Anxiety about ms. Nerve twinges

[Anxiousholly]

I’ve been suffering with ms specific health anxiety for over a year now. It started with numbness in my legs. Since then I’ve had nerve twinges and tingles that last days, cold patches, waking up in the middle of the night most nights with numbness in legs and feet, tingling that turns into numbness, twitching all over, achy muscles and many many more! I’ve been to the doctor a few times, they have told me it is anxiety. I’ve also had cbt.

It’s been a few months since I decided to stop going to the doctor for every symptom but the symptoms keep coming and changing. I find it hard to sleep because I am scared I’m going to wake up numb & I can never sleep the whole night through. The nerve twinges worry me the most, the doctor said it could be from rolling my foot but I’m unsure about this.

I’m on holiday at the moment and I just wanted to enjoy myself with out this sense of doom. reading these forums help me feel more at ease but I wonder if anyone else shares the same symptoms?

Sometimes I feel like I don’t know what’s real and what’s not. Im sure I’m speaking for most of you when I say my body and brain have been completely drained ! I can’t beleive there was a time I didn’t have this worry.

 

[AnxiousBean]

Hi Holly,
I'm with you girl, I can't believe and am quite jealous of my younger self when I didn't constantly worry about every little thing. I think it's smart of you to not give in and see your doctor for every little thing. I am trying that myself and it's actually working. Now, this isn't to say you should avoid seeing your doctor. You should definitely go if you notice life threatening symptoms or suspect you have an illness or infections. Before seeing a doctor, I usually ask myself "what can they do for me that I can't do for myself?"... "What is it that I want them to do? And why?". I usually play the wait and see game. I will wait three days and if my symptoms improve, I don't go. If my symptoms don't go away or get worse, I'll make an appointment. 9 times out of 10 my symptoms improve. I hope you're able to find some peace on your holiday

 

[Anxiousholly]

Hi Anxiousbean,
I saw a post where someone said they don’t go to the doctor unless it’s causingx them pain or a lot of discomfort as has done for a week which, I thought was a good idea. I’m really glad that it’s working for you too! It sounds like your getting on top of your health anxiety The problem is I’ve had symptoms that last a long time. For the past couple of days I’ve been dealing with weird nerve feelings, I’m really trying not to think about it while I’m abroad! Hopefully the feeling will go soon . Thanks and good luck with everything.

 

[matisworried]

Hi Anxiousbean,
I saw a post where someone said they don’t go to the doctor unless it’s causingx them pain or a lot of discomfort as has done for a week which, I thought was a good idea. I’m really glad that it’s working for you too! It sounds like your getting on top of your health anxiety The problem is I’ve had symptoms that last a long time. For the past couple of days I’ve been dealing with weird nerve feelings, I’m really trying not to think about it while I’m abroad! Hopefully the feeling will go soon . Thanks and good luck with everything.

anxiety can cause all of these things! do you have symptoms when you are active?

 

[Anxiousholly]

Yeah but im always expecting it in the back of my head!

 

[Amw311]

Yeah but im always expecting it in the back of my head!

Hi there Anxiousholly, this post is from last month but what you described in your post is exactly what I’ve been dealing with, same feelings in my leg and scared I’m gonna wake up at night, everything! I feel like these feelings are never gonna go away and I have already diagnosed myself with MS. I’m so scared. Can I ask how you’ve been feeling?

 

[Anxiousholly]

Hey I’m sorry you feel so scared I’ve been there and it’s horrible but you will get through it. When your anxious you tense up your body all day without knowing!! Anxiety doesn’t leave once your asleep either. Also in our anxious minds our biggest fear is feeling a symptom when we don’t feel anxious & so that’s why we do! Our body experiences so many different feelings especially in our legs and feet because there is pressure on them all day! I’ve been to the doctor & they said the feelings in my feet were me just rolling my foot & my leg was me just tensing my legs in my sleep! You would never diagnose someone else so don’t self diagnose yourself! If your on this forum it’s because you have health anxiety not because you have ms you will get through this.

