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.

[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.

[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.

[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!!!

[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

[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]

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.