MS fears [Archive] - No More Panic

asupertramp

12-09-16, 16:58

Hi to all! I am posting for reassurance and your opinion. A little bit of background:
I have always had some anxiety but it did not turn physical, but for last 3 years I have been having a lot of symptoms. I had one sided headache always in the same spot thinking it was a bt, heart palpitations which would cause me to frequently check my pulse etc. But for last two years my symptoms changed from frequent weird headaches to this weird tingling. Of course I googled and saw it could be a symptom of MS. Tingling started on my right then it spread to my entire body. When I say tingling I do not mean pins and needles feeling,mine is more like piece of hair tickling me on skin or little nerve sparks without pain. I had to mention this first happened last summer and it was stressful period of my life,and when that resolved symptoms subsided.I assumed it was anxiety. But now I am having another stressful period in my life and tingling has come back. This feeling is more less constant, more on my right side than my left,but generally could be felt all over body and it seems to get better with activity. Thw worse is when Im lying or sitting which gives me full ability to focus on it. Toughts?

axolotl

12-09-16, 20:09

I hope it's reassuring to you that I've been through almost exactly the same thing.

In late 2014 I started having palpitations and chest pains, so bad that I got into a bit of a state of panic about it and ended up in A&E. A lot of tests confirmed it was nothing to worry about.

Then just after Xmas that year, I woke up with weird tingling in my face. Over the next week or so it spread and got much worse, through my hands, arms, legs and feet. Like you I Googled, and came up with MS. I started to worry about my eyesight (was it a bit blurry? was I getting double vision?), I started to get twitching in my calves, and the tingling became a burning heat in my lower legs at night. There was no way, I concluded, I could feel this bad unless something was very wrong with me. As I panicked more, it got worse and worse.

I went to the doctor, who referred me to a neurologist. She did some physical examinations and didn't think it was anything to worry about, but booked me in for an MRI and nerve conduction studies, which eventually came back clear. I was prescribed B12 injections, as I was a bit low which may have contributed to the tingles, but the most likely answer was anxiety.

Your description sounds very familiar. It's also the case that MS manifests in particular parts of the body and doesn't move around like this (and mine), something that reassured the neurologist when I had my examinations. In fact if you search threads it's a very common symptom of anxiety, and is to do with your body priming itself for "fight or flight" with misdirected panic. But I know from experience it's a very real symptom that feels very worrying when you don't know what it is. I still get it now, but as I know it's nothing to worry about it goes off after an hour or two.

It may be worth going to the doctor's, but to put your mind at rest, and to see if they can give you advice about anxiety. This sounds very familiar to me and please keep in mind I got a totally clean bill of health, with the worst possibility being a slight vitamin deficiency.

asupertramp

12-09-16, 21:02

Thank you a lot for taking time to read my post and answer it. Means a lot! I just worry because the more I know about this disease,the more I think I have it. It may sound silly but I'm actually convinced I have it. I also went to doctor but they said stress is more likely the cause because symptom was not localized. I just feel like I'm definitely suffering from some kind of a neurological condition and therefore constantly seeking reassurance. Never tought I would register here and actually post something but it has come to that point. I spent too much Googling I guess and eventually developed some other symptoms such as starting urination feels harder, it takes a bit longer but I know this could also be because of this constant subconscious tension. I also have some vision problems which started as first symptoms of my ha or 'maybe' ms. Vision problems are increased floaters when looking at something bright as well as little bright white sparks appearing all over visual field. I also have ghosting of vision when looking at something lighter on a brighter background appears with a faint double image above the object. I have read this could happen with astigmastism, and I have some in both eyes but this 'ghosting' corrects only slightly with wearing glasses. I also read about Uthoff phenomena in ms and now constantly trying to figure out do my symptoms get worse with heat lol. Sometimes it seems like they do, other times not so I start thinking in terms 'this is definitely MS'. I just don't know what am I so afraid of. I have read that many people with proper treatment can lead relatively normal lifes with MS, and yet I'm freaking out like it is the worst thing that could happen to me, that my life would stop if I had it altough I know I'm a strong person and I would find a way to live with it. Awful fear and common out here. I just feel like as if my symptoms stopped I'd stop thinking I have it but symptoms like this just confirm my theory. Very annoying :weep:

axolotl

12-09-16, 22:01

Trust me, I've been exactly where you are. But just remember doctors know infinitely more than we do after a quick Google, and we're not qualified to know what we're reading or interpret it correctly. Online medical sites are a genuine curse for that - I wish they didn't exist. The fact your tingling is not localised as good as rules out MS - as counterintuitive as it sounds, things roaming around your entire body is usually a good sign. The other symptoms are there because you're looking for them. You have to believe - if your doctor isn't worried, you shouldn't be.

