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Thread: Saw a second neurologist today, calmed my anxiety for a bit

  1. #1

    Saw a second neurologist today, calmed my anxiety for a bit

    Hello everyone, it's my first post on this forum, although I've read most of the threads around here.

    My story: 2 months ago I started feeling some kind of weakness in my right leg and arm. At first, I didn't pay much attention to it, thought my muscles were overworked.

    Made the classic mistake of googling my symptoms, and since the end of December I went down the rabbit hole of ALS fear. In the beginning of January I went to see a neurologist, did a Nerve Conduction Study (no EMG though), had a few abnormalities in the right nerves of the body, but nothing pathologic, although my reflexes were decreased in the leg and arm. Did a brain and cervical MRI, both turned out as clean as they could be, blood works were all clear (although vit. B12 and D3 were close to the bottom limit). While for a normal person this would be relieving (clean MRI - no tumors, yay!), but for someone living with health anxiety, everything seemed to have pointed out to the worst possible scenario. I was finally diagnosed with "suprasegmental vegetative dysfunction" (which is basically stress), and I had to take some magnesium supplements, vitamins and antidepressants for about 5 weeks.

    When I asked the doctor about ***, she told me that there's no way, as the NCS would have shown something completely different, plus the reflexes were reduced, not increased.

    At first, this calmed me down for a bit, but this didn't stop me from doing the continuous stress tests, walking on tip toes, comparing my hands and legs looking for atrophy. Noticed that it's harder to carry things with my right hand, thought it was a symptom (even though I'm left handed). Mid-January, I noticed a lot of fasciculations in both of my calves, which have then spread through my entire body. At this point, my anxiety and fear went through the roof, thought that this was it, better end things then, before they got worse.

    After these grueling 5 weeks, I knew that I had to do something about it, my life basically stopped when the anxiety started. Made an appointment with another neurologist, one of the best in my country. Today, I finally went there, expecting the worst. I told her everything, then did a complete physical neurological exam. This time, everything was perfect, all the limb reflexes were normal, no pathological signs or coordination problems, normal muscle tonus in both sides of the body (was even told that she didn't expect such strength when asking me to pull with my legs and hands). All in all, was finally diagnosed again with a somatoform disorder (psychological body symptoms which can't be accounted for during a medical exam).
    When I asked her about ***, she laughed and told me there's no way it would appear at my age (and now it's time to say that I'm only 18), and there's literally 0 signs for me to be concerned. Didn't even mention anything about an EMG. The *** incidence in my country is about 0.8 per 100.000 people, much lower than normal, with only about 40 patients in the entire country (all over 40-50). In the end, I was prescribed anti-anxiety medication for the next 3 months.

    I'm finally calm again, although I don't know for how long. How long until it my limbs feel weaker again, or my fasciculations get stronger (even though I'm trying to ignore them), or until I start thinking that I have atrophy? How long until I go deeper down the rabbit hole, until this superstitious paranoia makes me think that now after the consultation I'm definitely going to get it?

    It's very relieving (in a quite ironic way) knowing that there's a whole community here, with the same concerns and fears.

  2. #2
    Join Date
    May 2021
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    Re: Saw a second neurologist today, calmed my anxiety for a bit

    Have you thought about looking into getting some counselling/CBT now while you aren't in crisis? It might help give you the skills to deal with it if your concerns return.

  3. #3

    Re: Saw a second neurologist today, calmed my anxiety for a bit

    I'm certainly considering this, although I have very little free time... Still searching for some good specialists around here.

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