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.

[crazzystress]

Glad you posted, it's good to get feedback.  Stress is all encompassing, it can effect you entire body.  I find the longer I stress the more issues I have.  Go out and get a massage and see if that doesn't help you relax.  If some of the symptoms go, then you know that it's working.

[annah]

I've been reading all these post trying to find something to make me feel better.  I'm 63 years old and have suffered from anxiety, stress, panic disorder, and mild OCD all of my life.

Now that I've put myself out there, please let me tell you what has me scared to death!  I'm very much alone which scares me a lot too.  

I've had a problem with burning sensations on the sole of my feet for about 25 years.  But for the past couple of years or so, my lower legs, knees, ankles are tingling and stiff, also the ball of both feet hurt.  Now my hands are tingling.  My eyelids began twitching when I had to euthanize my little dog last June.  The right lower lid has more or less stopped but my left upper/outer corner still twitches.  The eye feels pretty dry also.

There is a lot of uncertainty in my life right now.  A lot of stress, anxiety, and grief over my little dog.  

I went for my three month check up last month and mentioned the problems of tingling and feeling of stiffness/tightness in lower legs to my doctor, and, she saw my eye twitch.  She is scheduling a "nerve conduction study" for me.  She says she wants to "find out what's causing the pain."  I do have some pain in my knees - from arthritis I'm sure.  I also have Raynaud's in my fingers.

I walk 1.7 miles each morning (35 minutes).

I don't know why I write this.  Maybe it's because there isn't anyone I can talk to who would understand it.  Thank you for reading this and I'd be honored to 'hear' your opinion.  Blessing, Annah

[crazzystress]

I wanted to tell my story here since this post has helped me so much.  Thanks to you all for taking the time to tell your stories and help others.  Here's mine I hope it helps.

My story:  About 9 weeks ago my wife went in for major surgery, and 3 weeks prior to her surgery I was extremely tense and stressed.  I started to notice numbness in my left big toe.  Well that worried me so I went to the internet to find out about numbness in the feet, big mistake, first thing I get was MS!  Well that started extreme anxiety, and days later my feet started to tingle on the bottoms.  Well I decided to go to my doctor and he told me that my blood work was fine and that I should see a neurologist because he said I could have MS!  Well that just put me over the top, my wife goes in for surgery and I freak out.  My feet tingled on the bottom for a solid eight weeks, my hands would go numb while I slept, and my feet would go numb while I slept.  My eyes would twitch; I had shooting pains down the back of my legs.  During the day my pinkies would go numb, my middle finger on my right hand would go numb.  My left arm would feel like something was crawling on it.  I felt light headed, dizzy; I would have floaters in my eyes.  Suffice it say I was jacked up.  Was sure I had MS.

I went to the Neurologist, who order a half dozen exams.  EMG, NCV, MRI on Lumber, Cervical Spine, and Brain, I also had blood work done.  Worst 12 weeks of my life!!!

Well guess what, everything is fine.  All tests were negative, and as soon as I got my reports, all my symptoms left.

By the way, one thing that did help was massage.  I had two a week and that really helped.  I can't say enough how much.  If your stress, take the time and money and do it

[BD1742]

Hey, I've got the same thing going on too, though it's much better now that it's summer.  I get muscle twitches all over my body randomly.  I started getting worried a few months back that I could have MS or some other neuromuscular disorder so I checked symptoms online.  The next day I started feeling electric shock sensations in my hands, but those only lasted for a few days while I was still fixated on MS.  I went to my doctor and he told me that it was just stress and anxiety.
I'm probably on the same level of hypochondria as you, only a little bit concerned most of the time, and then when something really plays into my fears the whole situation blows up.  I find that it is best to try and relax myself, go for a run, meditate and just cool down for awhile and then a lot of the symptoms seem to lessen.  
I have a reoccuring muscle twitch over my right eye that lies dormant until something stressful happens and then it bugs me until I can bring myself to relax.  Anything can cause it, stress with relationships, the morning/evening commute, or it can come on when I everything seems otherwise tranquil.
I would just try not to worry so much, meditate, exercise, get more sleep, whatever you can do; I bet it goes away, or at least lessens in intensity.  It wouldn't hurt to go and see a doctor just in case you need to be absolutely certain you don't have any neurological disease (though it is highly unlikely that you do have such a disease, having spoken with neurologists about symptoms of MS at the medical school where I do research).  Good luck, I'm sure you'll be able to control this all very soon.

