So terrified and fed up

[WorriedBloke]

I am 41 years old and male. For most of my life I have suffered from health anxiety.

I have mainly been worried about cancer during most of my adult life.
In my head like most of you I have at one point or other decided had cancer in every conceivable place in my body.

Lately it's different. It' not the usual pains and discomfort that I am worried about. Normally, my anxiety presents itself as lethargy, depersonalisation, brain fog etc.

This time I am suffering from Neurological sensory symptoms. And they are terrifying me.

It all started a few months ago when I suddenly had a numb patch on my right leg just above the knee. The skin around the numb patch was extremely hypersensitive to the the lightest touch which was painful.

I saw a doctor about it who said confidently that it was caused by a trapped nerve and that it would go away, albeit it would take a long time.

I then also started to get hypersensitive skin patches on random parts of my body. They would last a few days at a time. Often more than one place at a time. I still get them now.

For the last week I have been also getting the strangest symptom and it's by far the hardest to live with. I'm getting what I can only describe as a tickle sensation deep in my right forearm, right leg, and rarely, my left leg. It's as if my bone is tickling. It is so horrible I feel I want to rip my arm/leg off. Certain movements seem to make it worse but it's there nearly all the time.

I'm having a really hard time believing these are another in a long line of anxiety symptoms and so worried. I see no mention of my type of symptoms being related to Anxiety conditions.

I saw a doctor today and he was concerned and said that I need to see a Neurologist for investigation onto autoimmune diseases.

I am terrified that I may have MS which is bad enough or something even worse.

I am having a consultation with a Neurologist a week today.

I just wanted to put this down in writing because I am driving myself crazy with worry and my symptoms are hell at the moment.

[zippy]

Wow how did you get to see a neurologist that quick?
I am in a similar situation only I asked my gp for a ct brain scan because I wasn't convinced it was anxiety even though my gp said it was. I had the scan a week gone Friday and my gp rang me to tell me there were 3 lesions on it. He referred me to a neurologist who he says will probably do blood tests for antibodies and a possible lumbar puncture. I am also convinced and scared I have ms.
I haven't even had my referral letter yet for the neurologist so your lucky to be seen that quick because it's usually months.

[Poopsi]

I kind of had the same symptoms as you, mine started with a tingling in my ankle, but then that stopped and then I got hypersensitive skin. Whenever I would be touched or I would rub against something, I would get a buzzing/tingling feeling. This happened in my legs, arms, back, and stomach. I also got numb patches in my lower legs. I had blood work, an EMG, nerve conduction test, and two clinical exams. All came back normal. These feelings lasted two months, they r just fading now. The drs all told me it was stress/anxiety, so I would think yours could be that too, but it's prob best to see the neurologist to put your mind at ease.

[WorriedBloke]

Wow how did you get to see a neurologist that quick?
I am in a similar situation only I asked my gp for a ct brain scan because I wasn't convinced it was anxiety even though my gp said it was. I had the scan a week gone Friday and my gp rang me to tell me there were 3 lesions on it. He referred me to a neurologist who he says will probably do blood tests for antibodies and a possible lumbar puncture. I am also convinced and scared I have ms.
I haven't even had my referral letter yet for the neurologist so your lucky to be seen that quick because it's usually months.

Sorry, I should have clarified. I was referred to a neurologist over a month ago when I saw a GP when the skin sensitivity originally flared up. I hadn't had the neurology appointment through, so, with my new symptoms, I went again to the GP today. Whilst there he said he would chase the neurologist appointment but said it could still be some wait and that even after seeing a neurologist I could be waiting another 18 weeks to have any proper tests done.

I am fortunate in that I have Bupa cover through my wife's work. After hearing about the length of wait for tests I decided to check with Bupa to see if I was covered and I was, so managed to get an appointment next week privately. It's awful how long things take on the NHS now :(

Sorry to hear about your results. Do they think it's MS or something else?

[cattia]

I also had symptoms similar to this. I had what felt like cold patches of water on my skin. I had tingling in my arm and leg on one side. The worst thing was that I had a constant weird feeling on the base of my foot, rather like I was walking barefooted and had a piece of paper stuck to the sole of my foot. I was convinced I had MS. I then went through a phase of waking up at night smelling weird smells so I was convinced I had a brain tumour. My doctor put it all down to anxiety. I then got pregnant with my second child and my anxiety turned to issues to do with the pregnancy. All those symptoms went away. My son is two now so I guess that was almost three years ago, so my symptoms really must have been down to anxiety.

[WorriedBloke]

Thank you for the replies. So sorry I didn't reply sooner - I'm all over the place at the moment.


I'm going for my Neurology appointment tomorrow (my appointment was postponed).
I've also done something foolish. I looked on Google.

I am still getting my symptoms and have just had some blood test results back. They show that I *could* have the start of Hyperthyroidism. I decided to see if Hyperthyroidism could cause my tingling and numb patch of skin. The first thread I looked at had someone with the EXACT same symptoms as me - tingling sensation in right lower arm and right hand and also in right lower leg. They also had the same numb patch as me, on their right thigh, the same place as mine. They went for a scan and found a brain tumor :scared15:

I am now SOOOOO scared that that is what I have. I've been worried that it may be a brain tumor anyway but after reading that..........

I don't know what to do I'm so petrified.

[WorriedBloke]

My Neurologist referred me for an MRI scan of my brain and the whole of my spine although he thinks with my history my symptoms are likely anxiety related. I had my MRI scans on Friday. 1 hour of staying completely still while having the incredibly loud noise of the MRI going on was hell. All the more so because my last MRI a few months ago for sinus issues I have, I had painful muscle twitches the whole time I was scanned. It's called Peripheral Nerve Stimulation from an MRI which is a rare side effect for some people. So I was really anxious the whole hour waiting for that to happen again but this time it didn't, thankfully.

I will get a call from my consultant sometime this week with the results. I'm not going to like the next few days waiting :(

[zippy]

Good luck with your results.
I am going through something similar.
I see a neurologist on the 17th june and having an mri scan before i see him.

[WorriedBloke]

Good luck with your results.
I am going through something similar.
I see a neurologist on the 17th june and having an mri scan before i see him.

Thanks and good luck to you too. The waiting is the worst part. I appreciate how fortunate I am to have private health cover so my waiting is minimized. I feel for you having to wait as long as you no doubt have already.

[zippy]

It will be about 10 weeks in total when i see him so it wasn't has bad as i thought to wait but that's probably because i have had the ct scan first which showed shadows. I know the waiting is awful.

[WorriedBloke]

So sorry - I hadn't updated.
I had my MRI scan and they were normal. Not long after, all my symptoms went away. Must have been caused by anxiety again!