Big mnd/ms worries :(

[Kelxx]

Hello, my name is kelly and im 16. im new to this site ;p i came here seeking help as i suffer from bad health anxiety. i take 20mg fluoxetine once a day. Lately my anxiety has been really bad, i have been to my doctor for blood tests as i was positive i had cancer of some sort.

Now i have big MND/MS worries. My right thigh has had a horrible numb feeling for the past few months, i try to tell myself its a trapped nerve but now im not so sure. I feel weak, but i can still grip tense and hold things. My legs are very achy and my left arm is sore. my legs have been twitching A LOT.

I know my anxiety can cause me to tense, but i don't know if tensing can cause me to feel like this, and i don't know if im tensing as much as i think i am. I have had a few bad headaches too, have searched on the internet about MND/MS and have pretty much convinced myself i have one of them. I have been taking the fluoxitene for about 4 weeks now, could it be giving me these symptoms?

My mum tells me im worrying myself to death, and i think my family friends and doctor are becoming fed up. i have no where else to turn and just want someone who understands to speak to me. Sorry for the massive story, i hope someone gets back to me.

Help:(

[southey]

Hey Kelly,

Anxiety can do all sorts to us, believe me any symptom you can imagine can be caused by anxiety!!

Our brains are so powerful it's unreal and while positive thoughts can be great for us, negative thoughts can be so destructive.

I am unsure of where these health anxiety came from in you at such a young age, have you any trigger or medical history in your family that may cause you to think like you do?

Parent, friends and Doctors unconcern must reassure you that what you are feeling is unfounded and is purely related to an anxiety disorder?

Let me tell you that I have had numbness in my outside thigh on my right leg for years on and off. It used to scare me stupid that I may have MS until I heard a friend had the same thing and it was caused by being over weight!! I have struggled with being overweight on and off for years and after so long now know my leg numbness is not MS related just nerve compression for being so lardy!!!:D

So while you may google 'leg numbness' and it comes up with 20,000,000 pages of MS symptoms it in all likeliness is something else and not worth the energy spent worrying over it.

Steve:)

[butterfly00]

hi kelxx
I have had the exact same thing. My right thigh feels like I've been punched and now have a 'dead leg' feeling. ANd then a similiar feeling in my right arm.
Apparently having a headaches is a sign that its NOT ms according to my doc. Which is not good news for me as I never have headaches.

[Kelxx]

Southey thanks for the reply :) i have always been a worrier, but the past few months it has got really bad. Google certainly does not help my symptoms lol. I don't do much to distract myself i don't have enough willpower.

Im not overweight, im a skinny little twig lol. thats what worries me the most about my leg. i have no idea what it could be. i worry sometimes that the doctor thinks im making everything up and just brushes me off :(

[matrix123]

Hello, Im having ache/weak left leg also and Im scaring my self about ms :(

Are you able to walk and run normally? Does it feel tired?

[Kelxx]

Hello matrix, i can walk and run fine. i walk to school and back everyday which is a 1mile and a bit treck so i do exercise quite a bit i guess.

Its the twitching that is my main concern

[matrix123]

twitching can had many many reasons...nothing to worry about...

[chris9642]

twitching is definately something you SHOULDNT be worried about - i have done a lot of research after similar concerns about MND/MS and twitching comes after weakness in MND when the muscles start breaking down their connection with the nerves it doesnt appear as a presenting symptom - to have twitching associated with MND you would have had significant weakness first - i know its hard to reassure as even as im typing this im assuming I have MND myself haha and yet dont really have any clinical weakness just an odd heavy feeling in right arm and more recently a heavy/clumsy feeling in hands/forearms ..... oh and about 5 mins ago when I was walking up the stairs I had a dizzy spell :( so I will prob start thinking Brain Tumor again now..... this is a nightamre!!!! Im seeing doctor today at 5.30 do you think I should be honest about how anxious im feeling - ive not even mentioned anxiety in any of the appointments I have had over the past few months - im always worried if i mention it then she will discredit my symptoms and not investigate.

Thanks,

Chris

[Kelxx]

Be very honest. i used to keep it bottled up because i thought my doctor would think im making it all up. But he was very supportive! You might be recommended CBT and if im honest it does help. If you think your doctor is not doing enough for you, get a second opinion from another doctor. :)

MND is such a horrible thing to worry about, its on my mind 90% of the day:( Have you ever had a MRI or CT scan?

Goodluck with the doctors Chris :)

[chris9642]

Ok had an interesting session at docs .... That's the first time I have even mentioned any form of anxiety ..... Her response was 'I really thought you were going to have MS....but now I'm not to sure since you mentioned how you are feeling'..... I was shocked but I appreciated her honesty and she was very comforting when I said it was taking over my life- she talked me through some self help websites and said try these first before we look at other options - I felt great when I left but now I'm hanging on her words again as she said at the end 'it could be MS' ..... To be fair she never ever mentioned MS until I said I was worrying about it ..... I'm gonna have my tea then start on my self help website .... It's not helping that I have a raging cold ..... But that's just a little old cold .... It's not gonna kill me ;)

[butterfly00]

chris my doc said the same thing, " the only thing other than anxiety that I can think of is MS so lets see what the neurologist thinks" which made me totally FREAK out. I thought my symptoms would double after she said that, but they havne't which makes me worry event more because now I think the are legit neruo symptoms rather than anxiety. I have been doing some careful reading about MS and am now begingin to think it might not be the biggest baddest thing to happen, apparently you can lead a fairlynormal life. What I get most upset about is the idea of not having anymore babies. I have neuro appointment in 6 weeks .

[matrix123]

I thought most people with MS end up in the wheelchair soon. Can you shed some more light on this?

[chris9642]

butterfly my neuro appointment is August .... had one in feb but freaked during MRI and couldn't have it done!!! my nerve conduction and bloods all came back normal !! I'm worrying about MND at the minute tho as arms are weak and shaky :(

[JaneC]

No Matrix, that isn't true. There are different kinds of MS. Some people might end up having to use a wheelchair quite quickly, some after a long time - and some not at all.

[matrix123]

Thanx Jane...but are there any kind of stats...like most often it gets bad quickly...or most people have a kind of "normal" life..etc

[livethelife]

Kelxx

the twitching could be from your medication if you didn't have that symptom before - a few years back I started getting terrible twitching a leg cramps - I was convinced that I had ALS but it turns out that it was from the SSRI i was taking (Effexor). Once I stopped taking it, the twitching went away. Prior to that, I had always taken Paxil and i had never had any problems with it, so I went back on Paxil.

I have had worry off and on about this stuff since I was about 1o years old. Now I am 47 and still going. Still worrying too, but I do get a break from it once in a while.

All the best.

[butterfly00]

ok so appointment got bumped up after the neuro looked through my file, which freaks me out. The major thing about it the clinic is WAY on the other side of town. My agorphobia will go nuts and will really have to make a plan on how to stay calm

[butterfly00]

ok had appointment, he referred me for an mri (scary) but it thinks its nothing serious, just have to find $1000 now. side note when i woke up this morn, i was convinced i would have to cancel, but braved it out and travelled well.