worried about neuro-degenerative disorder

[worriedk]

Hi all,

I've been dealing with HA for around 1-2 years now. I've a lot of different scares which were eventually wrote off as anxiety, my usual routine of calming down from some weird symptoms is getting rational arguments (something statistics wise really helps) and visiting a doctor I feel like I trust.

This time I have the following symptoms (for a week now):
* I get all kinds of strange symptoms in my arms(mostly hands) and legs(mostly feet). I get twitching, buzzing, weakness, pain, numbness. The symptoms come and go - rotate, and are in all sorts of patterns and intensities.
* Currently while I am typing this I notice that sometimes I miss a key or type a word incorrectly, like my finger twitches or is weak to press something, I do not want to work a computer as a result of this feeling.
* Also at the moment im feeling my right foot hurt near the ankle and my right arm at the wrist, it's sort of a tingling sensation, also my lips feel numb (and I recently got the thoughts to go check my smile if it is all okay for some reason, yet I do not want to go to do that, because I feel like it won't end up okay and will raise even more anxiety).
* My hands and feet feel like they are going to twitch any moment like very tense, really annoying and stressing.

I have an appointment to a neurologist tomorrow and I'm very scared of MS (or any other neuro degenerative disease). Another reason I'm scared of MS is that my grandmothers sister had MS and I don't know how much this raises the chances but I definitely don't want to read about it. I haven't read about MS itself with what the symptoms sound like even, so I'm anxious and clueless.

I'm 22, Male. GAD for around 2 years, therapy every week, on alprazolam and escitalopram atm.

Any advice is very welcome , I have this like anxiety feeling like life is over and I'll spend the rest of my days with some horrible symptoms or whatever.

:(

[Kramze]

Hi all,

I've been dealing with HA for around 1-2 years now. I've a lot of different scares which were eventually wrote off as anxiety, my usual routine of calming down from some weird symptoms is getting rational arguments (something statistics wise really helps) and visiting a doctor I feel like I trust.

This time I have the following symptoms (for a week now):
* I get all kinds of strange symptoms in my arms(mostly hands) and legs(mostly feet). I get twitching, buzzing, weakness, pain, numbness. The symptoms come and go - rotate, and are in all sorts of patterns and intensities.
* Currently while I am typing this I notice that sometimes I miss a key or type a word incorrectly, like my finger twitches or is weak to press something, I do not want to work a computer as a result of this feeling.
* Also at the moment im feeling my right foot hurt near the ankle and my right arm at the wrist, it's sort of a tingling sensation, also my lips feel numb (and I recently got the thoughts to go check my smile if it is all okay for some reason, yet I do not want to go to do that, because I feel like it won't end up okay and will raise even more anxiety).
* My hands and feet feel like they are going to twitch any moment like very tense, really annoying and stressing.

I have an appointment to a neurologist tomorrow and I'm very scared of MS (or any other neuro degenerative disease). Another reason I'm scared of MS is that my grandmothers sister had MS and I don't know how much this raises the chances but I definitely don't want to read about it. I haven't read about MS itself with what the symptoms sound like even, so I'm anxious and clueless.

I'm 22, Male. GAD for around 2 years, therapy every week, on alprazolam and escitalopram atm.

Any advice is very welcome , I have this like anxiety feeling like life is over and I'll spend the rest of my days with some horrible symptoms or whatever.

:(

I am currently experiencing similar symptoms. My right arm has been pretty weird for 1½ months, and it feels like it's getting worse :(.

I've been to a neurologist 2 times now, but he dismissed neurological disease after blood samples, reflex testing and strength tests.

My symptoms:
- Weird feeling in elbow (almost like buzzing, but it's not painful)
- It sometimes extends to my middle finger all the way up to my right shoulder
- Tightness on the back of my right hand and thumb
- Seems like my fingers resting position on my right hand are different than my left hand (the fingers are slightly more extended than on my left hand)
- When clenching my right hand it feels like my fingers are slightly swollen
- Right hand feels more clumsy than my left hand
- Twitching all over my body (it has become less frequent now after 3 weeks)
- Legs sometimes feel heavy and rubbery
- Often slight pain in right leg and feeling of tightness in right foot

I went to my doctor again after experiencing a gradual worsening of my right arm, but he said that he couldn't see any pattern in my symptoms and dismissed it as a mental problem. As of now, I'm living with these symptoms and hoping for the best (I don't wanna burden him with frequent visits, if he's sure that it's psychological problems).

