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View Full Version : Long time MS scare, Could use some calming words



hesher
28-12-12, 00:15
Hello. I have been afraid of having MS for the past three months, I am a 19 year old male.

But I think everything began in early march, when I got tonsillitis and a high fever. I took medications for this and in a few days i recovered. After maybe 10 days on antibiotics I actually went to the gym to work out. I know this isn't something to recommend, but I felt great at the time and was tired of not having any physical activity for the past few weeks. When I was lifting weights I became very conscious of my heart beat, and got really anxious when I got home. I was worried about this for maybe two weeks, and eventually I started experiencing heart palpitations and a stabbing chest pain, often close to the heart. I also had paresthesia and muscle twitching. My tingling was located in my left arm and both sides of the face, and lasted only a couple of seconds at a time. I also had a very small numb patch on the left side of my cheek. However, I was not worried about the paresthesia at the time, as it was slight and very new to me.

I went to the doctor and told him about my palps and chest pains and he did a ECG and a blood test on me to rule out any heart condition and found nothing. So he sent me home assuring me that my symptoms where due to anxiety.
I stopped thinking about my symptoms and after a few days everything disappeared.

Everything was good until August, when my anxiety got quite bad after coming home from an amazing vacation abroad. Coming back to reality again was really hard as I had to face all my problems that I had postponed during summer. I immediately became conscious about my heart rate, and after a week our so, the palps and stabbing chest pains came back. And then the tingling came back, first on my right cheek, then my right hand and my right foot. I googled on tingling and MS came up everywhere, so I freaked out. The abnormal sensations spread to both knees and eventually both elbows, and they where consistent for a week our so. Then I came across this really amazing article on anxiety symptoms (this article was written in swedish, I might translate it later on if you want it), and i felt so assured and relieved that I stopped worrying. And believe it or not, three days later, all my symptoms had disappeared.

After this I thought I would never worry about this again, but only two weeks later the tingling came back. And I remember I was anxious about some things at the time, but not nearly as anxious as previous times i got symptoms. This time it started with tingling on my nose and both right and left side of my face. It then moved on to my hands and feet. I also had allover muscle twitches. I freaked out once again, thinking I had Relapsing remitting ms. My muscle twitches and feet tingling have been pretty much constant for the past three months, and I have found it really hard to stop worrying.

I went to a doctor and told her this exact story, and she told me that this was anxiety and that I absolutely nothing to worry about. She even thought I should start taking therapy. The problem is that she didn't tell me exactly why this was anxiety, and this is partially why I am having such a hard time accepting this.

I could really use some calming words and reassurement, please, it took a long time for me to write this

Mark13
28-12-12, 00:42
I had "buzzing" sensations in my feet, paresthesia that went up to my knees, finger twitches and muscle spasms.

I had nerve conduction tests (in 2004) to rule out MS and it did. They said it was anxiety.

8 years later it's obvious they were right. I still get the odd paresthesia or "buzzing" but it's an annoyance rather than a worry and it goes away if I don't think too much about it (within a few days usually).

So in my case it was anxiety, but as I said, it doesn't prevent the symptoms from popping back up now and then, even when I don't consciously feel anxious.

hesher
28-12-12, 01:03
Thank you for your reply!

The thing that bothers me the most is that new and old symptoms popped up when I wasn't nearly as anxious as I had been during previous health scares, but I guess they could appear at random times as well, as you experienced.

I suppose that anxiety symptoms come easier to those that have had a history of them?

Anxious lu
28-12-12, 01:06
Hi I'm 20 and I fear the same as you l get the muscle twitches/ spasms all over,
numb patches and a numb feeling in my face which isn't actually numb it just feels tight. I get pins and needles in my toes and heart palpatations..

I had an MRI three months back, not because they thought I had ms btw so don't worry. This showed up no abnormalities yet I will can't shake the fear that I have it.. Even when I convince myself I'm being silly it niggles away at me..

It's a horrible fear to have and the widespread symptoms I get like you come and go.. It's so frustrating especially the twitches!

hesher
28-12-12, 01:48
Hi I'm 20 and I fear the same as you l get the muscle twitches/ spasms all over,
numb patches and a numb feeling in my face which isn't actually numb it just feels tight. I get pins and needles in my toes and heart palpatations..

I had an MRI three months back, not because they thought I had ms btw so don't worry. This showed up no abnormalities yet I will can't shake the fear that I have it.. Even when I convince myself I'm being silly it niggles away at me..

It's a horrible fear to have and the widespread symptoms I get like you come and go.. It's so frustrating especially the twitches!
My doctor told me that my chest symptoms and palps (like you have) combined with the neurological things pointed to anxiety, and not to something serious, but it is reaally hard to keep thinking logical.

Anxious lu
28-12-12, 10:59
Yes I think people have said before that it's unlikely to be ms andorra likely to be anxiety with such a vast amount of symptoms at one time..

My mind cannot comprehend how anxiety can do this to my body :-(.. You seem to have many symptoms at one time like me though which makes me relax a bit!