Is health anxiety causing my ALS/MND-like symptoms? Please help I'm freaking out!

[niknakx]

Hi everyone. I noticed about a month ago that my right arm felt a little tired and heavy when I was driving. I left it for a few days but it didn't get any better. I looked up the symptoms on Google like an idiot and BAM it comes up with MND/ALS. So I begin to freak out like nothing I have ever known before. I literally picture my slow horrible death in my head. I become hyper aware of every little thing happening with my arm constantly checking to see any changes in strength and size.

I go to the doctor and they check my arms for strength and can't seem to find anything wrong, then tell me to come back in a few weeks if it is still bothering me.

In the meantime I go and see a chiropractor once a week for four weeks to work on my arm, he can't seem to fix anything and is at a loss for what is happening to my arm and tells me I need to see a neurologist.

Twitches then begin to appear localised in my right arm which completely pushes me over the edge. I lose my appetite and stop eating, I have trouble sleeping, I can't stop vomiting and I lose a stone in weight in a few weeks.

I go back to the doctors about my arm and she hints that it might be stress and anxiety related. I tell her that I am worried about MND/ALS and she tells me that it would be highly highly unlikely given that I'm 23, but to do a blood test to see if anything is off. In the meantime she puts me on citalopram 10mg to try and help my anxiety.

The blood tests come back clean and I return to the original doctor I saw. He performs another neuro exam on me and says everything checks out fine but he refers me to a neurologist to see if they have any idea. I have an appointment with the neurologist next Saturday which right now feels like an eternity away.

As of right now the fatigue in my arm has been getting worse, it gets tired doing basic things and seems to be weaker than my left arm, it certainly feels heavier. The twitches in my arm have been going crazy jumping around from my bicep to my tricep to my wrist to my elbow to my hand some of them very violently. I've noticed some twitching in other parts of my body but nowhere near as bad as the ones in my right arm. I notice it mostly when I am lying in bed trying to relax and it feels almost like my arm is constantly vibrating and twitching.

I suppose what I want to know is, is it possible to have weakness and twitching focused on one limb with anxiety? It doesn't help that I have not been getting lots of sleep maybe 4-5 hours a night max, I haven't been eating much and I am constantly terrified of having this desease.

I fee like I'm going crazy and my family keep reckoning it's all linked back to my anxiety but I am just so terrified it's making my life hell. Any help would be greatly appreciate because I am in a very very bad place right now.

[Fishmanpa]

There certainly could be a physical reason for your symptoms but medical professionals are not concerned about the possibility of ALS. They have recognized your anxiety and given you medication to help treat it. Anxiety can and does cause twitching. Combine that with lack of sleep and you're just spiraling deeper into the rabbit hole :(

You've posted on the ALS forum (which I find disrespectful to those suffering) so you should know having read the sticky they ask you to read that your symptoms don't present as anything sinister. ALS is about failing not feeling.

Hope you feel better soon!

Positive thoughts

[Josh1234]

You made the same thread a few days ago, and I'll repeat myself - you have BFS. You don't have any ALS symptoms, which are clinical weakness, atrophy, spasticity of the limbs, debilitating cramps, difficulty speaking, and hyperreflexia.

[Nzxt27]

We have been there and still there some. But I have noticed over last year and half mine tends to calm down a lot when I'm not as anxious. Then when I get anxious again it strikes back. I don't even worry about ALS anymore.

[niknakx]

I saw a neurologist today rather than waiting until Saturday. I told him what I was worried about and he said "I wouldn't bet my money on that because you'd lose all your money." He checked my reflexes and did a few tests and said he reckons it's a trapped nerve somewhere in my neck. So I have a MRI and EMG booked in and then back to see him for a follow up in a few weeks.