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its been 3 weeks maybe 4 weeks now where i had this pulling dull ache under my right pectoral muscle. that bothers me when twisting or stretching. its never intense or debilitating but its becoming annoying. massaging does lil help. i do get slightly short of breath which i have been scene for at 2 different hospital visits for severe anxiety. i went for a follow up at a local urgent care where i had my side examined and the doctor didnt think anything of it even with proof of results from xray and labs that were done. ( i had 2 xrays done near that area that didnt show anything malignant with my heart, lungs etc.) i was sent home with anxiety meds and so on. it went away with rest but today reaching to the high cabinet it was achey again. i do work in veterinary so not sure if handling a massive great dane with a lot of force caused this issue. i also sleep on a old mattress on the floor due to some remodeling going on. im worried i developed cancer or some serious disease thats going to take me out. its consistent and i see lots of things related to intercostal strain/sprain. anyone able to guide me to reassurance?

A year ago, I started having occasional bouts of foul-smelling, cloudy urine. Not a strong ammonia-like smell but more like bottom-of-a-pond. Pretty bad. I have a history of UTIs, and even though at that time the culture was neg for bacteria, I assumed it may a precursor to an infection, so I would start drinking 100% cranbery juice (8 oz in the morning and 4 oz at night) for about a week and taper off. EACH TIME, the bad smell would disappear after about a day of doing that. Well, the bad-urine-smell episodes disappeared for several months and I all but forgot about them. Fast forward to this past April. I had some blood work done, mostly routine, and everything came back normal except for my kidney function. Creatinine was 1.18 (ref range 0.5-0.97) and GFR was at the very cusp at 60 (ref range > or = 60). I pushed the fluids and we retested a week later, and it came back in the normal range but still far from optimal: Creatinine at 94 and GFR at 79. As a busy mom, I went on my way. Well a few weeks ago, the bad-smelling urine returned, as well as some sediment in the urine. Once again drank cranberry juice, it went away, and I decided to try a supplement with cranberry in it to see if that would do the same. Five days later, the smell returned, and I started connecting the possible dots with kidney, so last week I went to the doctor. Urine was neg for bacteria again, so they ran some blood work. Kidney results were worse, Creatinine at 1.32 and GFR at 53. :(((( I am only 39, soon to be 40. I am really worried. Had a follow-up with my doctor today who is a bit concerned about why it's bouncing around and wanted to repeat the blood work again since I've once again been pushing the fluids. But she also ordered a renal ultrasound and wants me to see a nephrologist. I can't get into those appts until Aug 4 and Aug 13, respectively. I am in knots waiting for the blood results, that they'll be even worse, and about what the u/s will show. I can't stop worrying that this is the beginning of the end, that I'll leave my kids without a mom and not be here to watch them grow up. 💔

Hello everyone- where do I even begin? It's 3:30am- I've maybe slept 30 minutes tonight because a tongue twitch woke me up- after a week of having new twitches all over my body and going down the ALS rabbit hole. i know I have anxiety- have been on Wellbutrin since April, dose upped in July. I am 34 year old mom of 2 and the thought of any symptom I have being ALS have put me in a bad spiral! Ugh! history- I had a DVT a few years ago during my pregnancy- healed fine. The leg that had that has recently been having some mild aches. I attributed this to some circulation issues post clot & went down the rabbit hole there- trigger anxiety to a level I didn't even know was possible. The next day- I noticed a few twitches here & there in my calf muscle occasionally.. now I'm HYPER SENSITIVE to every little thing my body is doing.. I now notice every little twitch... throughout the day- 1 in my calf, 1 in my thigh, 1 in my arm, shoulder, other calf, foot, hand... just a quick little twitch- that's it. Google symptoms- convinced this is ALS & go down that rabbit hole. the anxiety has been unreal since- I am losing sleep, I've lost weight due to no appetite, am checked out from my kids & husband because I'm so consumed with every little symptom & the twitches are happening more frequently & I notice every single one... tonight I got somewhat calm- then my jaw twitches (1st time) sends me in a panic.. can't sleep. Doze off finally- and wake up to a tongue twitch/spasm. Everything I've read says that is almost always associated with ALS & here we are- 3.30am, unable to sleep. i am seeing my doctor in 2 days- to discuss overall symptoms & anxiety. i have no pain (just that dull ache in the calf) no weakness that's at least noticeable or new (I'm out of shape so yea.. lol) no speech issues or falling... but the rabbit hole.. i would appreciate hearing similar experiences, symptoms... also reading so much that most twitches are caused by stress/anxiety. Seems crazy an emotion can trigger physical symptoms but wow... thank you all.

