Cold patch on skin

[LilyLabVA]

I have a patch on my skin that feels very cold, like it is wet or damp and it’s not. I’ve had this a few times before in which it will feel like a drip of water hit my skin but this is like a patch on my backside that is a few inches wide. I’m trying not to let it cause me panic but it’s not like it’s coming and going . MS? Fine. Just don’t want it to be a BT 😳

[AMomentofClarity]

I have a patch on my skin that feels very cold, like it is wet or damp and it’s not. I’ve had this a few times before in which it will feel like a drip of water hit my skin but this is like a patch on my backside that is a few inches wide. I’m trying not to let it cause me panic but it’s not like it’s coming and going . MS? Fine. Just don’t want it to be a BT 😳

4th post in 2 days?

What are you doing about your anxiety?

[LilyLabVA]

4th post in 2 days?

What are you doing about your anxiety?

Unhelpful response. I am well aware that I’ve posted a lot.
I’m in therapy 2x a week that has me going broke .
I also am taking prescribed meds by my doctors along with a host of other things. Thanks for pointing out the obvious. Makes me feel like I’m being shamed instead of being helped.

[AMomentofClarity]

Unhelpful response. I am well aware that I’ve posted a lot.
I’m in therapy 2x a week that has me going broke .
I also am taking prescribed meds by my doctors along with a host of other things. Thanks for pointing out the obvious. Makes me feel like I’m being shamed instead of being helped.

Nothing about my post was meant to shame you. I asked about anxiety. You’ve posted 4x in 2 days to an anxiety website. Is that topic somehow not pertinent?

If you’re simply looking for reassuring, “it’s ok, you’ll be ok, try not to worry” type replies, fair enough. But generally speaking those don’t seem to be all that “helpful” either.

[ErinKC]

I get this all the time.... when I'm having high anxiety.

[LilyLabVA]

Thank you to the above posted for sharing.

Just an update- the same cold/ wet patch is still present. So it's been at least 24 hours. I am so disappointed that this is happening. I have been doing so much better lately and this is causing a major roadblock. My family and friends have mentioned they notice I seem happy and more content. I FEEL GOOD.

This sensation is so odd and so different that it is very difficult for me to accept that it is *Just * anxiety.*

Please, for anyone, who has had this, please let me know your personal experience as far as what it felt like, how long it lasted, etc.*A quick google search only brought up MS and such.

---------- Post added at 11:34 ---------- Previous post was at 11:32 ----------

Just to add- I have a massive fear of having any sort of brain imaging.

Even tho MS is a terrible thing, it does not scare me nearly as much as having the actual scan and waiting for results!

Thus, I do not want to run to my doctor for a scan b/c that just makes my anxiety 100x worse. If I did that every time something came up, Id have spend 10 years getting scanned! But how do you KNOW when it's time to speak up and say something is off?

UGH

[ErinKC]

I completely understand you about not knowing when to speak up. One of the things I hate most about health anxiety is how it's made me doubt my own judgement so much. Sometimes to get through this I'll ask someone without anxiety what they would do in my situation - like my husband or a friend. Most of the time they say they wouldn't think anything of it.

Like I said, I've had the water dripping on me feeling. It felt like someone poured cold water down my leg and each time I'd reach for the area to feel what was wet and there'd be nothing there. My best guess is that it's nerve related. When my (and most people's) anxiety is bad I tense all my muscles without even noticing. It causes extra pressure in my back and shoulders and neck, which will then in turn end up pinching nerves and causing all kinds of numbness, tingling, and any variety of strange sensations.

I've had this wetness, numb toes, numb arms, tingling spots in my bag, vibrating feet, twitching eyes, lips, nose. All of this will correlate with an increased anxiety level. I never have these symptoms when I'm not anxious.

[LilyLabVA]

Thanks so much Erin! What did your doctor say about all these things? If you went?
Yes, I also tend to ask those without anxiety what they would do... I'm sure they are sick and tired of me by now lol

It dawned on me that last week I sat on a wood floor for about 3-4 hours painting a piece of furniture. I felt an occasional sore glute muscle after that and now i'm curious is this could be related.

Either way, I'm really trying to let it come and let it go.

I truly appreciate you sharing your personal experience.

[ErinKC]

No problem! My doctor has always thought nothing of these things. I've mentioned some of them and not others, depending on if they were happening when I went for other things (I never went just for those things).They assumed like I did that it was just trapped nerves or tension, etc... especially since it comes and goes.

Sitting on the floor could have definitely done it! Especially if you were hunching over. When I work on my computer for a long time I always get issues with my back and neck and shoulders.

