Panic / anxiety tingling sole of left foot. MS?

[Frog79]

I'm in a massive panic. 4weeks ago my doctor put me on mertazapine due a massive stressful event in my life that probably made me more upset and anxious than I have even been. 5 days later I had a slightly tingling sole of my left foot. 3 weeks later it is slowly getting better but last week they took a blood test which came back normal. On seeing my doctor today she asked if I had it before and I said that only when my marriage broke up and 3 weeks later the top of my left arm from half way between my shoulder and elbow right to the top of my hand but only the top part of my arm not underneath, and this was 3 years ago. Knowing I'm a huge worrier and suffer with anxiety she then says one thing at the back of her mind is MS. I'm now a crying , worrying mess again! How can she say this to me from these 2 incidents in 40 months! I'm now worrying like crazy again. I'm a mess, crying uncontrollably. It is slowly improving but very very mild tingling up my shin. I cant move away from worrying

[itgetsbetter]

First, let me say how terribly sorry I am for this doctor's insensitivity. This really does hurt my heart that she wouldn't even consider what this would do to you. :weep:

I have had tingling before—very similar to yours—and it was definitely anxiety. My dad's arm sometimes tingles the same way yours does when his shoulder muscles get so tight they compress a nerve. It's been doing it for years, and he definitely does not have MS. I suggest a massage to alleviate the problem.

Once under a great period of stress, the top of my foot spent a few days feeling like there was a hair tickling it. I of course freaked out and thought it was MS, but it went away, as it was caused either by anxiety itself or by tight muscles messing with nerves.

Some people's bodies respond this way to anxiety. Once a body responds one way, pathways are created in the brain so it's easier for it to do the same thing again.

Another thing to remember is that doctors are fallible. They are human, so they misspeak and misdiagnose. I've been misdiagnosed with mono when I had dehydration that disappeared in a day, and I know someone who the same doctor thought had cancer when in fact she did have mono. Sometimes I wonder if some doctors are in it for the sensationalism.

If your blood test was normal, that matters. Do not lose sight of that.

I've also experienced something extremely similar to you, when I had such severe anxiety that I was suffering from chronic inflammation. A doctor suggested it could be rheumatoid arthritis. It wasn't good enough to tack on that maybe I was right and it was stress. He'd said it and it was in my head. The happy ending to this story is that three years later, after I'd adopted a healthy diet and lifestyle, ZERO signs or symptoms of the inflammation remain. So it doesn't even matter what the root cause was, because it's gone.

MS seems to have been designed to torture anxiety sufferers, because it really does have generic symptoms that can also go with anxiety. I've been reading about that for years as I've suffered from health anxiety since the age of eight.

Please forget about MS. Please get a massage and a good therapist instead of paying this doctor to say more insensitive things.

I don't know if you're religious, but I'll say a prayer for you :hugs: .