hiya. some weeks ago i started having this constant feeling of something stuck in my esophagus. i was convinced i had oesophagal cancer. i got a chest x ray and ultrasound, and everything seems ok, plus the feeling has gone down, so it doesnt worry me as much. but now, im scared about leukemia. i have some red spots in my right leg, a slight fever, and feel often tired and shaky. my throat hurts ocasionally. im getting blood testing tomorrow. until then, i am terrified.

Intrusive thoughts are a true pain in the ass. I keep having them I am a long time ocd/health anxiety sufferer I keep having horrible scary thoughts. Like planning my kids funeral if they get sick. Thats 1 example I will take any ideas or advice

Well, I was bitten by a dog, 8 days ago. It was the 3rd time the dog bites me. I received a tetanus vaccine two months ago the first time when a dog bites me. Since third days ago I started feeling jaw problems, pain in the chest and stomach, and faster heart rate. Of course, I googled symptoms because I am an anxious hypochondriac, and google told me that I had some symptoms of tetanus. I went to a doctor and he told me that my symptoms are far from tetanus and checked for neurological problems and all is good and that is pure psychological thing doe to fearful trauma. He did mention I can have new tetanus shot and reset a cycle with a course of 4 shots. But still, there is always a fear that I am going to get it and it's making me nervous and a little panicking. Damn this anxiety fear.

Hi everyone. I’m new here looking for some additional support because I feel super alone and crazy since no one around me understands my health anxiety. It is so severe I think I’m going to go into cardiac arrest every minute of the day , even though I have had 6 EKGS, stress test, echocardiogram & now a Holter monitor. I just can’t turn it off. I finally decided to go on medication last week and I start new therapy Monday. I just feel so crazy. It sucks and it is debilitating. I am only in my early 20’s, I don’t want to be this miserable. Any advice?

I have been battling off and on with my 3rd BT scare in 9 years. Headaches move around, seem worse when changing position (but better when laying down/sleeping), worse when lifting stuff, pupils different sizes, odd feeling one side of body etc..... I have had a lot of these symptoms before with my previous scares. I had two ct scans of my brain during previous scares and now I am concerned these scans actually caused me to get a brain tumor. i called my neurologist and he said it didn’t sound like a brain tumor but he wanted me to get an MRA bc it sounded blood vessel related. Of course I overanalyzed every portion of the phone conversation but was able to accept his expertise and felt better that it most likely wasn’t a brain tumor. Took my family to get snow cones and on the way home I smelled a burning smell like someone was burning something. I live in a rural area but asked my wife if she smelled it and she said no. My mind of course jumped to seizures. When I got home i could smell the bacon we had cooked before snow cones. I woke up smelling bacon all night (re-inforcing) the concern with seizure. Not doing great this morning as a result!

I'm 26 now, I have always had anxiety about many things. I'm so scared of dying and not knowing where I'm going that I'm constantly in a freak out about something. Lately past week or so its been breast cancer. I came here to see if someone could help and found that I'd posted about this fear before about a month ago. Something must of made it go away now I'm just wondering if anyone can help me this week has been miserable I am constantly having panic attacks, left work over it and my family is going nuts. Sometime in 2017 I read an article about checking for dimples and what not saying they were a sign of breast cancer, I immediately freaked and begged my wife to take me to urgent care that night. She refused as she was fed up but eventually gave in the next day or so. To be clear we have no history of cancer in our family. We finally went and the woman examined me I distinctly remember because she was pregnant ( my anxiety convinces me things didnt happen sometimes) it wasnt a dimple I had found but a slight dent under my left boob and ONLY when I flex. She felt around and did an examine but didnt find anything of concern told me breast are naturally lumpy and mine were larger so it was nothing out of the ordinary. Now I'm here and I've had check ups since multiple doctor visits with blood tests, chest xrays, ct scans, cdcs everythings all come back normal. I had wondered would this be the case with breast cancer wouldnt something small have shown up if this disease was in me? It's been driving me crazy I've had this for nearly 2 years and I rarely think of it. Because usually its melanoma or skin or heart disease or something new. I'm just afraid that now that I'm 26 I dont have much longer on this earth. Please I'm begging someone to help me, tell something that can help with this anxiety because 9 times out of 10 I'm sure that's what it is. Please help, 26andscared

