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Thread: A Thread for Newcomers Worried about Multiple Sclerosis (MS)

  1. #21

    hopingitsanxiety- it sounds like anxiety and depression to me

    I went through some of the same things you are going through and because I was worrying about my health all the time I got depressed really fast. I was having emotional breakdowns, didn't want to do anything, couldn't go to work, couldn't live my life.

    I went to two docs and both said it was anxiety mixed with depression. I accepted that and immediately started to feel better. They gave me some meds for it- celexa and klonopin which has really helped.

    I too could not believe all my symptoms could come from anxiety because the drs didn't really explain it to me. The symptoms are very real, they are not in your head, they are physical but they are caused by health anxiety and or depression.

    I found the medicine has helped quite a bit. If the Drs tell you its anxiety it probably is. They know what they are talking about. The hard part is accepting it so your brain and body can start to relax and recover from all the stress that has been put upon it.

    My symptoms aren't gone but they are a lot better.

  2. #22
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    Re: A Thread for Newcomers Worried about Multiple Sclerosis (MS)

    ...glad it helped you Doo.

  3. #23
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    Re: A Thread for Newcomers Worried about Multiple Sclerosis (MS)

    It amazes me that I can read this and I still think that it's not just anxiety! Logically I know it's all in my head but because I haven't had all the tests and my doctor automatically said it was anxiety I don't believe it! I don't just have HA I also have OCD and SAD so it never seems to ease up. I know that the symptoms won't ease up til I 100% believe it's anxiety, even though I had a couple of symptom free days when I wasn't anxious for about 2 days - I still can't get my head round it.

  4. #24
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    Re: A Thread for Newcomers Worried about Multiple Sclerosis (MS)

    Quote Originally Posted by Nutmeg View Post
    It amazes me that I can read this and I still think that it's not just anxiety! Logically I know it's all in my head but because I haven't had all the tests and my doctor automatically said it was anxiety I don't believe it! I don't just have HA I also have OCD and SAD so it never seems to ease up. I know that the symptoms won't ease up til I 100% believe it's anxiety, even though I had a couple of symptom free days when I wasn't anxious for about 2 days - I still can't get my head round it.

    But that is the thing, it is not all in your head! The symptoms/sensations are very real and very very physical. The ONLY difference is that their causality is actually grounded in the mental rather than being generated by some physical organic illness, disease or ailment. It really is crucial that this is understood or it is almost impossible to attribute all this to 'just' anxiety.

  5. #25

    Re: A Thread for Newcomers Worried about Multiple Sclerosis (MS)

    For what its worth my Dr. told me that the medication can make the anxiety worse before it gets better. It takes at least 3 weeks for celexa or whatever he put you on to start to kick in. You won't even notice a difference until it gets in your system.

    When I went on it I did feel more anxious and shaky but it got better.

    I totally can relate to the heaviness in the back of the head. It sucks and I thought I seriously had some sort of neuro issue going on but once I believed it was anxiety and let the medication kick in its going away.

    It won't go away all at once. It will take awhile for the symptoms to go away but they will gradually go away.

    Hope you feel better soon. We know what you are going through and its not fun but things will get better. You have to believe that .

    Quote Originally Posted by Doo View Post
    and has prescribed many different anti depressants which i have not taken as i get too concerned about the side effects. They seem to make my shaking worse and then that causes me more anxiety and so the it continues. I get this heaviness in the back of my head, ,shaking dizziness muscle aches and real weakness. How on earth can this be anxiety but the symptoms you describe are very similar to these.
    You post has made me feel alot better though obviously will stay concerned until i start feeling better.
    Thanks

  6. #26
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    Re: A Thread for Newcomers Worried about Multiple Sclerosis (MS)

    I've just started medication - I'm on escitalopram and I've only been taking it 2 days and I'm on a low dose so obviously no effect yet! But I'm hoping it works soon - I don't know what to tell my uni lecturer's to why I'm struggling - this is hard to explain to someone who doesn't have it! I told one person and they looked at me likeI was crazy - didn't help.

    And when I said it was all in my head - I mean my head was causing it! It's just frustrating me! Sorry it's getting exhausting!