[mrAdam]

Hi, I am a generally healthy 25 year old male. I have had general unrelated panic attacks since I was about 18 years old every now and then. I know there are people in this forum with more severe symptoms, but I feel like I need to ask someone about this as it is eating me up inside. I guess I have always coinsidered myself alittle bit of a hyprocondriac, but nothing over the top. About a week and a half ago I got a muscle twtich in my left arm above the inside of my elbow that was on and off every minute for about a week. I was a little scared and by it, but did'nt think it was anything really serious. I looked up my symptoms online, and found all these diseaes like ms, and got pretty scared. Two nights after I looked up all of this online, the twitching pretty much went away. But, then my left arm felt strange: stinfness, creppy crawly's, Slight tingling. Then my girlfriend told me about her co worker that was diagnosed with ms about 6 months ago, and how her legs went numb, and that why she went to get checked out and found out about the ms. I think maybe the day after hearing that, I started getting symptoms in my left leg that are still prevelent. Mostly slight tingling, sharp and slight pains, muscle contrations or something of that nature, muscle stiffness. And a feeling of numbness, but when I start touching my foot, it does'nt really feel numb, but I cant tell. this is all in my lower calf, ankle and foot. The feelings in my left arm have gone away, the only other thing that I have is some other muscle twitching sometimes in other parts of my body. Also, I went camping this last weekend and recieved bad 2nd degree burns in my left hand, and I could care less about the burns, I am just focused on my leg now. I hope its all in my head. It seems like everytime I read about symptoms, one of them happened to me in the next day or two. But I am not sure. But I guess this all about being not sure. Reading everyone elses posting in this forum have helped. Anyone that could comment on this would be greatly appreciated. Thankyou.

[bayareashrink]

Hello everyone. I can completely relate to the many postings here. I am a clinical psychologist who also suffers from depression, GAD and Panic Disorder. Yes, it is sometime embarrassing to admit I am a psychologist and still suffer from such debilitating symptoms, but I also have to remember that I am human and have always been an extremely "sensitive" girl. I think many of us with these symptoms are likely able to classify ourselves as sensitive, hence our nervous symptoms are also highly sensitive and prone to "attacks".

I had my first "attack" at age 23 as I was preparing to move away on my own for graduate school. I have had about 4-5 similar "attacks" since (I am now 32). The first time it happened I was so scared and had all the classic symptoms you are describing (tingling, numbness, hand cramping, dizziness, weakness, heavy feelings, etc) and the doctors tested for everything, including MS (which they told me)...well, that was exactly the wrong thing to say to me!!! Even though all the tests came back negative, the word MS still sticks with me-- almost 10 years and 4-5 similar "attacks" later. Each time I begin obsessing about MS, and each time I drive myself and loved ones completely insane with my worry. My doctors have tried to reassure me, and it works temporarily, but without medication and therapy the symptoms do not seem to go away on their own. I have had a lot of success with Prozac and I usually seek treatment right away, as the symptoms are so scary and unbearable for me.

My advice to you all. . . . .feel confident that if you have had good medical testing, and ruled out other potential causes, it is most likely anxiety. I suggest you start reading about "health anxiety", "health phobias", or "Hyponchodriasis". I have found reading about the way our mind can influence our bodies to be fascinating and relieving at times. Health phobia is another aspect of anxiety and people who struggle with it will turn even minor physical sensations or observations in their bodies to the worst case scenario. Fear breeds fear and the mind is extremely powerful, leading one into a vicious cycle, where you start to zero in on a symptom and start obsessing. The more anxious you are, the more glaring the symptom.

I also recently discovered a condition called "Hyperventilation Syndrome" and suggest that you all check it it. There is quite a bit written abut it online and in the books I listed below. It is a breathing related disorder that co-exisits with anxiety and panic disorder and causes many of the "neurological like" tingling, panic, and dizzy sensations.

3 books I recommend are:

1) It's Not All in Your Head : How Worrying about Your Health Could Be Making You Sick--and What You Can Do about It. by Gordon J. G. Asmundson
2) Self-Help for Hyperventilation Syndrome: Recognizing and Correcting Your Breathing-Pattern Disorder. by Dinah Bradley
3) Breathe Well, Be Well : A Program to Relieve Stress, Anxiety, Asthma, Hypertension, Migraine, and Other Disorders for Better Health. by Robert L. Fried


Be well everyone.