[Fishmanpa]

I’m in therapy 2x a week that has me going broke .
I also am taking prescribed meds by my doctors along with a host of other things.

Does your therapist know you’re posting on an anxiety forum for reassurance?

Positive thoughts

[LilyLabVA]

Hi all,

I am spiraling. On the verge of panic attack and crying. I have put a call into my therapist. I see her in a few days.

I dont want to see my doctor over this at this time. Everything is chalked up to be anxiety, yet on the other had I fear the "lets do an MRI" decision. I am terrified of an MRI.

What in the world could cause my buttocks on one side, same spot to feel off and on wet/cold. This is not resolving and it's day 3 or 4. I feel hopeless. I can deal with twitching, tingling, tremors, etc. but this is new and unusual for me.

At the least maybe a pinched nerve? I was doing some sitting on a hard wood floor as I painted a cabinet several hours last week. MS? Even worse a BT?

I am at a loss. And yes, in my desperate quest to find reassurance and a reasonable explanation, I googled. - MS, Nuero, Spinal, Anxiety, Etc, Etc.

Now I'm looking at my children silently thinking how horrible it will be for them to loose their mother at such a young age. I cant even deal with the dread and impending doom feeling.



How would a typical person handle this symptom?

I had CBC and metobolic panel in September all good but very mild anemia.

I take multi vitamin, zoloft and a low dose - benzo daily.

Last time I went to my nurse over a lymph node she commented that I am behaving in an "obsessed way" about my health which embarrassed me and made me feel like a fool. 

[ErinKC]

I'm so sorry a nurse made your feel way. My doctor told me once that she anxiety and depression is what she treats more than anything else, and she's just a primary care physician. You shouldn't feel ashamed about your anxiety. It's so common and you're doing the right thing treating it.

If you're still spiraling on the meds maybe it's worth it to see your doctor about adjusting them.

I still think all your symptoms anxiety related.

[AMomentofClarity]

I’m in therapy 2x a week

What types of CBT techniques are you currently utilizing?

---------- Post added at 11:46 ---------- Previous post was at 11:43 ----------


I'm so sorry a nurse made your feel way.

It can come off as harsh, but sometimes blunt honesty is what’s needed. Coddling and providing reassurance just feed the desire for more. If anxiety/depression/ocd/etc is the diagnosis, then that’s the diagnosis. It might not be what the patient wants to hear, but it is what it is.
If they can easily see the mental illness and it’s associated behaviors, and didn’t try to address it, they wouldn’t be doing their job.

[Elliejane44]

Hi

Just quick message to say I had something similar a few times like a cold bit. It was once in my leg and lasted on and off for about a week . It was bizarre and other time it was upper arm . I think both times I was stressing over something before it came . Def nerves I would say

Hope that helps . Good luck with your therapy . It hard work worrying all time .

Ellie

[MJunderway]

Hi!

Hope you are doing better since you posted last month. I totally understand fear with new anxiety symptoms. When I had a several month long panic attack in 2013, one of the anxiety symptoms was my mouth flooding with saliva. Completely freaked me out and I found that I had to keep swallowing all the time. All just anxiety.

I wanted to share some MS personal experience so that you can have some insight as to how MS presents itself. My mom has MS and has had it for almost 50 years. MS typically comes on between the late 20s into the early 40s. Sometimes it can first appear in the early 50s but that's not as common. My mom's experience was very typical. She started with relapsing- remitting but after many years progressed to a progressive form. Her first MS attack came on like a stroke, which is actually what her doctors thought it was (late 60's medicine). She lost her peripheral vision in both eyes and could not move the right side of her body.

After the doctors determined it wasn't a stroke they then blamed her BC (early BC hormone levels were quite high and some women did have strokes). They sent her home and nothing happened for over 25 years. She went on to have 4 kids, back to back. It wasn't until her hormones started to change that her symptoms picked up. None of those symptoms were cold skin sensations. She had muscle weakness and a weird but common MS symptom where she felt an electric shock shoot up her spine when she would bend over to touch her toes. She also experienced extreme tiredness and vision issues again. Her eye doctor found optic neuritis during one of her exams which sent her to get MRIs and other diagnostics at which point lesions were found.

I share this with you because MS is a concern for me because some many anxiety symptoms and (in my case) perimenopausal symptoms are so freaky in nature. I always run my symptoms past her and she waves them away. Not all MS comes on like this but MS is a case of multiple symptoms and not just one or two freaky ones. I hope this is helpful and also hope that you have gotten to a better place since Jan.