I can't stress enough how real the symptoms felt for me, how disturbing they were, and how I was convinced there was no way it could be caused by anything other than something serious - and like you I'd fixated on MS. But it's the horrible spiral of HA - the more stressed you get by your symptoms, the worse they get. I know it's hard to do, an we all fall off the wagon, but stop reading medical websites, and if it continues see a doctor again, but for peace of mind and to talk about managing anxiety, not because it's likely to be anything serious.

asupertramp

13-09-16, 09:40

I will definitely stop trying to google. Its just that it worries me that my tingling is more on right side than my left,but could happen anywhere on the leg, torso,behind back,arms etc. And feels like it's the worst on my right hand. But it is not even a feeling like part of your body has fallen asleep, these are just painless specks which are very annoying. What could it be if not MS? It getts better when I'm walking around or doing some fast activity,then I dont feel it as much. Yesterday I went for a long walk and overheated a little and started to notice my vision got a little blurry but this was mostly seen when I was looking at farher objects. Maybe it was just a fact that Im a bit nearsighted. Is it normal that when you're nearsighted or have slight astigmatism your quality of vision varies? Like it's worse when you're tired, under a lot of stress etc. ?

axolotl

13-09-16, 10:41

I also have astigmatism as it happens, and I seem to have worse eyesight when I'm tired or stressed out. Think about when you read a book too late at night and the words start running together - that's nothing to worry about, you're just getting tired, and if you've got astigmatism your eyes are working particularly hard. If it continues probably worth seeing if you need a different glasses prescription, but I wouldn't worry about that. And as I say, if you look for symptoms hard you'll start to find them.

Its just that it worries me that my tingling is more on right side than my left,but could happen anywhere on the leg, torso,behind back,arms etc.

It may be worse on one side, but it is happening everywhere - don't focus on the fact it's worse in one place, but the fact it's roaming at all. MS doesn't roam, it manifests by affecting a specific part of the body.

What could it be if not MS?

Anxiety. Please trust me, these symptoms are so familiar, and it seems so hard to comprehend it can feel so weird and "just" be anxiety, but it is.

Have you read this sticky post, BTW? http://www.nomorepanic.co.uk/showthread.php?t=42556

asupertramp

13-09-16, 11:33

Yes, I did and it is very helpful, it even made me smile. It is just awful condition to have. I will go check my prescription for glasses one more time, just to make sure I don't have ON lol. I have really big things coming in life, soon moving from my family and just feeling like Im incapable of taking care of myself, but feeling like it's the right thing to come out of comfort zone as unpleasant as it may be at first. Big stuff awaiting me and sure it gives me stress already and this MS fixation of mine is not particularly helpful, as it makes me feel if I had it, I would have to move back to my parents, give up my dream college etc. (Going on college)

axolotl

13-09-16, 11:46

Good luck, it's a horrible fear to have, and just remember through it all MS is a very rare illness (especially at college age I believe), anxiety causes exactly the things you are describing, and what you're describing doesn't even really resemble MS. It may be worth getting another all clear from the doctor if you're still worried - just remember if they do refer you to a neurologist it's because a specialist is needed to run the tests to give a definitive all-clear, and it's for your peace of mind, not that the GP thinks there's anything wrong. Or it could be the GP discounts MS due to your age and your presenting symptoms - if they do, listen to them, they know what they're talking about.

It took me a few months to get to the point where I stopped worrying about it, and I hope you find peace on this quicker than I did, and eventually learn to live with your funny tingles when you're feeling a bit stressed out (and don't worry, they get a lot less severe when you don't worry about them).

asupertramp

13-09-16, 12:00

Thank you so much for your answers. It is really helpful to know people went trough this already and that it is possible that altough you can have some pretty constant symptoms resembling MS it does not always mean that it is MS. What do you mean when you say my symptoms don't even resemble MS? Even if it is anxiety I just feel like it is very complex and hard to manage and that I will eventually stumble into this fear at least one more time. Some things I experience can really happen in people with MS, but considering I have a family history of anxiety and depression, and HA in particular, and also previous episodes of really BUNCH of various symptoms, that anxiety is most likely the cause, only this time symptoms are more fixated on MS. Funny thing is that while Im focused on this MS fear, I don't really get headaches anymore, and before that was my most worrysome symptom that had me thinking I had a brain tumor.

axolotl

13-09-16, 12:29

I mean MS doesn't start with tingling in the entire body, but concentrates on a specific area.

---------- Post added at 12:29 ---------- Previous post was at 12:23 ----------

Also, the fact you know you're prone to anxiety, and you're demonstrating symptoms perfectly attributable to anxiety, during a stressful time, means you don't have to start looking at rare, nasty stuff for explanations of how you're feeling. I know from experience it's a logic that can pass you by during episodes of fear, but try and keep this in mind.

asupertramp

13-09-16, 12:34

Well it first started on my right side but then it spread to other parts of body. Am already feeling a bit better after thus conversation, thank you.

