A Thread for Newcomers Worried about Multiple Sclerosis (MS)

[MrsBritty]

I made this account and joined this site for this exact reason. This post almost exactly describes my experience with anxiety. I first came down with migraines & flu like symptoms for no reason horrible bone & joint pain, heartburn, pain in spine, chest pain, awful pain in hands like arthritis. I went to a rheumatologist was told after one round of tests I could have lupus, but lupus test came back negative then the full on body jerks started followed by muscle twitches, extreme weakness in thighs when I woke up in the mornings it would feel like I had run a marathon. I went to see a neurologist had an MRI of my brain done &I it came back normal, but then I came down with additional pains and new symptoms so then I had an EEG. When the EEG came back normal but I still kept having these physical symptoms plus new ones I had an MRI done on my spine. My neurologist has reassured me I am fine. He even appealed to my logical well educated side, "you are 26 you are extremely unlikely to have a neurological disease statistically." He did however come to the conclusion I'm a young busy Mom so busy in fact I haven't realized how stressed I am. This all started a year ago for me. I have done really well recently I went a few months without thinking about my physical symptoms and MS and yes I greatly improved. However, a few days ago I came down with one of my strangest symptoms again extremely bad tongue pain. It sounds ridiculous, but it was one of the most bothersome painful physical symptoms I had and that was followed by the arthritis feeling in my hands. My twitching never completely subsided once it appeared, but it does become less frequent and my recent physical flare up has come with so much twitching. I get twitching everywhere abs, face, butt, legs, feet etc. etc. I feel myself fearing MS again because the symptoms are just so close to MS, but I'm trying to reassure myself I've had normal blood work,brain MRI, Spine MRI, EEG, & neurological exams. The irrational side of me says no something is really wrong I must have had the MRI's too early before signs of whatever neurological problem I have were visible. I might even consider going in for more testing, but I'm not sure that there are anymore test to give. I'm sure any anomaly would have shown up on previous test at this point. My neurologist had to go to school for years to do what he does he must know more about neurological conditions than google and I. I'm trying to ground myself again so as not to fall into the anxiety rabbit hole again. One thing that helped me the first time I dealt with these symptoms was a comment that anxiety symptoms come and go MS and ALS symptoms do not. Meaning if you have numbness in your leg and it's because of a neurological disease it isn't going to reverse itself your leg will remain numb. If your leg is numb for 2 days and feels normal again...anxiety. I wish this twitching would stop playing games with my head though as I lie down typing this leg muscles are going crazy. Anyone else share these feelings and experiences? Also, it is believed by some of my doctors my original health issues were due to my birth control at the time which made me feel unwell and triggered this whole mess...who knows at this point.

In case it is helpful here is a full list of the physical symptoms I have had.. migraines, Twitching, cramping, jerking, dizziness, confusion, all over aches, sore legs, one leg going completely numb like it no longer existed, chest pain, horrible inexplicable pain in tongue, arthritis feeling in hand & feet, my left eye sometimes acts as if it's shorting out it's very odd it's like I can see neon in the peripheral part of my vision it usually last a few minutes & goes away neurologist said this was related to ocular head aches, trouble focusing vision (I have poor eye sight and see an ophthalmologist once a year he thoroughly checked my eyes and saw no changes or cause for concern. I also got sick frequently last year I had a stomach virus twice, the flu twice, and even shingles (the worst) all attributed to anxiety.

[isthisforreal]

Wow, I can't believe I just read that. I actually cried......I have been scared shitless for almost two months that I had some sort of Nuro disorder like M.S. Thanks so much for writing this post.....it literally is like you were inside my thoughts.

[maianixon]

I don't know if this help anyone but recently i was having a massive long-term panic with loads of physical symptoms - impaired vision, numbness, tingling and u know everything else that comes with it. I was sure it must be or a brain tumour or MS. After waking up one night and not being able to feel my entire body including my spine I went to an E&R where the doctor told me there is no way it could be MS or a neurological condition. - apparently according to him as long as I can normally move all the parts of the body even if they are numb it cannot be a neurological condition. He said the worst case scenario (if it wasnt just anxiety) would be that I clicked a nerve or blocked a blood vessel in my spine so my body would lack experiencing sensations, which is not dangerous and can be easily fixed. Not sure if that is 100% true or whether it was something he told me to reassure me, but it definitely helped me since I saw some logic in that and ever since I stopped experiencing what I thought were MS symptoms.