 

[Amw311]

Hey I’m sorry you feel so scared I’ve been there and it’s horrible but you will get through it. When your anxious you tense up your body all day without knowing!! Anxiety doesn’t leave once your asleep either. Also in our anxious minds our biggest fear is feeling a symptom when we don’t feel anxious & so that’s why we do! Our body experiences so many different feelings especially in our legs and feet because there is pressure on them all day! I’ve been to the doctor & they said the feelings in my feet were me just rolling my foot & my leg was me just tensing my legs in my sleep! You would never diagnose someone else so don’t self diagnose yourself! If your on this forum it’s because you have health anxiety not because you have ms you will get through this.

Thank you for your reply anxiousholly, I really appreciate it. It feels like I’m never gonna get through this one. I’ve said that before, but this one has just really gotten me into a dark place. It’s been mostly just tingling/pain in my lower leg and foot and the cold patches all around my leg which REALLY scare me and tell me its something terminal. Nothing has been wrong with my vision but of course today I’m very anxious and I feel like maybe one eye is slightly blurry on and off and it’s sending me even further into a panic. I just feel like I’m never gonna get through this. When the pain first started I didn’t automatically panic because I thought I had pulled a muscle (which would make sense because I have toddler twins who I carry and play with all the time, it takes a toll on the body) but then it just kept persisting and turned into more of the tingling and strange sensations and I’ve just been in a bad head space ever since. It’s so scary for me.

 

[Anxiousholly]

I felt EXACTLY the same a month ago. And every time I felt a bit better I would get another symptom. Hot and cold feelings are anxiety I get it too!! Honestly I get and have had every symptom you can think of and they have all lasted a long time. Even problems with my vision that completely panicked me but turned out to be a side effect from an anti anxiety pill I had taken! Btw if it was ms your eye wouldnt be blurry on and off It would be constrantly blurry for a long time. plus tingling is a major sign of tiredness & im sure with toddler twins & anxity you must be exhausted! there are countless explanations to your symptoms so you really don’t need to fixate on it being this I know how horrible this worry is but your going to get through this! I would deffinatly get some CBT if I was you. It really helped me. But for the meantime I hope this can put your mind at ease. Xx

 

[matisworried]

Yeah but im always expecting it in the back of my head!

well.. there ya go! anxiety-based symptoms will continue as long as the anxiety does.

Thank you for your reply anxiousholly, I really appreciate it. It feels like I’m never gonna get through this one. I’ve said that before, but this one has just really gotten me into a dark place. It’s been mostly just tingling/pain in my lower leg and foot and the cold patches all around my leg which REALLY scare me and tell me its something terminal. Nothing has been wrong with my vision but of course today I’m very anxious and I feel like maybe one eye is slightly blurry on and off and it’s sending me even further into a panic. I just feel like I’m never gonna get through this. When the pain first started I didn’t automatically panic because I thought I had pulled a muscle (which would make sense because I have toddler twins who I carry and play with all the time, it takes a toll on the body) but then it just kept persisting and turned into more of the tingling and strange sensations and I’ve just been in a bad head space ever since. It’s so scary for me.

you're hyperfocusing on the sensations in your body which is increasing your anxiety which is increasing your symptoms. the way your symptoms are progressing sounds a lot like HA and i say that because i've been there.

when an anxious thought pops into my head, i have two options, the way i see it:

option 1: i indulge the thought.
outcome: my anxiety increases to a point where i can no longer control it. my thought process becomes increasingly catastrophic - i go from "maybe i have MS" to "i definitely have MS and i'm going to die." maybe i'm even envisioning myself in a wheelchair or in some further stage of the disease. i know that i shouldn't google symptoms but my anxiety is now so high that i have no self control... i justifying doing it by saying I'll "only do it for a few minutes" or that i'm not looking for proof i have the disease, i'm looking for proof i DON'T have it. guess what? my anxiety only gets worse.

option 2: i make a conscious effort not to indulge the thought. when i notice the thought enter my brain, i use my internal voice and i tell myself in whatever way works best "i'm not going to think about this right now" and i do this until the thought is no longer present. if i'm having a difficult time, i engage in a different activity. i might need to do this once or twice. i might need to do it 50 times... but if i keep with it, it gets easier.