Please Help! Convinced I Have MS (Question About Physical Symptoms of Anxiety)
Posted , 3 users are following.
Hello!
I am a 25-year-old woman who has been dealing with some intense bouts of health anxiety for the better part of two years.
For the past six months, I have been convinced I have multiple sclerosis.
It began with numbness down one side of my body. There was tingling in my hands and feet. Creepy crawly feelings down my scalp.
I started spiraling out, and it did seem to make all of my symptoms worse. But sometimes they just pop up all on their own.
I went to the ER. They found nothing wrong with me. I've been to the neurologist. Two doctors examined me for an hour and didn't seem to think I had any problems. A brain MRI came back normal. The neurologist chalked up my symptoms to migraines.
But a huge part of me (and perhaps my health anxiety) is telling me that they've got it wrong. I have read so many stories about doctors getting it wrong, I just can't accept what I should be celebrating as good news.
My family says they think all of these symptoms are from anxiety, which seems wild to me, especially since they've never happened before.
Have any of you experienced things like this?
0 likes, 2 replies
andreea53999 vanessavee
Edited
Sort of. I had an MRI done for migraines (which have since subsided) that came back clear except for a few white matter lesions. I googled that and 99% of results pointed to MS. I became quickly convinced I have MS, even before I went to a neurologist to discuss a diagnosis or simply interpret the MRI results.
I ended up going to two neurologists (because of my severe health anxiety I did not completely believe the first, although she was really sweet and thorough and explained everything very clearly to me). Both of them cleared me and said MS is out of the question.
However, ever since I read about MS, I started having some physical symptoms: mild tingling, mild tremor in my left hand sometimes, muscle twitches (more frequently than before), blurry vision sometimes. I went to an eye doctor as well and she said my eyes are fine.
That was a month ago. In the meantime, most physical symptoms have gone away, but some still pop up. None of them ever showed up before the MRI episode, so I have to assume it's health anxiety, because the alternative is that it is a really crazy coincidence.
If the doctors cleared you and your MRI was fine, then I think you can be very confident it's anxiety, and try to do something about that. Take care and good luck!
jan34534 vanessavee
Posted
Vanessa, I think I can help you. I hope this does. When I was in my mid-20s, I suddenly had numerous symptoms all at once. I told my parents I think I have MS. The symptoms included muscle twitches everywhere, numbness in tingling in my arms and legs and even in my scalp and on my face, weakness. Sometimes I couldn’t even get up off the couch, floaters in my eyes, a weird feeling in my head like buzzing or vibrating and lightheadedness, also had vibration throughout my body internally mildly. I’m sure there are more symptoms that I had.
my dad took me to a neurologist who did a very quick exam and told me I need to take a vacation. That’s all he did. The symptoms continued very strong for several months. I felt like the only one in the world who had this going on and I was scared.!!!
The symptoms gradually got a little less intense but they were still there.
When I got older, I did get A FEW MRIs which were clear. So it was not MS. Very frustrating and very scary.
well then what in the world was it???
No doctor had answers. I had to come up with my own answer. And the only thing I could come up with was that prior to this, I had a long term chronic stress and anxiety. What happened was at some point my body and mind got to the breaking point and the result was all the symptoms of stress and anxiety!
The body can only take so much before it has a "breakdown" which makes perfect sense. It’s not the symptoms that are the problem, it’s the unmanaged stressors that have not been dealt with. This is very common and a lot of people think they have MS because stress tends to show symptoms of the nervous system.
I wanted to tell you that I am now in my 60s and I’m still here! I feel so much better after lots of counseling in my 30s and taking care of my health. It didn’t take this long to feel better.
. I can still get some of those symptoms periodically when I am feeling anxious but it’s nothing like when I was younger.
So I just want you to know that your doctors were correct when they said you did not have MS! even if you don’t think you have anxiety or stress in your life, many people have underlying anxieties and stressors that they may not be aware of.
My suggestion would be for you to think about what in your life may be causing this anxiety. Speak with a counselor who can help you manage. Take care of your health! Get some exercise, eat healthy, listen to relaxing meditations for anxiety on YouTube, find joy in your life, etc.
the very worst thing you can do is think negative and constantly think about all of this. It will make everything worse. I get my exercise even if I have some mild symptoms going on. It’s not stopping anything I do. I just wanted to write to you so that you realize
that these symptoms are extremely common and they are not harmful.
When doctors cannot find an answer to strange symptoms, that’s when things point to anxiety and stress. because if it were something more serious, it would have definitely shown up on tests! Take care and I hope you feel better soon. ❤