Anxiety? or MS? Please read

Hey guys, Ive been really confused on what to think and I am obviously having a lot of anxiety because of this. Also, I am a 20yr old male and my diet isn't the best if Im being honest but anyway,

For the past 3 months I have been having symptoms ever since my anxiety has skyrocketed again. I am just trying to figure out what is anxiety and what is not. Most symptoms have gone away but I still have some new ones now. The symptoms that I had were:

Mild Face numbness (maybe arm too)
Migraines (Moderate)
Temporary blurry vision
slurred speech (Mild and usually only when i think about it too much)
Chest pain (<-- definitely anxiety)
Constant dizziness (for a couple days straight)
Breathlessness
Ears Ringing
You name it....

These symptoms as of now, have seem to gone away but will pop up if my anxiety is awful or if I am in a heightened anxiety state... which I am lol, but I still consistently have:

Pin prick second long pain/stabs around my body (not pins and needles and REALLY ANNOYING)
Muscle aches/pains/weakness
arms and legs feel heavy (only when i think about it too much to be honest)
Muscle twitches (all the time)

I have seen my GP twice, my eye doctor, and my cardiologist. They all said i look healthy and my blood test was normal. I saw my neuro and I passed the exam perfectly. But this is the kicker. She ordered an MRI just to make sure and it came back that I have 3 lesions. The neuro isn't worried and said she sees them everyday and the report says they are nonspecific to a demyelinating disorder such as MS. she isn't worried cause most of my symptoms have passed. But obviously I am! She said we will do another in 9 months... 9....months :( The symptoms Im having now started right after I found that out. So I guess its anxiety? Its freaking me out because the symptoms I have line up with MS and i have lesions so Im convinced I have it. But several people say Im overreacting and practically everyone has lesions. I feel like my neuro isn't seeing how bad this is? Or is it just me? I don't know.
and sorry for the long post, I hate them too lol.

This is my MRI report for more info:

The ventricles and sulci are normal. There is no midline shift or mass effect. No restricted diffusion is seen. The cerebellar tonsils are normal in position.

There are 2 small foci (lesions) of increased T2-weighted signal within the white matter surrounding the left ventricular atrium. A subtle focus of increased T2-weighted signal is also present within the periventricular white matter adjacent to the right frontal horn. There is no abnormal enhancement. The imaged paranasal sinuses show no abnormal signal.

Summary:
3 small foci (lesions) of increased T2-weighted signal within the periventricular white matter as described above. These are nonspecific and could be related to migraine headaches, vasculitis, infection such as Lyme disease. These are nonspecific for a demyelinating disorder such as multiple sclerosis and this etiology cannot be excluded. There is no abnormal enhancement.

We cannot interpret medical exams and tests here as we are not doctors or clinicians. It's true benign events like migraines, etc, can cause abnormalities in MRIs but if you're not satisfied you can always get a second opinion by a neuro.

Your physical symptoms do correspond to an anxiety disorder, however.

I had an MRI with a similar result to that: "a few isolated foci of signal alteration within the white matter" but my radiologist added "These findings are not typical of a demyelinating process". I think it's just the way they write their reports up that differ, the wording. Plus CYA medicine (I was not being worked up for MS)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by melfish

I had an MRI with a similar result to that: "a few isolated foci of signal alteration within the white matter" but my radiologist added "These findings are not typical of a demyelinating process". I think it's just the way they write their reports up that differ, the wording. Plus CYA medicine (I was not being worked up for MS)

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When did you have MRI?

Hey there!

I’m glad i stumbled upon your post! In September i had a bad bout of vertigo, i had my concerns about MS way before that, and when i went to the ER i expressed my concerns. They ran an MRI (later i found out not to check for MS, the doc was actually concerned that i had a tumor) well I’m tumor free but he told me i had white matter abnormalities that would be normal if i was like 65 btw I’m 26. So i freaked out, he too also said that they see that all the time and i shouldn’t worry because the ER Neuro said it looked like I suffer from migraines. I have access to my report as well, and it stated:

“Multiple foci of FLAIR signal hyperintensity in the supratentorial white matter. Differential considerations include previous white matter injury due to microvascular ischemia, demyelinating disease, and less likely vasiculitis. The lack of involvement of the callosal septal interface argues somewhat against demyelinating disease. Consider a contrast enhanced exam if there is clinical concern for active demyelinating disease”

Now i have had an ER neuro look at my MRI, i have also had 2 more neuros look at my MRI at my follow up appointment in October and they all say it doesn’t look like MS, my neuro also referred me to the MS specialist just for peace of mind. After 5 straight months of stress anxiety and worry, and tons of symptoms (you can check my thread it has a list) that still happen to this day (at the moment I am dealing with mild face numbness and a vibrating feeling in my foot, along with consistent muscle twitches. I have come to the conclusion that i cannot argue with three professionals. Your report sounds more definite than mine (i still fear there is a chance) but try your hardest to focus on what the doctors are saying rather than how you feel. Yes it’s hard but anxiety is a beast and it will make you feel like you have the worst disease in the world if you think about it hard enough. Our symptoms are coming from anxiety and not an actual organic place, like MS.

The best thing i can advise is just push it out of your mind. Life is short, and if you did find out you were sick, what would you do? There are people who actually have the disease who are out there living their lives, not worried like us and dealing with it. So that’s what we do with our anxiety we deal and conquer. Feel free to pm if you need too!!

-Stay Strong, Stay Sane, Things will get better!