Near constant worry about Multiple Sclerosis

Hi, new member here.

I was diagnosed with GAD about 5 years ago now, and with CBT and medication was able to return to normality.

However, in the last month or so, I've had health anxiety worries. First it was bowel cancer, after a bout of constipation and then brain cancer, after I went in to work one morning and had terrible brain fog.

Now though, it's MS, and has been for a good 2 weeks. My anxiety was so bad that I self-referred myself to a neurologist

Anyway, he listened to the symptoms I was having and performed a neurological exam all in about 20 minutes before concluding there was nothing wrong with me.

For the record, my symptoms are a strange, sometimes tingly, sometimes burning sensation in my right hand, and the same for my right foot, which also has felt a bit weak at some points. I have also had these symptoms on my left hand and foot but to a much lesser extent.

They tend to be much worse when I'm in bed for some reason. In fact it's only really my right hand that tingles during the day, and it seems to get worse when I think about it.

I have also had some difficulty concentrating, forgetfulness, and using the wrong words recently, although I've put this down to my hyper-alertness of anything going on with my body.

I'd just like to know if anyone else has suffered with these worries, or currently is, as it's making my life a misery.

I thought going to a neurologist would've put my mind at ease, especially considering, as aforementioned, he thought I was fine and said there was no point ordering further tests, but it hasn't.

Any help on how to try and combat these thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

I've had all your symptoms and more. The weirdest one was when i felt my skin burning and sometimes felt like a rain drop landed on me, I've diagnosed myself with ALS, DIPG, MG, MS, RA IBD and all i have is Health anxiety and BFS. These 2 can cause terrifying sympotoms together. All my symptoms have been slowly fading alway right now i only have twitching.

Do you think that any of us here are going to know better about if you have MS than your neurologist?

The way to combat your thoughts is to treat what you (and most of us on here) do have, which is anxiety. Focus on that, not MS or cancer or whatever. [emoji106]

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My first fears of MS and ALS started when I began over analyzing some innocent muscle twitching. Then I connected the muscle twitching to my constant fatigue. Then, I began having terrible back and rib pain which I thought was the infamous MS hug.

Eventually, I went to get an MRI after having every test you can imagine from neurologists, internal medicine doctors, sleep doctors etc. only to find out that everything was normal.

For most of us, living in a constant state of anxiety and worry is extremely exhaustive to our bodies. This creates the perfect environment for weird symptoms like twitching, fatigue and muscle weakness.

If a neurologist has told you that you are okay, then you are likely okay. MS has physical symptoms that doctors can easily observe; these are related to your reflexes, your muscle tone, your strength, your balance while walking etc. You may say “well, I am weak in certain parts of my body...” but no, that doesn’t count. Why? Because there is a difference between clinical weakness and perceived weakness. If you can button up your shirt, lift grocery bags, pick up your dog, squeeze the hand of a doctor, then you do not have muscle weakness - you may feel like you are not as strong as you should be, but this is only perceived. Clinical weakness is not being able to lift a blow dryer to dry your hair, or open a door, or even sit up in bed.

Since you have already convinced yourself at one time or another that you have had a multitude of other illnesses that turned out to be incorrect - why should this be any different? I am willing to bet that you don’t have MS and that in two weeks time, like me and like many other people on this forum who deal with HA, you will have another self-diagnosis to worry about.




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Originally Posted by HD_

Hi, new member here.

I was diagnosed with GAD about 5 years ago now, and with CBT and medication was able to return to normality.

However, in the last month or so, I've had health anxiety worries. First it was bowel cancer, after a bout of constipation and then brain cancer, after I went in to work one morning and had terrible brain fog.

Now though, it's MS, and has been for a good 2 weeks. My anxiety was so bad that I self-referred myself to a neurologist

Anyway, he listened to the symptoms I was having and performed a neurological exam all in about 20 minutes before concluding there was nothing wrong with me.

For the record, my symptoms are a strange, sometimes tingly, sometimes burning sensation in my right hand, and the same for my right foot, which also has felt a bit weak at some points. I have also had these symptoms on my left hand and foot but to a much lesser extent.

They tend to be much worse when I'm in bed for some reason. In fact it's only really my right hand that tingles during the day, and it seems to get worse when I think about it.

I have also had some difficulty concentrating, forgetfulness, and using the wrong words recently, although I've put this down to my hyper-alertness of anything going on with my body.

I'd just like to know if anyone else has suffered with these worries, or currently is, as it's making my life a misery.

I thought going to a neurologist would've put my mind at ease, especially considering, as aforementioned, he thought I was fine and said there was no point ordering further tests, but it hasn't.

Any help on how to try and combat these thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

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I’m sorry you’re going through this. I’m going through something similar (tingling in hands and feet and sometimes hand or foot falling asleep overnight) though I havent seen a neurologist about it yet. Are you taking any SSRI medication? I am and I think these can cause some degree of parasthesia (as can anxiety itself). Carpal tunnel syndrome and tendinitis can as well.

Since you saw a neurologist and are not able to trust their judgment that you don’t have MS, I think some more CBT to deal with this health anxiety might be a good idea, or possibly a change in your medication. Reading up on health anxiety and finding this forum has also helped me.