30 Year old suffering "MS" symptoms. HELP :(

[latif]

Good Morning,

I am a 30 year old male who is slightly overweight. 6'2 225lbs.

I started to notice that my left foot was numb in January. I brushed it off and then 2 months later I realized it was still numb. There was and has always been ZERO pain.. it doesn't tingle or hurt or cause discomfort. When I touch the foot, it feels like it is leathery. I went to a podiatrist 3 weeks ago and he told me that I probably had a self-inflicted neuropathy. I was fine and happy until Tuesday.

On Tuesday I went for a checkup with my Primary Care Physician. I got my blood drawn and mentioned the foot being numb. He poked it a few times and I noticed it was feeling a LOT better. I went back to work and was happy that everything was getting better then I "thought" my face was tingling. Ever since that thought I have had HORRIBLE anxiety and everytime I think about my right cheek... it gets hot. It feels like my right cheek has a sunburn on it, when I stop thinking about it or I take deep breaths and relax it subsides but it is still there.

I know MS symptoms vary so much from person to person but in general... is a numb face with MS actually a tingly noticeable numbness? I read that numbness to the face is an early sign... how numb is the face? I don't know if my face is numb or just getting hot when I get nervous. It has been like this since Tuesday. It gets really bad when I focus on it and get anxious. My blood pressure rises and it gets hot. My cheeks have also both been rosy, but I feel most of the heat on my right cheek.

One other thing is 2 days ago I woke up and both of my hands were extremely numb and my jaw sore. Is this health anxiety taking over my body and stress causing all of this? I am constantly googling everything and freaking myself out badly. I cant stop thinking about it and I wake up every hour at night because I am so anxious.

Is a hot sunburn feeling face something that MS patients have regularly or is this anxiety and stress? Also how long is your face "numb" before it goes away?

I also got 4 unexplained stratches on my forearm yesterday that came out of nowhere. I was on my computer gaming, then I look down and 3 scratches are there. They have went away now.

Thank you all in advance... I am glad I found this forum.

[Lamour]

I have had all those sensations because of anxiety and stress. I also think the fact that you 'focusing' on them makes them worse is key-- if they needed to get worse, they would on their own. Think back to times you have been genuinely sick, like with the stomach flu or a cold-- you were able to take notice all on your own, without your mind keeping you on alert!

However, I would suggest going to see a doctor (again) you trust and can talk to, who you know will listen and respond to everything you say. Tell this doctor you are experiencing health anxiety around this issue, and detail your concerns and have them explain everything to you. I only suggest this because at this point, you need this doctor's trip so that you can move on to addressing your mental health. I know it can be frustrating to hear 'Oh well if you're concerned just go to the doctor'. We want to just move on, but we can't because we're stuck.

But I don't think we can move on until we've had THE appointment where we put it all out there. Often we go to the doctor and meekly suggest a problem, they wave it off without realizing our distress, and we go home and sure enough, we just continue the cycle. When I finally had that doctor's appointment last spring after I had completely spiralled, she told me she would send me for any test I wanted if it would set my mind at ease. I didn't quite take her up on that, but once she realized what I was going through, she listened and took a long time with me to figure things out. If you can't find that with your doctor, see if there's another who will listen. Finally, take this appointment as your 'armour'. Try to believe what they say. Write things down that they said, and refer back to it. Then move on to address your mental health.

Next step-- if you can, seek out therapy or online resources specifically directed at health anxiety. If your therapist doesn't seem to address your health anxiety, I would suggest looking for a new one if they don't seem to understand.

And then-- STOP googling. I know, I *know* how addictive it is because we think we will eventually find the solution that will finally allow us to relax. But it will truly only make it worse. There are so many health resources out there we can access *in real life*, through actual professionals. If you have to, go back to the doctor. Just don't go online. This forum is a great resource. It's helpful to google "symptom+ nomorepanic", too, as it will bring you here and you can see how many other people have felt what you did.