Can someone please give me a reality check?

[HealthAnxiety12]

I really need one at the moment. Despite the fact that I had two days where my symptoms were nearly unnoticeable (even my poop was almost back to normal during those days!) and that they seem to be gradually improving, I keep focusing on various diseases and disorders and can't stop thinking that things are only going to get worse instead of better. My new preoccupation is fibromyalgia, but I also keep thinking that I have a food allergy, Celiac disease or an obscure vitamin deficiency. I'm even having MS thoughts again because I remember feeling a weird pressure against my stomach when my symptoms were at their worst, and I had slight urinary incontinence twice (this was right after reading about MS symptoms, though, and it hasn't happened since).

My symptoms are getting better even though I'm not doing anything new except going to therapy weekly and exercising (though they do wax and wane and I have days where they're worse than others), so isn't that proof that they're caused by anxiety? Why can't I just accept that they're anxiety-related?

I need to snap out of this. My symptoms would not be getting better without medication if I had something medically wrong, right? Do people with fibromyalgia have days with virtually no pain if they don't take medication? Can you even have fibromyalgia without "fibrofog" and chronic fatigue?

Thanks again for reading this, everyone. I hope that I'm not posting here too often.

[oldtime]

Anxiety screw up your central nervous system. It creates symptoms like: MS, fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue.

It's not a vitamin deficiency, if it was doctors would prescribe vitamins to people with anxiety symptoms.

Reality is anxiety sucks, the only way to deal with it is to accept it and move on with your life. In the same way someone with MS or any other illness would try to come to terms with their condition and move on.

It just seems to be harder to move on with anxiety because it is not well defined its difficult to understand and deal with.

Best wishes to you, take care.

[Serenity1990]

Firstly, I wouldn't worry about Fibromyalgia. Lots of people have it (around 1.5m in the England alone), the vast, vast majority of which it has little to no substantive effect on.

I'm not a doctor, but I know a bit about MS due to my late grandmother having it and my recent nonsensical preoccupation that I do. From that limited experience, nothing you've written would make that even cross my mind.

Try and distract yourself, read a good book or watch a film!

[HealthAnxiety12]

Firstly, I wouldn't worry about Fibromyalgia. Lots of people have it (around 1.5m in the UK), the vast, vast majority of which it has little to no substantive effect on.

I'm not a doctor, but I know a bit about MS due to my late grandmother having it and my recent nonsensical preoccupation that I do. From that limited experience, nothing you've written would make that even cross my mind.

Try and distract yourself, read a good book or watch a film!
My problem is that I always seem to find the worst stories about everything. Even though my mother has fibromyalgia (had, anyway; she's mostly symptom-free now unless she's under a lot of stress or doesn't get enough sleep) and says that it really isn't that bad, I feel panicked when I read personal accounts about people who have constant pain and claim that even the pressure of their clothes against their skin is painful.

I've had a lot of "MS symptoms" like burning, prickling, numbness, itching, tingling, etc., but my MRI was normal so I'm not that worried about it. Not knowing with 100% certainty what is causing my symptoms is what's driving me crazy. If I knew for sure that it was anxiety then I could cope with it a lot better. Reading about people with chronic idiopathic neuropathy that doesn't go away when their anxiety is reduced doesn't help either. My therapist thinks that I'll be back to normal eventually, but how can I trust her completely when she doesn't have a background in physiology?

[Leslie735]

I can SO relate to you. While I worry about a different condition, I search on the internet and read about the worst stories and then my anxiety just takes off. It's terrible! :hugs:

PM me if you'd like to talk, I totally know how you feel. Also, my aunt, who is in her early 50's has fibro.

[KLP]

Well, I could have been me writing this! I'm in the exactly same boat as you. When I touch parts of my body they feel bruised but no visable bruising. My BM fluctuate, 1 day D, then fairly normal. My nerves are noticeable when at rest. I too have had a normal MRI scan. Get the twitches, numbness but not the itching, only the occasional sneezing fits. I've been drinking chamomile tea and last night I woke without the nerves kicking off and heartbeat racing. Not known about chronic idiopathic neuropathy, but I will certainly look into it. My current self diagnosis is fibromyalgia. My only other annoying symptom is my constant vision disturbance, unable to focus, even though my eye test was fine. Good to find someone in a similar boat.

[HealthAnxiety12]

Thank you for your responses. I'm glad that there are people here who I can relate to even though I wish that none of us were suffering. It's hard not to let myself get depressed over this. I feel like I'm never going to feel consistently good again.

---------- Post added at 15:02 ---------- Previous post was at 14:56 ----------

By the way, KLP, I had constantly blurred vision for a week and a half and it went away. Hopefully yours will too. :)

[KLP]

My vision has been for 5 months now... Argh!!

[HealthAnxiety12]

My vision has been for 5 months now... Argh!!

This might be an obvious question, but are you using eye drops?

[KLP]

No I haven't! What kind of eye drops, my eyes don't feel particularly dry?

[HealthAnxiety12]

No I haven't! What kind of eye drops, my eyes don't feel particularly dry?

My eye doctor said that the reason why my vision was blurred was because my eyes were dry because of the cold weather and anxiety. It also explains my eye irritation, pain and my other visual problems. I'm using Refresh Optive eye drops three times a day, and it's been helping. :)

[KLP]

I'm on to it thanks

[HealthAnxiety12]

You know what I just realized? The reason why I continue to have diarrhea is most likely because I've been taking 1,500mg of magnesium every day for a few weeks to help with my anxiety. Well, I feel like an idiot. The diarrhea probably was originally anxiety-related and then continued after my anxiety lessened because of the magnesium supplements. I'm going to take 500mg per day instead and see if that regulates my bowels.

Remember: Don't look too much into a symptom without looking into what you've been doing in your life that could be causing it. I've thought that some minor leg hair loss was because I had an awful health condition when it was actually caused by friction; I've thought that the glare in my glasses meant that I was going blind when really I just need glasses with anti-reflective lenses, and now I've attributed this diarrhea to Celiac disease when it's probably being caused by anxiety and excessive magnesium. Note to self: Stop catastrophizing things!

[KLP]

I wish I could say that my diarrhea is because of epsom salt baths but alas it's not. Glad you discovered your catastrophizing.

[HealthAnxiety12]

I wish I could say that my diarrhea is because of epsom salt baths but alas it's not. Glad you discovered your catastrophizing.

That might not be the cause actually, but it isn't helping matters. Did you get the eye drops yet and have they helped at all?