  7. #27
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    Re: A Thread for Newcomers Worried about Multiple Sclerosis (MS)

    Quote Originally Posted by Nutmeg View Post
    I've just started medication - I'm on escitalopram and I've only been taking it 2 days and I'm on a low dose so obviously no effect yet! But I'm hoping it works soon - I don't know what to tell my uni lecturer's to why I'm struggling - this is hard to explain to someone who doesn't have it! I told one person and they looked at me likeI was crazy - didn't help.

    And when I said it was all in my head - I mean my head was causing it! It's just frustrating me! Sorry it's getting exhausting!
    Yep, you will find that people just do not get this at all. Then again, if you had read about this or whatever before you experienced it would you fully have understood it...I doubt it, it is a very frustrating and debilitating thing.

    I too used to find I wanted to talk about this with everybody as it is a disorder that you feel you can sort of make sane by talking about it but to be honest that never really used to work...I would mention it to people and they would just not get it at all and say something like 'oh, if you have had the tests you must be fine' and totally fail to see the disorder part of it. To be honest, I would maybe discuss it with one or two close friends and leave it at that...if you have to say why you are unwell for any particular reason I always used to say I had some anxiety issues and no more. I think I expected people to understand what it was and how it was so total in taking over my life but thinking about it you are really asking for and expecting the impossible.

  8. #28
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    Re: A Thread for Newcomers Worried about Multiple Sclerosis (MS)

    Yeah I normally just say I have anxiety - I never used to tell anyone but people don't understand how one minute I'm a really good student and then the next my grades plumit. I think I have told one person at uni I don't dare tell anyone else.
    I do tend to get better in the summer though.

  9. #29

    Re: A Thread for Newcomers Worried about Multiple Sclerosis (MS)

    Nutmeg, have you asked your Doc about klononpin or something like it . I took that for about a month until the other med kicked in. It really helped take the edge off the anxiety and especially helped me sleep at night. I took it in low doses but it helped quite a bit.

  10. #30

    Re: A Thread for Newcomers Worried about Multiple Sclerosis (MS)

    Your brain is causing your physical symptoms. Health anxiety is a disorder with real physical symptoms so as stated by many of us before the symptoms are very real but the symptoms are not the result of any disease.

    Trust me I know how you feel. All my test came back ok. There was nothing wrong with me but my symptoms were real and were causing a lot of problems.

    I was to the point where I didn't think I'd ever feel normal again. I finally excepted the fact that it was anxiety and started on some medicine that has really helped.

    I take celexa and I took klonopin while the celexa kicked in. That treatment worked for me and it has just helped me calm down and relax a bit. On a side note celexa and other SSRI are used to treat anxiety and depression which usually the two go hand in hand. In some cases depression will cause the health anxiety and sometimes the health anxiety causes the depression.

    In my case my health anxiety caused me to very depressed. Luckily it only lasted about a week once I realized it was my anxiety and I didn't have a life threating disease. At one point I seriously thought I was going to die of several diseases.....MS, ALS, Diabetes, Parkinsons etc. I could barely function, I felt sick all the time and new symptoms were randomly popping up.

    The major mistake I made was googling my symptoms. That is the last thing you want to do. I would literally look something up on google about some life threating disease and then the next day I'd have new weird symptoms that I had read about. It was crazy.

    I'll give you an example, I had been having this weird neck thing going on. It felt like my head weighed 20 pounds on my head and sometimes I would get tingling up the back of my head . So I typed in weak neck heavy head into google and one of the results brought me to an ALS website. I started reading about that and found out it was a terminal disease that had to do with your muscles and I started to freak out. I stood up and my legs were totally weak. The next day I woke up and all my muscles in my body felt weak and shaky all over. I was sure I had ALS and had 5 years to live.

    Went to two doctors both said I didnt have ALS and that is was anxiety. I finally accepted that and I started to feel better. It's been about a month since that and my symptoms are slowly going away. I think it has been with the help of the medicatoin and me just realizing that I'm ok.

    Hope that helps. Feel free to PM with any questions you may have.

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