Multiple sclerosis or anxiety? Please help.

[Vasoka]

Hello. I am a 18 year old white male who has had a year of very strong anxiety/hypochondria so take this in account before answering my question please. Due to a surgery this year i was forced to stay home from school during the entire school year, so i was basically sitting in front of the computer for 15-16 hours a day in an office chair in same position over and over again. I have a severe anxiety of having MS. My symptoms are basically as follows, I've always had neck problems, neck problems which are giving me cervicogenic headaches. What my real problem is, I get burning pain/tingling/heaviness in my legs and arms. Basically it's like burning pain which is accompanied by tingling, however i also have this very, very intense ticklish/tingly feeling around the chest and back as well from time to time, and around the shoulders and scalp, just about anywhere. I am more concerned about the burning pain and tingling in the limbs though. Ok so, I've seen two neurologists, one of them is a MS speciliast. He did a full neuro exam and immidiatelly dismissed MS without ordering any studies. He said my problems come from my constant static posture in front of computer and probably pinched nerves/herniated discs. I did not believe him so i went and had a brain MRI, it was clear, however afterwards i read on the internet that such symptoms would mainly come from spinal lesions and not brain lesions. I am so scared i have it, my burning pain/tingling appears to be aggrivated after long hours of hunched over posture, but i've never had this before and it really scares me. And i also read that herniated disc would not cause all of this in all four limbs. Please can i have some opinions on my situations? thanks

[S. Kaul, MD]

Hi there!

Well, without a clinical evaluation it would be difficult to determine the cause of your symptoms. Possibilities that may need to be considered include postural issues, stress/ anxiety neuro-muscular causes such as muscle sprain, nerve impingement, neuropathy, micronutrient deficiencies etc. While a single disc herniation is unlikely to be responsible for symptoms in all four limbs there could be multiple herniations at different levels that could present similarly. You could try keeping your back straight and getting a firmer support while sitting, if this does not seem to help, I would suggest getting this evaluated by a primary care physician or a neurologist for an accurate diagnosis and appropriate management.
Hope this is helpful.

Take care!

[Vasoka]

Bumping this, I'd love to hear some opinions on the situation.