Another thing that scared me that this was a constant feeling for 3-4 months now it has its pauses haha thank god. Less I feel it, more relaxed I become.

axolotl

13-09-16, 15:44

asupertramp

14-09-16, 14:10

axolotl

14-09-16, 14:23

It is just hard to accept how many symptoms I have and they could all be just anxiety.
I have this crazy vision problems like jumpy vision, visual snow, ghosting and my eyes only have this nearsightedness and astigmatism. I feel like my vision is mostly affected. Im used to living with it, but when other symptoms pop up such as this all over tingling, hard to convince myself this is just anxiety and not some progressing nerve disorder like MS.

My understanding is that MS manifests either as tingly-nerve-stuff, or sensory-stuff, not both. This is because it affects specific nerves and connections. Can I guess you hadn't even thought of or noticed your eye "symptoms" before you Googled MS and noticed eye problems in the bulleted list? You're also overlooking the information that MS doesn't go from your left arm, to your right arm, to your back, to your face, to your right leg, back to your left arm...

I hope I don't seem blunt, or flippant, I've been in almost exactly the same place as you and can look back at that time and see I was unduly worrying, focusing on confirmation and ignoring reassurance. But it felt really real at the time. But there is one thing that can cause tingles AND tired vision, that can leap around the body, causing random symptoms in any place at any time... and that's anxiety. I've learnt how amazingly real (and annoying) the physical symptoms of anxiety can be.

In fact right now I have the tingles, due to a couple of stresses at work - it's in my left fingers and my right wrist, and my right cheek. It feels like tiny hot pinpricks dancing across the surface of my skin, almost like a weird sensory static. As I've been typing it's moved to my lip. Now I'm concentrating on it my legs start to feel hot, especially where my left leg crosses my right. Sounding familiar? I've had a full neurological examination, an MRI and nerve conduction studies and there's nothing wrong with me.

I would recommend seeing a doctor, explain your symptoms, and trust their judgement. As I've said before, they may refer you to a neurologist for definitive tests that can't be done by a GP, which is nothing to worry about. The outcome I'd expect is an all clear and advice about managing anxiety.

asupertramp

14-09-16, 21:39

Yes it sounds familiar. I am definitely opting to calm myself down as excessive worrying could result in a breakdown and panic attacks, and I do not want to go trough that route again and it is really not time for me to loose my mind again. I realised this tingles do not happen in certain situations and circumstances, which would by my logic exclude MS because once you have tingling with MS it's just there no.matter the circumstances. I think it is problem that I process emotions too intensely, and this affects my body more than other people. For example, when I'm in a highly stressful situation, such as exam, I can feel my muscles tightening, tingling becoming worse etc. Various symptoms appearing. And you would never tell that when you see me, I seem so calm and chill on the outside, nobody actually knows what a mess I am inside.

---------- Post added at 16:52 ---------- Previous post was at 16:49 ----------

Actually eye symptoms are what came first. Well not first. I had what you could call breakdown in the pasr where I suffered really bad case of insomnia and that's where my problems kicked. First changes in vision, than this, than that.. you know the story.

---------- Post added at 16:57 ---------- Previous post was at 16:52 ----------

Btw those hot pinpricks sound like circulation to me? Idk I sometimes get those in my cheek after lying on that side for long, like a warm tingling, do you describe that?

---------- Post added at 20:39 ---------- Previous post was at 16:57 ----------

I had a hot shower today and it did not show any worsening of my symptoms. I was in there for 5 minutes, I assume something would happen in that time. If anything, seems like it actually helped my tingles, they disappeared for a while. Could this suggest circulation issues? I always have cold feet and hands which worsen when weather gets colder.

axolotl

14-09-16, 22:43

I had a hot shower today and it did not show any worsening of my symptoms. I was in there for 5 minutes, I assume something would happen in that time.

Stop checking for MS based on details and symptoms you've read summarised on websites. I've been here and done that, and it's pointless - you are not suddenly an MS expert with the diagnostic powers of a professional neurologist.

But you've started to think of non-scary reasons for your tingles, which is good. Poor circulation? Yeah, possibly, I don't know. But you've identified this gets worse when you're stressed, and tingles are surprisingly common anxiety symptoms. Grasp the logic you've obviously been working on and run with it - it gets worse when you're stressed, it roams your body rather than affecting a specific nerve, and you're prone to other anxiety symptoms. Anxiety is super common, MS is vanishingly rare in young people. And you've told the doctor already and they're not worried. So all logic says you're fine, but you need to stop wasting time on worrying about things you don't have, and work on managing your anxiety, which you evidently do.

asupertramp

15-09-16, 11:21

axolotl

15-09-16, 11:56

That is true. Can I ask you one more question? How long your tingling lasted? Was it a constant or on and off feeling? And when you maneged your anxiety they started to get less and less frequent right?

