Sacred of possible MS/Hypothyroid

[helpmepleas99]

Hello all first of all. Secondly, I'm worried :weep:

In the past three months I have suffered incidents of parasthesia (tingling/pins and needles) on two seperate occasions. The first was around three days after an operation, and the latest was last week (symptoms have lasted a week, including today).

Now, on both occasions, it could be said that I was under some stress. After my operation, I was in a lot of pain and worry/anxiety. I simply put the parasthesias to either tension or injuring a nerve due to me being immobile for a while.

On the second occasion I had very little sleep the night before and went for a job interview on that day.

Now on this second occasion, the symptoms have so far lasted a week... these included:

stiff and numbness in neck and shoulder
tingling in arm
swollen neck
localised pain in left side of back
tingling in feet, hands, arms and legs
tingling in scalp and chin
itchiness on leg - slight bumps on foot
pain in left side of head
drowsy
weak
tired


All of these symptoms have come and gone. None lasting too much longer than 12-18 hours - soon to be replaced by itching/tingling/pain in another region.

I remember my doctor telling me there was something odd about my thyroid quite a while ago, but that I shouldn't worry because something else was 'balancing it out'.

I do suffer some form of anxiety sometimes, and have read numerous self-help books etc. My hands are usually always cold. I also feel tired quite a bit and not motivated.

It seems to be that I could have:

Multiple Sclerosis
Hypo/Hyperthyroid
Lyme Disease
General Anxiety
Stress (but too many symptoms maybe?)

I am a 25 year old, male, who smokes.

I am so worried. I know I should see my doctor (and I will), but I really don't think much of their advice - anyone else who lives in London and sees their GP may be able to back me up on this. I think they are stretched, and do not really care, whilst trying to fob you off with ibuprofen/paracetamol the whole time.

Any help? Advice? Similar sufferers? :(

[nataliean1982]

i dont have too much advice i am going through it too. anxiety and ms have very similar physical symptoms, so hope for the better, give your body a chance to get back to normal, to do that you will have to quit worrying for a long time...easier said than done.

[helpmepleas99]

Everything I have read about anxiety and it's symptoms doesn't list too much about parasthesia (or tingling in various parts of the body - just the hands). Everything so far has been about churning stomach, heart palpitations, twitches, muscle spasms etc.

Is anyone else suffering from this all over tingling?

[CJH86]

Hi, i do get the allover tingling especially in my face (and a lot of other symptoms you mention) but i do have hypothyroid, so i normally fob it off as due to that. I can't speak for anyone with normal functioning thyroid although my thyroid levels are apparently 'normal' (but borderline-ish) at the moment i still get symptoms occasionally. Hypothyoidism is pretty rare in males but not unheard of and it can have a strong genetic link if someone in your family has it.

I think what your doctor may have meant when they said something was 'balancing up' was that your thyroid levels may have been low but the body was releasing extra (Thyroid stimulating hormone) hormones to compensate and bring the levels back up....I was told the exact same thing when i was 19 and 3 years later i have clinical hypothyroid, so it may well be worth getting another blood test

Also i am a smoker and in my instance i identify one or two of the symptoms with smoking, especially the cold hands and i always seem to get upper back pain when i smoke...these seem to go away when i give up:shrug: I also remember having my appendix out a couple of years ago and getting tingling and not feeling right for months afterward, plus depression and a lot of other wierd symptoms. dunno if thats any help x

[helpmepleas99]

CJ, that's helped loads thanks. I think I will have a check up with doc to see what's going on with my thyroid, because your description does sound like what I was told.

Also, as I do smoke, it may explain the cold hands.

And as you say, after my op a few months ago, I did have pretty sever parasthesia (tingling EVERYWHERE).

[luchipoo]

This is a really good website for anxiety symptoms

http://www.anxietycentre.com/anxiety-symptoms.shtml

Pins and needles really is very common with anxiety, so try not to worry about it too much. I used to get very bad pins and needles in my head, which of course I attributed to a brain tumour...I ended up in A & E to be told it was just anxiety. I think the problem is because you don't understand why you get such symptoms, you attribute them to something else, usually something deadly (!!), and it starts a vicious cycle because the more you get anxious, the more you get the symptoms.

So, just try to chill out a bit about them, they will go away. Last week I was getting pins and needles in my hands, arms, legs and feet - I had similar worries to you about MS, googled it and then started getting more symptoms because I'd set the anxiety off. You just have to try and break the cycle. Easier said than done I know...I'm currently still trying to get over the MS worry, it's tough! xxx

[helpmepleas99]

This is a really good website for anxiety symptoms

http://www.anxietycentre.com/anxiety-symptoms.shtml

Pins and needles really is very common with anxiety, so try not to worry about it too much. I used to get very bad pins and needles in my head, which of course I attributed to a brain tumour...I ended up in A & E to be told it was just anxiety. I think the problem is because you don't understand why you get such symptoms, you attribute them to something else, usually something deadly (!!), and it starts a vicious cycle because the more you get anxious, the more you get the symptoms.

So, just try to chill out a bit about them, they will go away. Last week I was getting pins and needles in my hands, arms, legs and feet - I had similar worries to you about MS, googled it and then started getting more symptoms because I'd set the anxiety off. You just have to try and break the cycle. Easier said than done I know...I'm currently still trying to get over the MS worry, it's tough! xxx

You're completely right Luchipoo, and I also started reading this book by someone called 'self-help for your nerves'. It's really good. I began getting tingling in my arms, feet, head etc yesterday. But I just accepted them for what they were, I told myself I could not be harmed by them and just let them tingle. By the end of the night they were still there but very light. Today they were gone.

[luchipoo]

I'm so glad! I did the same, just accepted they were there and when they came, I ignored them. The pins and needles have pretty much gone away now. I do keep getting these random pains every now and then but I think I can attribute that to my anxiety and my nerves reacting to it - I think they need time to calm down! That book sounds very good, I think I'm going to buy it! xxxx