New member- health anxiety?!

[S11taylor]

I am new to this site. I am a 30 year old female, married and living in Cincinnati. After 1 year of continuous medical testing and worry, I am reluctantly coming to this site to explore that what my symptoms are, are anxiety driven.

Symptoms:
All left side of my body (left arm and left leg):
Muscle - joint aches, pains and cramping
Left side twitching, fluttering muscles
Weakness and uncoordinated

My preoccupation was ms, so I had two brain MRIs and an MRI of my cervical spine- all with and without contrast. I had a lumbar puncture, visual evoked potential, and blood work. All came out negative. So, for 6 months I stopped going to the doctor and just tried to tell myself it is anxiety. Then, the feeling of weakness and cramping just got worse so I went back into see my neurologist and she did an EMG to rule out ALS. Again- NEGATIVE!! So, now I'm back to feel almost embarrassed and just so frustrated with this while thing.

My main question is: I don't have anxiety attacks. I mainly just worry about things. If this was just anxiety, wouldn't these symptoms come and go? I literally feel these symptoms all the time and I feel like they are getting worse.

Any information or thoughts on this would be appreciated!!

[cattia]

Hello :welcome:
I used to have panic attacks when I was much younger, but honestly I have not had one for probably ten years and I still suffer from anxiety that produces a range of crazy symptoms and can at times be extremely debilitating. You will find many, many people here with experience of the symptoms you are talking about. In my own experience, I have had symptoms that are very similar to the ones you describe. I don't believe that anxiety started them totally, I think I did have a trapped nerve or something that did cause some tingling and weird sensations, but my obsession over these made things a hundred times worse, produced new symptoms, and made the symptoms I had persist long after they should have gone away on their own. I did the whole MS obsession a few years ago and I was totally convinced I had it. I didn't get sent for any tests as my doctor really didn't think I had it and thought it wasn't necessary. Mine eventually went away when I got pregnant with my second child and that really took my focus off it and gave me something else to focus on. That was almost three years ago and those symptoms have not troubled me since. It's amazing and scary what anxiety can do to your body as well as your mind, but I am sure you'll find some great support here. It's good to know you're not alone and there are other people who understand you.

[busterrufus]

s11taylor I also feel as though I don't really have panic attacks but have constant severe anxiety, worry or fear, whatever the correct term is. does anyone know if this constant anxiety can produce severe physical symptoms?