MS worries

[DaisyP]

Hi everyone,


I am new here & I’ve been reading through lots of posts & they have been really helpful so I have decided to post myself.

I am naturally quite an anxious person, so over the years I have battled with anxiety, especially health anxiety. I had CBT training for it around 4 years ago & it really helped & I eventually stopped convincing myself I had brain tumours and AIDS.

Anyway, I do really really well with controlling it, that is until a new symptom pops up & I find it really hard to control my health anxiety and suffer panic attacks, the anxiety completely consumes my life and I can think of nothing else. I am going to put my hands up and say I am guilty of googling – although I have banned myself since I scared myself 4 weeks ago – and refuse to look on there anymore.

This time I have absolutely scared myself that I have MS. I have read through the sticky at the top which is brilliant but felt posting myself on here would help me to see it more rationally.

This all started around 6 weeks ago. Back in December I had surgery to which I had a few complications arise and had to stay in hospital for a week as opposed to 1 night. This was incredibly stressful as the complications I suffered meant I lost a part of my femininity – I won’t go into detail because there is no need to but it was an incredibly stressful time for me. Anyway, I cried for around a day or two and then managed to take it in my stride, putting it behind me and moving forward. The day after Boxing Day, about a week after coming out of hospital, I discovered I had a massive infection which meant a trip to A&E to be given IV antibiotics for three days, three times a day, as well as oral antibiotics. After the IV antibiotics I remained on oral ones for 5 weeks as the infection kept returning. The reason I'm sharing this is so you know my background for the past 3 months and from when the symptoms began. My mum also got diagnosed with breast cancer (she will be fine) 3 weeks ago. Anyway this is when it all started.

The pins and needles started about a week after coming off of the antibiotics. It started with itchy legs – which I put down to side effects of the antibiotics but it then turned to a pins and needles type feeling and it still remains now.
It started with both legs so I thought I had sciatica and then moved to just my right leg. My left arm remains unaffected but my right arm is tingly too and feels a bit weaker, although I cannot tell if this is in my head as I know I don’t have muscle weakness as I’ve done all the tests for it.
My toes also go numb every so often, so sometimes on the left foot and sometimes on the right foot and it varies between the toes but is normally my little toe on my right foot.

Other symptoms:
Tight/numb feeling in right side of face and right ear lobe – not every day but maybe every other day, no tingling just a tight feeling
Burning/wet feeling around lips – again not every day and is very sporadic and isn’t always in the same place around my mouth
Extreme tiredness – although this has lifted a bit now and I am feeling much better than I was but I literally couldn’t stay awake for more than 12 hours a day and work was really difficult
Eye pain but no vision problems apart from the occasional white dot flash


I have been to the Drs about my symptoms and in total I have now seen 4 different Drs who did blood tests (come back fine) & who have all said I don’t have the common symptoms of MS & they are not worried and said they think it’s been caused by post-op stress. They don't think it's linked to the general anaesthetic or antibiotics. Whatever I say to myself I just cannot believe my Drs in the slightest as I'm worried about things being missed.

I have also seen an optician about the eye pain and a random white dot which keeps appearing in my vision and he has given me a thorough eye examination – including pictures of the back of my eye and he said my eye health is 100% and I do not have optic neuritis, which is what I was worried about because I know it can be linked to MS.

Anyway, last week I felt better and the pins and needles and muscle weakness (or perception of muscle weakness) disappeared for a while and my anxiety lifted but this week it’s back in full force and is making me feel absolutely awful again. I am getting married in October and feel that all these symptoms, coupled with the anxiety, is spoiling what is supposed to be a really happy time for me.

My questions are IF this is just anxiety and stress then why have I never experienced this type of side effect before? I also dealt with the above quite well and I haven't let it bring me down so could it even be stress/anxiety related? How long does it normally last?

Also to add, I suffer from fibromyalgia, however never in the pins and needles/numbness form but widespread pain.

Any advice would be appreciated, thank you in advance.

[NotCool]

My advice is to first take a look at this Sticky Thread, made just for people like us.

http://www.nomorepanic.co.uk/showthread.php?t=42556

I'm sure it will help you a ton.

[nomorepanic]

Notcool - Daisy said she had already read that thread.

