Annie0151
19-10-17, 23:03
hello my name is Annalise and I'm new to this forum.
like everybody else posting here or visiting, I'm suffering with severe health anxiety.
ill begin to write my experiences and I hope it helps someone out there as I know what it is like to search the internet for ALL possible information day in day out.
Basically I was sent to an ophthalmologist (eye specialist) in the hospital because I has swollen optic nerves. but recently told the swelling is 'considerably' going down so looks like this part is irrelevant to any illnesses.
during the time of me visiting hospitals for the eye specialist, I spiralled into a deep depression and health anxiety. I became convinced I had a brain tumor. my doctor said the eye problem is almost certain to be idiopathic intercranial hypertension which is a benign issue in young girls that causes pressure in the brain. but was told I need an MRI scan to confirm this. during the time of waiting for the scan and thinking I had a tumor (because of the eye problems being a symptom of a brain tumor) , I suddenly started getting muscle twitches all over my body, even tongue, all day everyday. I was not worried about the twitches at this time because they had nothing to do with a brain tumor symptom, which is what I was concentrating on at the time.
once I got the MRI scan, 3 months from the start of all this, I was still getting muscle twitches. when I got the results, it was the ophthalmologist who told me them, not a neurologist like in most cases. he told me it wasn't a brain tumor, nor idiopathic intercranial hypertension. he said there is 'something' there on my scan that could mean MS or Dystonia. He did NOT tell me the actual report on the MRI or even show me them, or tell me what the 'something' was, he was very vague in his explanation. I initially thought OMG I'm having muscle twitches so its got to be MS.
It wasn't until I got home and had a think about this and yes ridiculous amount of research I found out it couldn't possibly be MS because I MUST have weakness and fatigue, in fact twitches are not even a symptom. And also it definitely was not dystonia. So I was thinking what was that abnormality on my mri? so I found out the only indication of ms on an mri is white matter hyperintensities which is basically white light spots, but these can also mean lots of other things some being migranes and vitamin b12 deficiency and sometimes even bipolar. still none of these illnesses add up, apart from possibly bipolar. Then I began to add up my symptoms , but there was nothing. Apart from muscle twitching. no weakness no nothing. so why do I have 'something' on my mri scan!? I have never had an mri ever apart from now so cannot compare to old records. Do I have an illness? as far as I am concerned I couldn't possibly have an illness with no symptoms. ive been scarred that this could be ALS because that's the only similar symptom I'm having which is muscle fasciculation.
ive noticed the twitching goes down a lot, but doesn't completely stop, when I take magnesium and calcium viamins and avoid being anxious about it.
The other confusion is why did this ophthalmologist not give me a proper explanation? he has not taken my symptoms into account from the start and has been very vague from the word go. why has he misdiagnosed me twice with IIH and MS and Dystonia? seems like he is just spilling information that does not apply to me, when I have no symptoms whatsoever apart from chronic depression and fasciculation's. it seems I am going to the hospital all the time for no reason whatsoever, when I am not ill. the incompetence of the doctor himself and visiting hospitals seems to be doing me the most damage. I'm a 21 year old female and I'm scared for the life of me what that was on my mri. I'm scared I have ALS or something else.
any info would be highly appreciated and I understand this is a difficult case to take in but any help will make me feel better. :weep:
thank you so much and take care,
Annalise
like everybody else posting here or visiting, I'm suffering with severe health anxiety.
ill begin to write my experiences and I hope it helps someone out there as I know what it is like to search the internet for ALL possible information day in day out.
Basically I was sent to an ophthalmologist (eye specialist) in the hospital because I has swollen optic nerves. but recently told the swelling is 'considerably' going down so looks like this part is irrelevant to any illnesses.
during the time of me visiting hospitals for the eye specialist, I spiralled into a deep depression and health anxiety. I became convinced I had a brain tumor. my doctor said the eye problem is almost certain to be idiopathic intercranial hypertension which is a benign issue in young girls that causes pressure in the brain. but was told I need an MRI scan to confirm this. during the time of waiting for the scan and thinking I had a tumor (because of the eye problems being a symptom of a brain tumor) , I suddenly started getting muscle twitches all over my body, even tongue, all day everyday. I was not worried about the twitches at this time because they had nothing to do with a brain tumor symptom, which is what I was concentrating on at the time.
once I got the MRI scan, 3 months from the start of all this, I was still getting muscle twitches. when I got the results, it was the ophthalmologist who told me them, not a neurologist like in most cases. he told me it wasn't a brain tumor, nor idiopathic intercranial hypertension. he said there is 'something' there on my scan that could mean MS or Dystonia. He did NOT tell me the actual report on the MRI or even show me them, or tell me what the 'something' was, he was very vague in his explanation. I initially thought OMG I'm having muscle twitches so its got to be MS.
It wasn't until I got home and had a think about this and yes ridiculous amount of research I found out it couldn't possibly be MS because I MUST have weakness and fatigue, in fact twitches are not even a symptom. And also it definitely was not dystonia. So I was thinking what was that abnormality on my mri? so I found out the only indication of ms on an mri is white matter hyperintensities which is basically white light spots, but these can also mean lots of other things some being migranes and vitamin b12 deficiency and sometimes even bipolar. still none of these illnesses add up, apart from possibly bipolar. Then I began to add up my symptoms , but there was nothing. Apart from muscle twitching. no weakness no nothing. so why do I have 'something' on my mri scan!? I have never had an mri ever apart from now so cannot compare to old records. Do I have an illness? as far as I am concerned I couldn't possibly have an illness with no symptoms. ive been scarred that this could be ALS because that's the only similar symptom I'm having which is muscle fasciculation.
ive noticed the twitching goes down a lot, but doesn't completely stop, when I take magnesium and calcium viamins and avoid being anxious about it.
The other confusion is why did this ophthalmologist not give me a proper explanation? he has not taken my symptoms into account from the start and has been very vague from the word go. why has he misdiagnosed me twice with IIH and MS and Dystonia? seems like he is just spilling information that does not apply to me, when I have no symptoms whatsoever apart from chronic depression and fasciculation's. it seems I am going to the hospital all the time for no reason whatsoever, when I am not ill. the incompetence of the doctor himself and visiting hospitals seems to be doing me the most damage. I'm a 21 year old female and I'm scared for the life of me what that was on my mri. I'm scared I have ALS or something else.
any info would be highly appreciated and I understand this is a difficult case to take in but any help will make me feel better. :weep:
thank you so much and take care,
Annalise