[walkerbull]

I made this account and joined this site for this exact reason. This post almost exactly describes my experience with anxiety. I first came down with migraines & flu like symptoms for no reason horrible bone & joint pain, heartburn, pain in spine, chest pain, awful pain in hands like arthritis. I went to a rheumatologist was told after one round of tests I could have lupus, but lupus test came back negative then the full on body jerks started followed by muscle twitches, extreme weakness in thighs when I woke up in the mornings it would feel like I had run a marathon. I went to see a neurologist had an MRI of my brain done &I it came back normal, but then I came down with additional pains and new symptoms so then I had an EEG. When the EEG came back normal but I still kept having these physical symptoms plus new ones I had an MRI done on my spine. My neurologist has reassured me I am fine. He even appealed to my logical well educated side, "you are 26 you are extremely unlikely to have a neurological disease statistically." He did however come to the conclusion I'm a young busy Mom so busy in fact I haven't realized how stressed I am. This all started a year ago for me. I have done really well recently I went a few months without thinking about my physical symptoms and MS and yes I greatly improved. However, a few days ago I came down with one of my strangest symptoms again extremely bad tongue pain. It sounds ridiculous, but it was one of the most bothersome painful physical symptoms I had and that was followed by the arthritis feeling in my hands. My twitching never completely subsided once it appeared, but it does become less frequent and my recent physical flare up has come with so much twitching. I get twitching everywhere abs, face, butt, legs, feet etc. etc. I feel myself fearing MS again because the symptoms are just so close to MS, but I'm trying to reassure myself I've had normal blood work,brain MRI, Spine MRI, EEG, & neurological exams. The irrational side of me says no something is really wrong I must have had the MRI's too early before signs of whatever neurological problem I have were visible. I might even consider going in for more testing, but I'm not sure that there are anymore test to give. I'm sure any anomaly would have shown up on previous test at this point. My neurologist had to go to school for years to do what he does he must know more about neurological conditions than google and I. I'm trying to ground myself again so as not to fall into the anxiety rabbit hole again. One thing that helped me the first time I dealt with these symptoms was a comment that anxiety symptoms come and go MS and ALS symptoms do not. Meaning if you have numbness in your leg and it's because of a neurological disease it isn't going to reverse itself your leg will remain numb. If your leg is numb for 2 days and feels normal again...anxiety. I wish this twitching would stop playing games with my head though as I lie down typing this leg muscles are going crazy. Anyone else share these feelings and experiences? Also, it is believed by some of my doctors my original health issues were due to my birth control at the time which made me feel unwell and triggered this whole mess...who knows at this point.

In case it is helpful here is a full list of the physical symptoms I have had.. migraines, Twitching, cramping, jerking, dizziness, confusion, all over aches, sore legs, one leg going completely numb like it no longer existed, chest pain, horrible inexplicable pain in tongue, arthritis feeling in hand & feet, my left eye sometimes acts as if it's shorting out it's very odd it's like I can see neon in the peripheral part of my vision it usually last a few minutes & goes away neurologist said this was related to ocular head aches, trouble focusing vision (I have poor eye sight and see an ophthalmologist once a year he thoroughly checked my eyes and saw no changes or cause for concern. I also got sick frequently last year I had a stomach virus twice, the flu twice, and even shingles (the worst) all attributed to anxiety.

Did you get twitches that spread?. I am 16 and got twitching in my left cheek that spread down to my chin, lip, legs, arms, back, stomach, and numbness in my left hand supplemented by a buzzing feeling that comes and goes in my foot.

I am constantly checking my muscle strength.

I went to my doctor who didn't take my twitches seriously and we talked for 45 minutes about anxiety. He thought tests were unnecessary. I am frustrated because he suggested it was somatization, but it feels so real!, thus am beginning to question his conclusion.

Two days after the visit I am still getting them.

