Fear of ALS or MND

[Rey1989]

Hello all,

I am a 27 year old male, generally healthy, with increasing anxiety related to my health. Since my mother got diagnosed with a rare cancer I have been contsmatly questioning my own health. Last year I had a really bad bug and totally convinced myself i had bowel cancer. That all went away after several months, but my health anxiety remained. About 2 months ago my grandmother got diagnosed with breast cancer, and once again, health anxiety went theough the roof. Also its important to mention that I recently graduated university and have been going through a great deal of stress trying to find a job, while trying to get by on minimum wage. In summary, i have heavy loads of stress and health anxiety. Ive always been told im a hypochondriac.

About a month ago, i started experiencing a wet foot feeling, and sort of a numbness feeling arpund knees, and that lasted for several days. Went to GP and he ordered blood test for B12 defficiency, Thyroyd function, and it came back all normal. Then the twitching! Kind of generalized, leg, calve, biceps, but the one that freaks me out the most is the one on my right hand. I started having this joint pain around wrist and knuckles, and my hand became very sore. On top of the soreness, the twitching. Makes some of my fingers to jump and move. Since 2 days ago it became very annoying and my concern this is early onset of ALS freaks me out. I have a neuro appointment scheduled for sometime in the future, but i just wanna know if this is normal in someone with incredible loads of stress and anxiety. I feel like im going crazy and nobody in my family gets my frustration. I even created an account at an ALS forum only to be told I dont belong there. Thank you for any comments

[Scaredlady]

Hello.

You've clearly been through quite a lot with regard the ill health of close family members, I'm really sorry that you/they had to go through it but I hope they are doing well and coming through treatment.

I can't give you any answers with regard the "symptoms" you're experiencing other than to say I have muscle/joint pains daily and I experience twitching sensations every now and again but I don't attribute them to ALS and I don't think you should either.

You acknowledge yourself that you have health anxiety and a tendency to be a hypochondriac, so I think you already know the truth to your question.

Check in with your GP again though if it's still bothering you.

[Mercime]

Hello all,

I am a 27 year old male, generally healthy, with increasing anxiety related to my health. Since my mother got diagnosed with a rare cancer I have been contsmatly questioning my own health. Last year I had a really bad bug and totally convinced myself i had bowel cancer. That all went away after several months, but my health anxiety remained. About 2 months ago my grandmother got diagnosed with breast cancer, and once again, health anxiety went theough the roof. Also its important to mention that I recently graduated university and have been going through a great deal of stress trying to find a job, while trying to get by on minimum wage. In summary, i have heavy loads of stress and health anxiety. Ive always been told im a hypochondriac.

About a month ago, i started experiencing a wet foot feeling, and sort of a numbness feeling arpund knees, and that lasted for several days. Went to GP and he ordered blood test for B12 defficiency, Thyroyd function, and it came back all normal. Then the twitching! Kind of generalized, leg, calve, biceps, but the one that freaks me out the most is the one on my right hand. I started having this joint pain around wrist and knuckles, and my hand became very sore. On top of the soreness, the twitching. Makes some of my fingers to jump and move. Since 2 days ago it became very annoying and my concern this is early onset of ALS freaks me out. I have a neuro appointment scheduled for sometime in the future, but i just wanna know if this is normal in someone with incredible loads of stress and anxiety. I feel like im going crazy and nobody in my family gets my frustration. I even created an account at an ALS forum only to be told I dont belong there. Thank you for any comments

Hi. I am sorry you've had the illnesses of both mum and gran to contend with, it's terribly stressful time for a family. I agree with everything that the above poster has said, but can I just add something? Please stay off the ALS forums - they're right, you don't have it so you don't belong there. I honestly appreciate your fear, but these people are trying to support each other through their illness, they have it, and life is hard enough for them as it is. Please be respectful and leave them alone. Have you thought about getting help for your anxiety, maybe therapy?

