Am I being paranoid?

[rwalston]

I am 44. I first went on the internet to search when my right hand was tingly, cold and numb. MS came up, but I thought it was most likely carpal tunnel, so I got a brace. It continued until I stopped using it for about a month. It went away for about 2 months and then came back. Well, for the past week or so I have to force my self to urinate, so on the internet I go! MS comes up again along with ALS. Then of course I start ready all the symptoms. I had lost my glasses back in Oct, so obviously I got eye headaches, but it was almost unbearable. I went to see the Ophthalmologist and I needed bifocals! Ugh, I felt old. My sight had gone down hill in the past year. She dilated my eyes and said my nerves look fine, but now I read that it can be missed. My vision is still blurry, but I also take anti-depressants that can do that. Lately I have not been able to think of simple words when I talk and both hands to get shaky along with my legs, but of course that could be something else. So, does this sound like MS or am I just blabbing and being paranoid and need to get off the internet??

[supermum_ms]

Hi and welcome,

Googling symptoms and medical condition can definitely worry people, and with neurological conditions like MS which effects the central nervous system googling will just about always bring MS up because it's associated symptoms are also related to many other and much more common medical conditions too....

eg women commonly have issues with urination, there are many different causes and specific symptoms help narrow down the likely cause but to give you an idea the more common explanations are UTI's, dehydration, hormonal-menopause, constipation, mental health, medications, behavior ie habitually holding one's urine for long periods of time, etc etc etc Assuming your situation is the same as a neurogenic bladder issue is more likely to be incorrect, but you need to see your dr if this has been going on for almost 2 weeks to find out what the problem is.

Your visual situation is again a very common issue, you do have the expected cause and effect explanation for the bilateral eye pain, your optic nerves are normal and your still adjusting to wearing bifocals so whilst it's true that early stages of optic nerve damage can be missed, there is nothing to suggest your situation is just what the common explanation would be.

Tremors in all peripheral limbs are not typically associated with neurological conditions like MS, so it is more likely to be something else...

The thing to keep in mind is that each of the issues you've mentioned are pretty common and there isn't anything that really would be very suggestive that something more could be going on like MS......IF googling and reading about MS is making you more anxious about your health, then it's usually in your best interest to stop feeding the anxiety the net reading is generating...

Hope that helps.........JJ  

[rwalston]

Thank you this does make me feel better. My shaking is mostly in my right hand where I think it may be carpal tunnel. I didn't start worrying u til other things started coming up, like apeech problems and tripping a bit more often. I will definitely go in for the bladder issue as I have had a uti before and this is completely different. Again thank you for responding:)

[rwalston]

Oh I also had a muscle spasm in my right shoulder the other day that I could actually see! It was so weird. Anyway, I can add that to my symptoms I guess.