[nataliec414]

Hello! This is my first post. Coming across this thread has been so helpful. For the last two weeks I had been having some very alarming symptoms- I had has a burning sensation in the arms, pins and needles in the fingers and toes, sore eyes, arm weakness , and tingling in the fingers. I am going in for the first round of testing (MRI, bloodwork, eye doctor, etc.) in the following weeks. It has been extremely dehabilitating because I am a student in college during finals. I can't sleep, eat or function. I notice my symptoms aren't as bad when I'm distracted; I had some days where I wouldn't have symptoms for hours, or a day, and then they would pick up again. I had a similar experience in January, where I suffered from extreme globus (lump in throat sensation) that only went away with extreme distraction. Will post updates from test results in the coming weeks. If anyone ever wants to talk about this more, please message me. I find so much comfort in talking to other people who understand the pain of this.
Best,
Nat

[DanielOlsen]

Hey guys!

Here is my story. some years ago i started getting twitching in my whole body. It was focused mostly on my left leg. I was sure i had ALS. It got so bad that i couldnt walk on my left leg. Found a forum that described Benign fasciculation syndrome. I saw that it matched very much to my symptoms. I felt that after a while i got kind of better. I still have twitches and some cramps from it but it doesnt bother me. Of course i had insane panic attacks. But i realized that anxiety is what made it worse. But I was sure it was not ALS after a while when i got back strength in the gym.

Now, years later I have the symptoms that you guys describe. More MS like symptoms. I dont get twitching like last time. That's why I freak out now. Of course i have panic attacks again. Happy to have found this thread. The symptoms kind of comes and goes but some symptoms stick to the hands/middle fingers. It's numbness, tingling, stiffness and joint pain sensation. I kind of relax and then all of a sudden i get some kind of lightning sensation over the hand/middle finger. The other day it was little fingers, globbing throat and shortness of breath. Lower back tingling. So frigging scary. Of course I google and convince myself i got MS. And even if it is ms i have to try to relax cause it makes it worse either way. 1 sec i think its anxiety other sec i think..... yea you guys know.... This forum calmed me a bit..

Edit:
today its visual. First time this have happened to me. Of course i freak out. And some neck sensations. Both my middle fingers feels like their not part of my body, but they are responding. I wrote that the first time it happened(other symptoms but mostly twitching) it was during the summer and it came after a sleep deprived period. The same happened now, but of course i think it's coincidence. And it probably is. Just life's way to **** with me. doctors appointment is 2 weeks from now.. Waiting for that i have a new exciting rare condition that is 1 in a billion. Any relax methods anyone can share?

[bcox1776]

Hi all,

This tread is super helpful. Right now my legs, arms, and head feel super heavy. But after reading this thread, I can see me working about my health and going to my PCP over and over again might no be helping my mental state (didn't start with these symptoms). But again, this thread was super helpful.

[maianixon]

Has anyone experienced very painful burning/aches/electric pins and needless and nerve pains?I've been having all of this the past couple of days and it fits perfectly in my very well established pattern of new HA symptoms emerging, but what freaks me out is how painful the symptoms are it makes them almost impossible to ignore which makes me paranoid it can't just be anxiety, because while i've had annoying/uncomfortable anxiety symptoms before they have never actually caused me that much physical pain

[bcox1776]

When my anxiety first started, I had this pretty badly. Almost like bugs crawling on me. But I got through it.

[DanielOlsen]

Has anyone experienced very painful burning/aches/electric pins and needless and nerve pains?I've been having all of this the past couple of days and it fits perfectly in my very well established pattern of new HA symptoms emerging, but what freaks me out is how painful the symptoms are it makes them almost impossible to ignore which makes me paranoid it can't just be anxiety, because while i've had annoying/uncomfortable anxiety symptoms before they have never actually caused me that much physical pain

Yes indeed. aches, joint pain and burning. My muscle in my right hand is aching so much that it has lost some flexibility. I told my doctor that I have had the whole side of my face lost its feeling. That went away tho. I've had blurry vision and this numbness over my hands. He said he was pretty sure it was not MS. I told him specifically that I had crazy anxiety over my symptoms and I told him that I've read(here) that anxiety can cause many of these things and he said yes it can cause some of these things.