dont accept anxiety as the cause with out any tests to indicate its psychological over a physiological causation.

I suggest you make another appointment with your family dr and ask him/her for their help in getting to the bottom of what is happening to you. It can take time to find out the cause and in the mean time it wouldn't hurt to get your self at your optimum level of health and fitness, believe me often it can really help.

Hugs...........JJ

ps dont forget to breath!

[RubyWitch]

This question will soon be addressed by someone from the MS Forum. I felt you'd get a better answer from them.
Hang in there.
Peace
Greenlydia