anxietyridden
23-12-12, 22:35
Hi Guys, new to the forum. So glad I found it!
Basically, my story is familiar to a lot of you I'm sure. I have had anxiety issues practically my whole life, but thought I had them pretty well under control for the last few years. I was wrong.
It all started about 5 months ago with a burning sensation in my feet. Quickly followed by extreme fatigue, dizziness, headaches, trouble focusing my vision, tingling, etc. I felt the anxiety getting higher and the panic attacks started again (which I hadn't had in years).
Of course my mind immediately went to MS, especially after my doctor ran all the bloodwork and found nothing. I insisted on seeing a neurologist, who did exams, nerve tests, muscles tests, MRI, etc and said there is nothing neurological going on.
At that point I had accepted it was likely my anxiety, and started seeing a psychologist who has been very helpful. I wasn't all better, but was improving and able to function again.
Then, about two weeks ago I started getting these terrible pains in my legs, and the fatigue started to get worse again. Not just a little aching, it actually makes it hard to stand or walk for any amount of time. They get so achy and feel like they stiffen up and I just can't go anymore. Went to the ER, fearing a blood clot. Nothing. Followed up with my doctor, nothing. Now I'm back to MS. I know anxiety can cause pain, but certainly not this bad! And of course it doesn't help the pain that that's all I can focus on.
I spoke to my therapist about it this at my appointment yesterday. She says it definitely can be caused by anxiety (and now probably a bit of depression as well). I just can't accept it. The pain is so awful at times, I didn't work all week. I don't notice it as much at rest so I just want to lay around. Now I'm back to where I was 5 months ago, and am upset all the time.
It didn't help when I did the worst thing and googled can you have MS with a clean MRI and got people saying it took 3 MRI's to find theirs, you need the higher resolution MRI to find some lesions, the damage can start before lesions appear etc. Now I think, did we test too early? Did we not test thoroughly? Did they miss something?
Sorry this is so long, but thanks for reading!
Anyone have any thoughts on what this could be? Or maybe someone with a similar experience? I just feel so desperate at this point and like I'll never be back to normal. :weep:
Basically, my story is familiar to a lot of you I'm sure. I have had anxiety issues practically my whole life, but thought I had them pretty well under control for the last few years. I was wrong.
It all started about 5 months ago with a burning sensation in my feet. Quickly followed by extreme fatigue, dizziness, headaches, trouble focusing my vision, tingling, etc. I felt the anxiety getting higher and the panic attacks started again (which I hadn't had in years).
Of course my mind immediately went to MS, especially after my doctor ran all the bloodwork and found nothing. I insisted on seeing a neurologist, who did exams, nerve tests, muscles tests, MRI, etc and said there is nothing neurological going on.
At that point I had accepted it was likely my anxiety, and started seeing a psychologist who has been very helpful. I wasn't all better, but was improving and able to function again.
Then, about two weeks ago I started getting these terrible pains in my legs, and the fatigue started to get worse again. Not just a little aching, it actually makes it hard to stand or walk for any amount of time. They get so achy and feel like they stiffen up and I just can't go anymore. Went to the ER, fearing a blood clot. Nothing. Followed up with my doctor, nothing. Now I'm back to MS. I know anxiety can cause pain, but certainly not this bad! And of course it doesn't help the pain that that's all I can focus on.
I spoke to my therapist about it this at my appointment yesterday. She says it definitely can be caused by anxiety (and now probably a bit of depression as well). I just can't accept it. The pain is so awful at times, I didn't work all week. I don't notice it as much at rest so I just want to lay around. Now I'm back to where I was 5 months ago, and am upset all the time.
It didn't help when I did the worst thing and googled can you have MS with a clean MRI and got people saying it took 3 MRI's to find theirs, you need the higher resolution MRI to find some lesions, the damage can start before lesions appear etc. Now I think, did we test too early? Did we not test thoroughly? Did they miss something?
Sorry this is so long, but thanks for reading!
Anyone have any thoughts on what this could be? Or maybe someone with a similar experience? I just feel so desperate at this point and like I'll never be back to normal. :weep: