Can anxiety manifest all symtoms of MS?!

[Jennyzee]

Started out a month ago with a constant 24/7 twitch in lower lip. That lasted over a week. Eyes twitching when I wink. Started to GOOGLE. (yes I know) Came up w good ole MS, since then ive had pins and needles all the time in my hands and feet, feeling exhausted and just weird. Part of me feels like it would be rare for all these different symptoms to come on within a months time. But the other part is convinced something sinister is going on. Looking for some reassurance??!! Thanks.

[daisyflower]

That really isn't all the symptoms of ms at all. My sister in law has it and her first symptoms were temporary complete blindness and temporary complete numbness of the legs so she couldn't walk.

[Lifelonganxiety!]

All of that can totally be down to anxiety, yes. I have all of those symptoms, and whenever I have an anxiety flare up, they all come on at once. So yes, absolutely can be stress and anxiety, try to not worry about it!

[SmithsFan]

Hi Jennyzee,

It sounds like you're going through pretty much what I did. As soon as my googling had me thinking about MS I was getting just about every symptom I'd read about.

Numbness, tingling, twitching, eye pain, cramping etc. The worst was when I started to get sharp pains all over my body.

I was in a cycle of stress, anxiety, physical and mental symptoms, insomnia, and low mood. Since then I've (hopefully) broken the cycle with some time off work, counselling and a prescription of Prozac.

I'm back at work and feeling much better than I have for months. I'm sleeping well and have taken steps to simplify my life and de-stress as a result.

And guess what? My symptoms have all but disappeared.

I know this is early days and I still have to challenge my "but what if it is?" thoughts regularly but I'm feeling much more able to take on my HA now and, with a bit of perspective, can say that stress and anxiety can most definitely cause the physical symptoms you have described.

if you need any further reassurance then the sticky thread for newcomers worried about MS is a great source of it.

[Magic]

daisyflower has the correct answer for anyone who is worried about having MS.
The only way that you can find out if you have really developed MS are to see your GP for blood tests and a brain scan.

[Leslie735]

I went through a twitching spell back in July. It started with a shoulder/arm twitch, I googled and MS and ALS came up. I was a WRECK! I could hardly function because my anxiety was so bad I couldn't think about anything else. I joined a group called BFS and its basically a benign twitchers group. I talked a lot of great people who all had the same fears I did, well not all but a lot. I ended up seeing a neuro because I was so scared. He did an exam and told me I basically had anxiety. After that my twitches started to calm down and I got past the anxiety. Now that it has calmed down so have the twitches. I still get random ones in my eye lids though. ;)