I'm also experiencing a minor change in my keyboard strokes with my right hand, and it feels like I'm getting slightly more typing errors than usual, but I think it's a figment of my imagination.

I hope this can be reassuring for you as we're in the same boat with our thoughts.

P.s: I've also created a thread some time ago, where I've described my short journey of fearing neurological diseases. You can check it out if you feel like it.

[ServerError]

Kamze -

Your doctor isn't "dismissing" it as a mental disorder. He is diagnosing you with a condition that needs treating. His opinion is that the perceived symptoms indicated a psychological illness.

You do not have to live with it and hope for the best. You have a condition that requires treating.

[Kramze]

Kamze -

Your doctor isn't "dismissing" it as a mental disorder. He is diagnosing you with a condition that needs treating. His opinion is that the perceived symptoms indicated a psychological illness.

You do not have to live with it and hope for the best. You have a condition that requires treating.

Wish I had money for such treatment, guess I'll stick to online reassurance.

[ServerError]

Are you saying that you can't get help through the Danish health system?

[Kramze]

Are you saying that you can't get help through the Danish health system?

Psychologists cost money and I'm currently signed up for a session with a psychiatrist; which is free. Problem is that I've been there before and he told me to try cognitive therapy, but didn't really do anything to progress the evaluation. CT isn't covered by the state, and I'm studying atm, so my economy is very limited

[Fishmanpa]

guess I'll stick to online reassurance.

There is a FREE CBT course here. Just like it takes hard work to recover from a serious physical illness (I know 1st hand), it takes an equal amount of work to recover from mental illness.

Reassurance never works and just feeds your dragon. If you're going to rely on reassurance, you're just resigning yourself to your illness.

Positive thoughts

[ServerError]

Agree with the above. If you rely solely on reassurance from forums, your chances of getting better and living a better life are very low. You might get temporary reassurance, but a new worry will soon emerge and the cycle will continue because the underlying issue is not being addressed. Anxiety forums are also full of negativity and discussion of illness so you'll be surrounding yourself with things that hinder your recovery.

[worriedk]

Thank you guys for your input!

@Kramze it really helps to hear that you've encountered similar symptoms and your neurologist has advised that all is ok - I understand the position you're in but when I have doubts about a doctor I just go privately for a second opinion, but we have to understand that doctors go through years of medical training and have seen many cases of the 'bad' diseases before, so if he had any reason to suspect anything he would have definitely ordered extra tests.

On topic - currently symptom wise im back to both hands and feet feeling achy... i have two appointments set with different neurologists at different clinics, I hope they will advise me with whats wrong. :(

I have been to my GP who just told me to take vitamin B for 2 weeks and return,
My psychotherapist is saying that this is my anxiety, not a disease, but as these symptoms occur first time for me I have serious trouble believing her for some reason.

[Kramze]

There is a FREE CBT course here. Just like it takes hard work to recover from a serious physical illness (I know 1st hand), it takes an equal amount of work to recover from mental illness.

Reassurance never works and just feeds your dragon. If you're going to rely on reassurance, you're just resigning yourself to your illness.

Positive thoughts

Thanks for the link, I hope it can provide some insight to my problem! But you're right, it's just fuel for the flames to stick around and get reassurance (my reply was also slightly sarcastic, indicating helplessness )

Thank you guys for your input!

@Kramze it really helps to hear that you've encountered similar symptoms and your neurologist has advised that all is ok - I understand the position you're in but when I have doubts about a doctor I just go privately for a second opinion, but we have to understand that doctors go through years of medical training and have seen many cases of the 'bad' diseases before, so if he had any reason to suspect anything he would have definitely ordered extra tests.

On topic - currently symptom wise im back to both hands and feet feeling achy... i have two appointments set with different neurologists at different clinics, I hope they will advise me with whats wrong. :(

I have been to my GP who just told me to take vitamin B for 2 weeks and return,
My psychotherapist is saying that this is my anxiety, not a disease, but as these symptoms occur first time for me I have serious trouble believing her for some reason.

I hope that you'll be able to resolve the issue in the future, as you can see in this thread, I'm no better than the other guy with HA. What's really annoying with this condition, is that it keeps spawning new symptoms, and as a result you suddenly have a new disease to worry about. I'm really beginning to believe this mind over matter after suffering from this for years. It's crazy how much your mind can make you feel.