[Lilharry]

I find it interesting that this happened after you were on antibiotics. Were you taking any probiotics at the same time? Antibiotics are great at doing what they do, but they do it too well and so they not only wipe out bad bacteria and infections but they wipe out all your good bacteria too, which unfortunately leaves your gut open to being overun by bad bacteria. I am dealing with this at the moment and it's not fun. It causes all sorts of strange symptoms. I have been diagnosed with "chronic fatigue" because of it and have had many of the symptoms you mention. My advice would be to look at going on a candida style diet or paleo diet which will cut out all of the foods that feed bad bacteria and start putting probiotics back into your system. You can buy probiotic capsules. I've been doing this for the past 6 months or so and have seen a huge difference in my health and my anxiety levels are at an all time low.

[Fishmanpa]

Hi Daisy,

There's a lot of rationality in your post in that you believe the medical professionals but can't quite wrap your head around why you haven't had such severe symptoms previously related to your anxiety. You do suffer from fibromyalgia and while I don't have it, my ex did and she sure had some painful symptoms including numbness, especially in her hands.

Just based on the amount of stress you've been under with the surgeries, hospital stays and your Mom's diagnosis and history with anxiety etc., it's no wonder your body is throwing curve balls at you. While I'm not a doctor, it sure sounds like that's what's going on. Hope you feel better soon.

Positive thoughts

[Serenity1990]

My dear you sound just like me a few weeks back, you have my every sympathy!

Let me start by saying the obvious: you don't have MS. The way MS works is it attacks one bit of spinal cord or brain at a time, and so your symptoms wouldn't be so widespread. It's true that as the disease develops it affects more and more bits of brain and spinal cord but you'd have to have had it for quite a while to have symptoms in your legs, arms and head, and there's no way you'd be able to pass your doctor's basic neuro examination if that was the case.

All of what you describe are symptoms of anxiety, and the reason you've not experienced them before is firstly you've had an incredibly stressful time lately, and secondly the very way anxiety works is by changing its symptoms as quickly as you can accept them as anxiety.

Do you know if the infection you had in hospital was bacterial or viral (or both)? An alternative explanation is some sort of post-viral thing. This is what I had, and it's what kicked off the last three months of hell.

[DaisyP]

Hi everyone,

Thanks for the replies, it's really kind of you all.

Fishmanpa, I guess to some extent I am being rational about it but then other times like yesterday and at the weekend I just cannot believe what the Drs say. I keep worrying that they've missed something or don't have the NHS funding to refer me so don't bother to. I am such a worrier.

Lilharry, how strange that you have had the same symptoms. I am on strong prebiotics now and have been for the past 5 weeks. I have a months supply but will keep on taking them for a while I think. I also got really bad mouth thrush which keeps coming up and down so the antibiotics must still be playing havoc with my system. How long were you on antibiotics for? I might look at diets, I will do anything to help myself.

Serenity, your message made me feel much better for you to say that. That's exactly what my Dr said, she said that it wouldn't be chopping and changing positions all the time and would be in one place. Would that still be the case if now it is only in my right arm, right ear lobe, right side of face and right leg? I find it very strange that it is in my right side of my body. I do still get pins and needles in my left arm but it's nowhere near as extreme.
It's so weird that i've never had these anxiety symptoms before but I do think the last 3 months have been so hard to cope with and have probably been one of the most stressful times of my life. Seems a bit dramatic and extreme to say that out loud but it has been quite stressful. My infection was bacterial but I have had an ear virus too in the last 6 weeks which might not have helped matters either.
How long did your symptoms last for Serenity, have they gone now? Do you know what caused your symptoms, was it a virus too?

I am sitting here with a really bad pain in my left eyebrow/eye, the rational part of me says I have a sinus infection and then it's almost like I have this little devil on the other shoulder but says 'Oh no, it's obvious that the optometrist missed something' - although this optometrist was so thorough and I was in the room for absolutely ages!
What about the brain fog feeling, does anybody get this with anxiety? I just cannot seem to snap out of a daydream like state and I really have to make a conscious effort to shake myself from it to be able to concentrate on things, so annoying!

[Lilharry]

It sounds like you are suffering from candida overgrowth - especially since you mention the thrush you've had. I would definitely look at going on a candida diet in that case. Also look into natural things you can take that kill of the candida. Peppermint oil capsules worked really well for me, oregano oil is supposed to be good too. At the moment I'm blasting it with raw garlic. Yes, the brain fog! I know all about it! I've had pretty much every symptom under the sun, but they have got better over time and sticking to the diet. Unfortunately I can't have any kind of sugar, even fruit, as that makes me flare up, but hoping to start introducing things back in slowly as I get better. Most doctors don't recognise candida as an issue, but so many people suffer from it. You might want to look into seeing a naturopath or some other alternative health provider to help you treat it.