Hello everybody, this post will be quite long, but I just need to get this off my chest. My name is Paul (20 yrs old) and I am from Germany. For the last 6 months I have been suffering from severe health anxiety which also lead to depression. Health anxiety is not new to me (typical hypochondriac). I had several episodes of health anxiety during my early teenage years because I'm a very sensitive and anxious person when it comes to health. Some examples are: fear of catching HIV at 13 (without any reason), obsessively washed my hands so much that they started bleeding because I wanted to kill all the germs and I also had a time where I was afraid of cancer. The reason why I got these fears in the first place was because of googling my symptoms (Dr. Google). All these fears were only temporarily (never lasted more than 3 months) and didn't require any kind of treatment. Since then, I lived pretty much without any anxiety and OCD behaviours. A little bit about myself: I am very ambitious and always set high goals for myself. Next to high school, I would spend all my time with my passion which is coding. I wouldn't say that I am nerdy or socially akward, but I am the type of guy that would choose working and reading over going out for drinks. I am also a bit obsessive/OCD in everything that I do. Very often, I would work up to 14 hours a day during vacations and enjoy every second of it. Overall I would say that I live a pretty healthy lifestyle. Besides of keeping a healthy diet, I also lift weights up to 5 times a week in the gym and try to avoid unhealthy habits like excessive drinking or regular smoking. Now onto what's bothering me: Almost two years ago I had this stupid habit of smoking hookah with my friends in these so-called hookah lounges which are very common here (they have become very popular here and the majority of teens have already tried it). It was a thing that I "only" did two or three times a month on the weekends to chill out with friends. However, I never thought of it as a big deal health-wise since I never became addicted to it and didn't do it every day. So one night in December 2016 me and 3 other friends wanted to try out a new bar. We ordered two hookahs...nothing unusual so far. I can remember that I was taking very deep hits because I was trying to do O's with the smoke for the first time (Yes, very stupid, I know...). Only 20 minutes or so passed by and all of a sudden after taking a deep hit I got pretty bad stomach aches (This had already happened to me once because I was also trying to do O's and took deep hits about two months prior but it went away after 30 seconds after I stopped smoking). I thought I had diarrhea so I quickly stood up and rushed to the bathroom. On the way, I was a bit dizzy, so when I got in the bathroom I passed out. When I woke up again, I felt PERFECTLY FINE, no stomache aches, no dizzines... NOTHING, I just felt great. I don't know how long I passed out but probably not that long, otherwise my friends or somebody else would have noticed. When I fell, I slightly hit my head on a piece of furniture so I got a small scratch which was bleeding and cleaned it up with some water but nothing too crazy. During that time, my friends were still smoking, as if nothing had happened, they were all fine. Since I was feeling so great again (no more symptoms), I just called it a night and decided not to go to the hospital. I hadn't smoked in a few weeks so I thought this was just a reaction of my body because of the deep hits, but nothing too crazy. I also was a bit scared because my mother would find out that I smoked. After that I went home and did a bit of googling, just to make sure everything is okay (very typical of me). I didn't find anything too crazy and I was more concerned about my wound than me blacking out. The next day was a sunday but since I always want to make sure that everything is okay, I went to the doctor to check the scratch. He said everything was fine and I told him that I slipped and bumped my head on the ground because I didn't want him to tell my mother that I smoked. After that incident, I lived perfectly fine...I never noticed anything being weird with my body, I lived just like I did before. As a fact, the times after that incident were one of the best times of my life. I started a small coding business in my junior year of high school (2016/2017) which I put my whole energy into and loved it. Then senior year came (2017/2018) and I did my best to get the best possible grades (while running that small business) so that I could get accepted to my dream university. This was by far the most stressful period of my life. Two months before the final exams I already noticed that the stress was taking a huge toll on my body. I spent many nights sleepless because I had obsessive thoughts like "What if you don't get the required grades?". It got so bad that I had to go to my doctor to get sleeping pills and something to calm me down during the day. This is where my anxiety began: During the peak of my exam studies in april, I came across an article on facebook that you can get carbon monoxyde poisoning from smoking hookah. These were a series of articles that were published at that time. At first, I didn't think much of it, because I had lived perfectly fine since that incident. But