When it was at its worst I was worrying and concentrating on it all the time and it was pretty much constant, though varied on where it was, was worse in the evenings, and got better when I was distracted. Once I'd got the all clear it started to go, and I can go weeks or even months now before it happens again, when it does I just treat it as an indicator I'm a bit stressed out rather than something to worry about, and it usually goes off in a couple of hours max.

asupertramp

15-09-16, 13:08

axolotl

15-09-16, 14:15

I hope I will come to that state soon. Is it normal with anxiety that same symptoms re appear? I get this stiffness in left leg, like there's a band around calf, it is not there all the time, but a bit worried why it is always in same leg. Idk

Don't overthink anxiety symptoms too much. Yes I get the same symptoms reappearing at various points. These tend to be - IBS, headaches/blurry vision, heart palpitations, tingles, calf muscle twitches. Some of these I've had for 10 years or more, others for a couple of years. Recently I added abdominal pain to the list. They come and go.

A bit of stiffness in a leg? What's more likely causing that, a debilitating rare illness that almost never happens in people your age or you've just got a bit of a stiff leg?

asupertramp

15-09-16, 18:52

Well I'm around the age the MS symptoms usually appear (20) but I have had this various symptoms since I was 16 years old,some changed, some disappeared, some stayed the same.
I've got good news though. My tingling is slowly but safely subsiding. It is not as constant anymore. And also, I am attributing these symptoms to anxiety and really starting to believe it. I am trying to make not so negative explanations for my symptoms. For example,I have had this ghosting vision and altough it is similar to double vision by some characteristics, it is not true double vision and it has to be some refractive error as it corrects itself with a pin hole test. Tingling is all over, jumping, and not even real pins and needles, no numbness, no weakness, no change in sensation, so it is most probably JUST an anxiety symptom.
Another thing I tried today is breathing techniques, as people with anxiety tend to have irregular breathing. I've tried a technique where I inhale and count to 7, and when I exhale I count to 11. I did this for almost 2 hours today, just really trying to make my breathing more regular, and within some time tingling disappeared. Although when I stop focusing on my breathing, it tends to come back. So maybe just irregulae breathing is problem.

---------- Post added at 17:46 ---------- Previous post was at 17:41 ----------

Also, just an observation. If anxiety is really capable of making us so vulnerable, give us so many symptoms which really convincigly mimic symtoms of those serious diseases, then it is no longer 'just' anxiety. It should be accepted as a genuine problem.
I just feel like it is not well understood just how many problems can anxiety cause to a human's body and mind.

---------- Post added at 17:50 ---------- Previous post was at 17:46 ----------

I wonder if every panic attack is actually a trauma to our body as it can leave effects which last long after a panic attack has occured..

---------- Post added at 17:52 ---------- Previous post was at 17:50 ----------

Haha being boring and talking to myself lol but am just genuinely happy I registered here because I mean I coud talk to someone about this in person but nobody would understans better except the person who has really been through it all.

axolotl

15-09-16, 19:28

Glad to be some help, and if anyone says 'just' anxiety on here they're being ironic as everyone knows how miserable it can be, but it is 'just' in the sense it's not going to kill you or lead to a horrible physical disease.

I would still go to a doctor, as I know from experience how an all clear from an expert can put your mind at rest and Stop you wondering. Just make sure you listen to them! Did you say you're just starting uni? A good time for a checkup at the new surgery :)

asupertramp

15-09-16, 20:32

Haha yeah, maybe they can help. I have already been to GP but she thinks it's not likely to be anything serious as description of symptom did not sound worrying. Getting the blood count soon though. It's not really the right time to go ro neurologist as I have to move.. but hopefully I don't need it. I know a clear MRI would put a lot of doubts at ease but currently it is a bit of problem as i would have to wait for appointment which would be who knows when.

asupertramp

20-09-16, 12:40

axolotl

20-09-16, 15:17

My tingling is gone by 80%. However I do notice that wearing tight clothes provokes it. Was that the case with you? Now Im unfortunately focused on some other symtpoms, pressure feeling in my calf and weird crawly feeling on right side of my skull. But trying to be distracted. I noticed that when I walk my tightness in calf feels better.

Not exactly like mine, but don't read too much into that, we all get symptoms in slightly different ways. Glad it's feeling better - it's a sad fact of anxiety that it's sometimes other "symptoms" you fixate on that makes you forget the last panic... Try and enjoy the start of term, hopefully the distraction will do you good.