Health anxiety - fear of MND and MS

keep reminding yourself every time ....... anxiety will put scary thoughts into your mind! Those thoughts are not based on reality or fact. also remember FEAR stands for false evidence appearing real! i’ve had all of your symptoms plus several more and I am fine. I went through all of that worry and fear just like you and believe me it’s not worth it! The more you worry the more symptoms you will have and the vicious cycle will just go round and round.

The second you get a scary thought, stop it in its tracks and say to yourself NO! I WILL NOT give into fear! I will not go down that road !! if you don’t do that, fear will just engulf your mind and you will be miserable. The terrible part is that your odds of being very healthy are extremely high. Don’t torture yourself for nothing. Your bloodwork would have shown something. be a fighter for yourself! take care. ❤

i have had exactly this for a few months now, the tingling, twitching, funny sensations, heart beat in chest,achy limbs, feeling shaky - its all i think about all day,its the first thing i think of when i wake up. i google MS and ALS symptoms every day, sometimes 5-10 times - especially in lockdown since theres notning to distract me i just obsess. i'm going to get blood tests next week but i am terrified of being told i have a life long disease at 24 i don't know what to do anymore 😦

hello Julia,

yes I have been down this road for quite some time now. I was on citalopram to try to curb some of my anxiety issues for almost 9 months last year. I stopped taking it at the end of September and things were looking great for about a month after. little by little I have started to circle the drain again and as of Saturday I will have completed my second week on sertraline. It is safe to say the sertraline hasn't kicked in yet. I've been an anxious mess. like you I suffer from health anxiety. I have had so many different things happen and blamed it on so many different terminal illnesses that it's hard to keep up anymore. I've had test after test after test ran and no irregular results to be found. the symptoms you describe have been a thorn in my side for quite a while now and dozens more on top of that. it's like waking up in a nightmare over and over again.

I will say that even though I'm still struggling I have seen flashes of normal as well. I am like you in that I miss the worry free energetic on top of the world version of me. I'm working to try to get that back. I'm happy to talk to you about any of it anytime.

best wishes

Hi Julia,

Im sorry you are going through this I can definitely relate. Ive been dealing with the body twitches, tingles, weakness and fatigue for around 5 months. I had an MRI and CT scan along with multiple blood tests and other than low vitamin d and magnesium (barely low) everything was normal. My wife and Primary Doc say its anxiety and I know they're probably right and i tell myself it is but im sure you know that doesnt always help. Just hang in there and know your not alone.

Julia,

I am in the exact same position as you are in now. The only reason I found your post is because I am carrying out my daily internet search trying to find some way of determining if my symptoms are MND/MS.

My journey started the beginning of Jan with strange tightness in my hands and some sensations in my fingers, since then I have went from a happy, relaxed person to a puddle of negative thoughts and worry. My symptoms have progressed to include all of the ones you mentioned and also a lump and tightness in my throat which I convinced myself was the onset of Bulbar MND.

I have a Nerve Conduction Study scheduled for next week and another appointment with my neurosurgeon also.

The closer this gets the more the horrible thoughts and worries are building and leaving me broken.

I have been prescribed some beta blockers and anti anxiety medication but I am reluctant to start it for the fear it masks some symptoms during my tests and cause a false diagnosis, also the thought of being reliant on medication scares me too.

If anyone who has been through this has some coping techniques or reading materials they could recommend that would be great. Trying to stay positive but not working at the moment

Kieran

im glad i found this.

I woke up with a numb left hand and tingling down the left side of my body. Had a panic attack, went to hospital, had blood tests, mri etc and came back clear. Started googling the symptoms, and yup back to hospital in a panic lol.

If i think back, i have been having a panic in my sleep most nights, like my heart will stop, which progressed to stomach tightening in bed, and bloated feeling like my stomach was hard. I was getting a couple hours sleep a night for the last few weeks, then boom woke up with the numb left hand and tingling in the left side.

After everything coming back as clear, i noticed for the first 10 mins i was ok. Its when you stop that it starts to creep back in. Since i have been to hospital ( 2 weeks ago ) i found my heart rate would shoot up at random, and my resting heart beat was at 100bpm, so i learned some relaxing techinques like breathing and meditation etc, and i seem to have it under control now. Then my symptoms were week legs, which i still get a bit if im thinking about it, and even the bottom of my left foot goes numb, and my little finger feels like its not right. Like as if im writing with the wrong hand! lol. also my left eye twitvhes sometime like im tired.

But what i have realised ( as i write hear with my forearms burning lol ) is that it is indeed anxiety! Look how powerful you mind is over your body. To br honest i feel a bit special, that i now know from experience how powerful your mind can be, and when i have symptoms i just stop and say to my self NO! and the symptoms go away! so just remember how powerful you are and use the same powerful mind to just say no, laugh it off, its just anxiety!!

Yes anxiety causes:

tingling arms, legs, back, face, mouth, head, everywhere.

Yes your legs can feel like jelly

Yes you can feel sick

yes you can be dizzy, foggy headed.

No you dont have MS or MND, stop googling it, its literally what everyone with anxiety does, so feel some relief, have a little giggle and just think , im ok, and im going to get better every day!

Hi Julia,

i am currently going through an all to regular battle with my mind regarding health anxiety. i've learnt over the past number of years that the anxious mind is extremely powerful and can make us think and feel a mass of things on a daily basis.

During this bout i decided to list the different complaints i have had over the past few years and when having tests they turned out to be nothing. this has helped alot and might be a good tip for those out there suffering.

Flu - thought I was dying - didn’t die ✅

Lump in chest - thought I had breast cancer - didn’t have breast cancer ✅

Rash on neck - thought it was skin cancer - it wasn’t ✅

Lump on neck - thought it was cancer - it wasn’t ✅

Pain in groin - thought it was prostate cancer - it wasn’t ✅

Another pain in groin - thought it was bladder cancer - it wasn’t ✅

Pain on side - thought it was spleen cancer - spleen was fine ✅

Pain continued - thought it was pancreatic cancer - it wasn’t ✅

Pins and needles all over - thought I had serious issue - it wasn’t ✅

Acid reflux - thought I had stomach cancer - it wasn’t ✅

Got pins and needles - think I’ve got ms - it isn’t ✅

to go with the above, the tests i have had include; blood tests, endoscopy, urine tests, xrays, MRI of pelvic regions, cystoscopy, flow rate tests, ultrasounds to name but a few and all come back clear.

as you can see from above my most recent concern is MS ( as i've just about managed to rule everything else out!) my current symptoms are

brain zaps like electricity constantly buzzing around my head

pins and needles that move across my entire body

dull headaches towards my forehead

muscle weakness in my two little fingers on both hands and what appears to be poor coordition.

muscle twitches all over the body

over the years i have also experienced the following symptoms

vertigo

nausea

shaking and tremours

digestive issues

as i am writing this the rational me knows that this is probably my body playing games as always but when you are going through it the whole situation consumes you!

has anyone else experienced the new symptoms i am going through?

above all else its nice to know i'm not the only one going through this and as you can see one symptom just replaces the other. CBT really helps give it a try if you haven't already!

would love to hear some more experiences

Jack