[Rey1989]

Thank you so much to both of you for replying so promptly. I have asked my GP about getting theraphy, however here in Canada anyrhin health related is truly a pain, it is not covered by our medical system and right now I dont have the money to pay for it. He did refer me to a neurologist when I mentioned the twitching, which didnt help with my anxiety, however I do aporeciate seeing a specialist. Now, referrals here take a really long time, and since I am young they hardly ever take me seriously. It could be 1-2 months, or 13 months (thats how long it took me to see a gastro dr) I did the terrible thing of going to Dr. Google and when I typed my main symptoms ALS and MS came up first almost with a red flag. Since then my anxiety has gone through the roof and I have almost convinced myself that I have the absolute worst case scenario. I am fully aware im not alright, every time I try to convince myself I font have anything sinister my head spins around and all of the sudden I say, wait a seconf, i could be that .00001% that gets the disease at my age and with no family history. Since then I've been searching online for support groups where I can share my symptoms/thoughts hoping to ease my mind. Ive gone to my GP enough times? I guess now I just have to wait to see the Neuro. Once again, thank you for reading my long messages

[Scaredlady]

You really should not resort to Google for confirmation or reassurance on what you perceive to be your symptoms - You know this yourself, I know this because I have fallen into the very same trap far too many times and it has never helped. So when you feel the urge to Google, distract yourself.

I'm in Ireland and the services here for mental health are beyond inadequate, so I can understand your frustrations to some extent with regard the lack of assistance available to you.

I am going to suggest you try some self help techniques and believe me when I say I used to roll my eyes when people were suggesting it to me but I have found since giving it a try that the worksheets etc do provide a degree of distraction when my anxiety is booming (which is every day) - Worst case scenario is the common conclusion for anxiety sufferers, we've all been moments from our biggest fear(s) repeatedly but such is the hell of living with a debilitating condition.

Have you heard of Elefriends? It's a platform for people with mental illness operated by the charity MIND - Similar to Facebook in that you write up a status whenever you like and other users can comment or like, the difference being the demographic is predominantly centred around ordinary men and women who are suffering from mental health problems and there's no "add friend" feature it's just a feed where members can see and interact with other members. Maybe try that? I don't know if it would help to distract you but it might.

[Mercime]

Hi again. Just s suggestion, there are a couple online CBT resources that are free so maybe it's something to look at? One is Moodgym, the other Living Life To The Full - please go there instead of Dr Google! By the way - it's a cert that ANY symptoms type in will come up with the absolute WORST case scenario. An urge to pick my nose - brain tumour. An urge to scratch my ass - cancer. Try typing anxiety symptoms in! In fact, there is some useful info on this site, go to the actual homepage. Time to start addressing the real issue x

[Rey1989]

Thank you for all the resources. I can't get the idea of ALS off my head... I looked at both my hands and I swear I saw one with less muscle than the other. My right hand feels weird, achy, and i can see some of the bones, my left hand feels normal, and looks normal. I just cant seem to shake the thought of having a neurodegenerative disease such as this one. I don't think I'll be fully ok until I see a specialist and he/she tells me I have nothing to worry about. Another weird thing that has happened is I went bowling 3 nignts ago and my arm muscles are still sore as if I trained 3 hours at the gym. I used to go bowling all the time not feeling anything, now im sore 3 days after... Again, not sure if this is a sign of early onset of MND...sorry to keep bothering you guys with the same thing, I'll try to find help elsewhere also.

[Fishmanpa]

Rey,

The ALS rabbit hole is a very deep and narrow one and you can become stuck very easily. I've seen others that have practically ruined their lives due to this fear on anxiety boards.

You're hyper-focusing and backing up your fear by Googling and talking about it here. No amount of reassurance from a forum will convince you and even scientific medical testing can fall short of reassuring you. The key is treating the real illness which is your HA.

I'm willing to bet the house that you're fine other than a few odd aches and pains we all get.

Good luck and as always....

Positive thoughts

[Rey1989]

Thank you! Deep inside I know I am creating all my fears in my head, but sometimes I feel its more powerful than myself. Thank you all for your words and support. I am glad I found this forum and people like yourselves are willing to help someone with this type of anxiety. God bless you all

[Rey1989]

Hi again, this debilitating hand pain on my right hand, its like joint pain it hurts to move my fingers, plus twitching, I've never had this kind of pain before, and it doesn't seem to be getting better. I dont want to go back to my doctor over this...Can bad anxiety give you joint pains like this? hurts so bad...