Hi, I’m new to this site-specifically looking for some input from experienced folk as I’m feeling really low at the moment! Background, I’m 39 & agoraphobic, I also have horrible anxiety & social phobia so I don’t GO to my doctors!! Hence, I don’t talk to anybody about my symptoms, of which there are many & differing on a huge scale!! I’m beginning to get very distressed as my symptoms are very on & off but seem to be worsening before my period. Last month I had a good day or so of horrendous ‘tingling’ and electric shock sensations in my hands and my HEAD!! I had pain in my legs
Over a period of a year or so these are on & off and I put them down to anxiety but I also get a weird back pain that can cause me to double in pain & makes walking difficult. I get a lot of leg pain, particularly linked to bowel discomfort. Leading me to this month, my digestive system is wreaking havoc so I’m in pain again. I’m horribly tired and cold
Sometimes I get a feeling in my head like I’ve suddenly ‘missed’ a second or so. I occasionally get odd sensations on my skin-one I had for a while was like a wet patch on my leg although this has gone
Every time I get very distressed with however I’m feeling & end up googling the symtoms, it leads me to MS-I wondered if any of you had any of these symptoms in the beginning? I often feel like bursting into tears but I do have mental disorders so I just don’t know if it’s physical or mental & it’s so hard for me to go out!
Any feedback would be really appreciated, your time & effort x
I’m also really sensitive to light & I have, very often, horrible neck pain-it can just ‘go’ for no reason at all or the slightest movement-I don’t know if these are linked x
Mrs M, pretty much any list of vague and hard-to-pin-down symptoms typed into Dr Google will tend to lead a person to MS. That is why it is so common for people to fear that they have MS. If Dr Google was a reliable diagnostician, the whole world would have MS, but ‘he’ isn’t, and they don’t. Becaue MS is rare. Vague, hard to define bunches of symptoms are common: MS is rare. Most people who have MS-like symptoms turn out not to have MS. I have to say that yours do not sound very MS-y to my non-expert ear. But even if they did, I think it is fair to say that you STILL probably wouldn’t have MS.
Setting that aside, you are clearly suffering a great deal, and it does sound as though your anxiety and the ways in which this manifests itself are making your life a misery. Quite apart form anything physical that may or may not be adding to your troubles, I really think you need to find a way of getting some professional help and support to help you deal with things. Can you think of how a family member or friend might help you to get to see the GP for a good long chat (I would suggest booking a double appointment if you can). When unstructured worries are just going round and round in a person’s head, and alarming physical things are seemingly assailing you at every turn, it is so hard to know where to start to find a bit of calm space to regroup. A chat with a sympathetic GP might just get you started.
I really hope that you can find an understanding professional ear to help you to tease out the things that are troubling you and help to to think through how to address them, so that you can get some relief and get your life back.
Hi Mrs Moo, you mention sympoms get worse around the time of your period.
Forgive me for asking but how old are you? Some of your symptoms sound like migraine and migraine aura which is notorious for being worse around the menstral cycle or menopause.
Is there anyway you can get a home visit from your GP or practice nurse? Sounds like you could really do with some reassurance and at the least a check up??
I know it’s tempting but try not to google symptoms, i did at first and ended up convincing myself i had something deadly. MS symptoms are mimmicked by so many other conditions, your best bet really is to see a GP, though i really do appreciate that is not something thats easy for you to do.
Hi, thanks for your replies-relieved that others don’t think it’s all MS related, in a way. I had been putting it all down to anxiety which does seem to manifest itself physically in such a lot of ways, unfortunately.
To clarify a few things, I’m 39 so could be in that pre-menopausal area I’ve been under care for many, many years & now, thankfully, have a wonderful GP who visits me at home should I really need her-she’s really busy & I hate to bother her!!
I was placed under various departments & it was generally seen that I was treatment resistent although, my anxiety medication has stabilised me a lot so I get left alone! Hence, I’m not sure anybody would really deal with me again in a hurry!
Hi. I can appreciate how difficult it can be for you to see a Dr if you’re agoraphobic. I’m not but I do suffer panic attacks which aren’t as easy for me to control when I’m unwell and these can be triggered by being around lots of people so Dr’s waiting rooms are a nightmare for me. When I’m feeling this way my GP has arranged for me to wait in a secluded area to be called rather than in the public room with everyone else as she is aware of my situation. Perhaps asking for a telephone consultation with your Dr to discuss a similar possibility may just take some of the edge off it for you? As for your symptoms, I’m a great believer in the correlation between our physical and mental health and in my opinion, any unexplained symptoms left purely to the care of our pal Google, are likely to cause more stress, fear and misery than we need. You probably need some investigations to put your mind at rest but from my own experience and what I’ve read here, you’re unlikely to get any answers quickly. I now keep a diary of what goes on with my health daily as I won’t see my consultant again for months and I need to give him a full picture of what I’m experiencing. Perhaps you could begin doing the same? But stay away from Google as much as possible for the sake of your sanity! It’ll turn you into a nervous wreck! Good luck.
Have you been keeping a symptom diary? I found one helpful a few years ago for proving that intermittent pain I was suffering at the time was totally random and completely unrelated to what I ate, hormones or any other obvious factor. It can also help doctors rule possibilities in or out.
I would not consult Dr Google as it is hard to be sure how authoritative many of the results are. It is also difficult to structure queries to get good results.
It does, however sound like it is time to talk to your GP. Your symptoms are bothering you and you need to know what is going on. It could be physical symptoms caused by anxiety, it could be side-effects of medication or any number of things. Your GP is the best person to advise you as she knows you and your medical history.
Thanks for the replies, I feel better for them-& a little silly!! I think I can put symptoms down to the anxiety-another odd ‘disorder’ that we don’t understand. I hate being a whinger & a moaner, I think I need to handle my adverse symptoms better x
I sympathise with you, two months ago I did not know if I was going mad or had MS, like you I felt quite depressed but kept on going to the doctors even though it was an ordeal. I went for counselling and my counsellor pointed out to me that the mind and body are linked they are really all part of a whole. It’s true. It is unlikely that you have MS, it is a difficult disease to diagnose but a very easy one to self-diagnose. What you do need to do is get outside your own head and seek help, a 30 minute neurolgical examination would set your mind at rest or not, probably would, so you need to toddle along to your GP and ask for a referral. You are concened and that in itself is sufficient reason for you to expect kindly treatment and get checked out, Go for it because there is nothing worse than not knowing believe me I know. John x
Oh yes, and another thing you are not a whinger or a moaner, you may think you are but I’m sure you are not! Stuff such as you have requires courage, you will find the strength within yourself to deal with this and you will overcome it, again believe me I know of what I speak, John x
