Anxiety, MS, or what? Very worried!!

[Jenny Wren]

Back in 2000, I suffered what I believed to be a anxiety attack, it left me with 3 months of nausea, because of not eating and no appetite I would assume that is why it lasted so long. Spring of 2001, still a little nauseaded, looking up nausea on the internet, MS came up as one of the reasons.  This is where my life turned upside down, my gram had MS, diagnosed at age 60, as you can see from my previous posts, I'm concerned.  I had the migraines before the anxiety, but when googling nausea and MS, came across the facial tingling (MS), shortly I developed the little bug crawling sensations, and I so have muscle twitches, seems worse when its cold.  I have never experienced weakness, numbness, bladder or bowel problems, I can tolerate heat.  I tried Prozac for about 3 years, it never took these feelings away, just recently started xanax, this helps a good bit, but not completely.  I have had these feelings for 6 years, thats why the doc ordered the brain MRI, he wasn't convinced that it was MS, just anxiety.  So you see this is the reason for all my questions.  Can anxiety really cause these weird feelings?  I live everyday worrying about MS.  After 6 years with no worsening of symptoms (sometimes better), do you think it could be safe to say its "psychological?" Never had the cervical MRI, just brain, neuro exam-normal, no problem there,bloodwork fine, was tested for Lyme (ELISA), my fear now after reading all these posts from Lyme patients is that maybe this could be my problem.  Thanks for your time, patience, and thoughts, they are greatly appreciated. 3 previous posts!!

[Annie62]

I don't know how to start a new post, so I'm going to ask a question on this one.  I've been reading this board for more than a month now and I think it's unlikely I will ever get to ask a question of the doctor, especially since others have been trying for a year to post and haven't gotten through (though I plan to keep trying).

Has anybody on this board been diagnosed with GASTROPARESIS  (delayed stomach emptying)--especially severe gastroparesis-- (picked up on endoscopy and/or gastric emptying scan)?  It's usually caused by damage to the vagus nerve.  If so, what diseases (neuro or otherwise) have you been dxd with?  I mean, is there anyone on this board who has gastroparesis with MS, or gastroparesis with other autonomic neuropathy or gastroparesis with a connective tissue disease (lupus, scleroderma, vasculitis, etc.)?  I know it's associated with diabetic neuropathy quite often, but I'm not diabetic and have had other ongoing neurological symptoms (past Horner's syndrome (first symptom I had), tingling in left hand/foot, weakness in left leg/arm, blurred vision, mouth droop, difficulty swallowing, ongoing slowed breathing/chest pain/weakness after a viral infection), eye inflammation, etc., all triggered off or exacerbated by infections, heat and, strangely enough, ovulation.  

I was just dxd with gastroparesis two months ago and have read hundreds of articles on it since, and all of them say pretty much the same thing (main causes are diabetic neuropathy, damage to vagus nerve during gastric surgery, Parkinson's and thyroid disease, but also that it is associated with different neurologic diseases (including MS) and connective tissue disease).

I'd appreciate any anecdotal evidence of its being associated with other neuropathy/neurologic conditions.  Thanks in advance.

[lawl]

Your six years must've been very difficult, but I'm going to have to agree with zzzzzzzzzz.  You've had a lot of tests done, and all have come back negative.  The chances of you having MS are vanishingly small; sure, it's possible the tests missed something serious, but when the odds become one in a million, it's time to resort to the simplest theory: it's psychological.

All of your symptoms can definitely be caused by anxiety.  The brain is incredibly powerful.  I've had some frightening symptoms myself (constant nausea and dizziness, strange sensations in my head, etc.).  I also understand the doubt and suspicion you're feeling; I found many reasons to doubt the diagnoses of my doctors, the results of my tests, often with increasingly sophisticated lines of reasoning.  But after a long and hard examination of myself I concluded that I was a hypochondriac, that I had been a hypochondriac for the last few years of my life, that the symptoms could largely be explained by anxiety, that I was probably physically healthy.

Once I truly began to accept that my symptoms were largely psychological and likely harmless, they went away.  I've been feeling great for about three weeks.  Sometimes I sink back into worrying, but for the most part I'm sleeping well, eating well, and enjoying life.

[zzzzzzzzzz]

Patsy
The 'hypocondriacs' post is below under 'Muscle aches, pain, joint pain' question. Do read it - its grown into a very interesting debate.

I don't want to make Jenny feel bad, as I know shes having a hard time, and we have talked before, but I did feel quite upset when I saw she had another question posted. I have been trying to post for nearly a year now. People say you need to post around 10am Cleveland time. I live in NZ - thats around 4-5am here and I am ill - I can't stay up trying. They say the oppertunity is set at different times each day - to allow for those of us in different time zones to get a chance, but nine times out of ten, when I check in the morning, there are 2 new questions there. I have got a great deal out of this site, but I would love the oppertunity to ask my own unique question. I know that if Jenny had not posted, someone else would have.

I have read all of Jennys posts, here and on the undiagnosed forum and I'm sorry to say this, but I do believe the problem is mostly anxiety based.

[lat67]

Hi Patsy,

Just wanted to say....I hope you are taking your advise!!!!!!!" LOL

[patsy10]

Hikerrunner, your above post was very good.  I didn't read the post about people being hypochondriacs though.  After what I have been through, I have no faith in doctors.  They misdiagnosed my neuro problem as being cervical myelopathy from a herniated disk.  As a result, I had an unnecessary surgery which greatly worsened my condition.  I was also diagnosed with fibromyalgia which I don't believe in anyway.  I believe  chronic pain, fatigue conditions exist but they have to be caused by "something".  Two doctors diagnosed me with fibro (neuro, rheumy)neither checked me for the tender points which are the diagnostic criteria for fibro(11 of the 18 must be present).  There is no way I can trust doctors after this.  In regards to lyme, I had 3 bullseyes 13 years ago followed by a condition just like I have now.  I did improve on antibiotics.  I have never tested positive for lyme.  I took antibiotics again this time but had to travel out of state to see a lyme specialist as the docs around here won't treat without a positive test.  I don't know if I have lyme or not.  I'm skeptical probably because I am also in the healthcare field and am used to seeing abnormal test results correlating with diseases.  I think it's definitely worth a trial of antibiotics.

[John_Madison CT]

I can tell you from first hand experience that Anxiety CAN manifest itself into many types of body ailments and horrible feelings.  Everyone is different and their bodies show the anxiety in different ways.

I would have a doc treat your Anxiety with serious meds, then see how you felt.

I went through this just a few short months ago.  The Zyprexa worked very quickly and as the anxiety went away, my feelings of poor health did too.