then I started googling (MY BIGGEST MISTAKE) and read all these articles which were written in a very dramatic way (things like: you can get parkinson, irreparable brain damage, and concentration difficulties if you don't get immediate treatment after such a poisoning). I never noticed anything being wrong with me, never had any concentration issues (some days I would study up to 12 hours without any problems), got straight A's in the tests prior to my final exams... no signs of anything being wrong. I got very severe health anxiety at that time and even experienced my first panic attack ever (thought I was going to have a heart attack) because I also started reading more generally about carbon monoxide poisoning (not just from smoking hookah). During the day I was always anxious, my heart was beating so fast because I had obsessive thoughts like "There is now something wrong with you and you will not reach your goals because of it". It was by far the worst I have ever felt. The fact that I had my final exams coming up in a month, didn't help... I could only study after taking a tranquilizer because my anxiety was horrible. I then decided to go visit my GP to ask her for advice. She said that I had nothing to worry about and that I was fine. I felt a bit of relief but the obsessive thoughts wouldn't stop. After the second visit, she prescribed me antidepressants (she probably thought I was a crazy hypochondriac). I then visited two more GP's and they told me the same. They said that even if it was such a poisoning, it would have been a minor one without any consequences for my health. I got a blood test done and everything was perfect "just don't worry" I heard from them. The anxiety wouldn't stop but I did my best to distract myself with studying for my upcoming finals. I got straight A's in my final exams, got a much higher grade than the required one for my dream university and was ranked among the best in my school. I had decided in winter that I would take a gap year after high school, so that I could focus on building my business. After high school, my anxiety became even worse. I was laying in bed all day (very unusual of me), crying and hopeless about my future because I thought that I had ruined my health and therefore my life. Weeks passed by and the antidepressants started working slowly. I went on vacation with my family to try to clear my mind. The only thing that saved me from going insane, was the gym. I was lifting weights up to 6 times a week to release my anger. I haven't worked on my business since the day I read that article because I had obsessive thoughts like "you're not good enough anymore". I became very depressed because I was laying in bed all day doing nothing. I also told my mother and sister about how I was feeling, they also told me that I had nothing to worry about, since my GP said everything was fine and it had happened over 1 year ago. 2 months had passed by and I decided to go visit a psychiatrist. I talked to him for 1 hour and he could't understand why I was worried. He said that I should spend my time doing something productive to distract myself from the negative thoughts. After that I even visited went to the hospital to get the opinion from a specialist of the hyperbaric chamber department. He really wasn't taking me very seriously and told me that I had nothing to worry about and that I was fine. One month has now passed since that hospital visit. My anxiety has lowered a lot but my life is just pure chaos right now. I don't know how I should feel about myself and about my future. My business is still running, but I haven't followed a productive daily routine for 5 months now. Most of the day I watch youtube videos, sleep and go to the gym, to distract myself from negative thoughts. Before I had read that article, my future looked very promising. If I had never come across that stupid article, my life would be a lot different right now. I feel like a failure but I know that I can't continue living like this. I don't want to waste this gap year and don't want to disappoint my parents. I even visited my dream university for the open day but with all that anxiety it just didn't feel right... Sorry for the length of this post but I really don't know what I should do now or how I should feel about all of this. I really want to get back to building my business and living life. It is really difficult to just "not worry"... I never thouht that this small incident would have such a huge effect on my life because I was feeling fine back then. It didn't seem like a big deal to me. I also didn't have any headaches (which are a common symptom for poisoning). I really don't now... I regret it so much that I didn't go immediately to the hospital. Even if I don't notice anything being wrong with my health, this uncertainty of not knowing 100% is just killing me... I'm kind of angry at myself for having put my health at risk like that.

Hello, Newbie here. just trying to share my pain and worries. Does anyone worry excessively about their parents? I mean, I worry constantly to the point If : 1. they call/ text me in a weird hour My heart races 2. their last seen on whatsapp is not recent, I will panic I mean, It's really tiring and I guess there have been several trigger. one big one was my Dad's Emergency Heart bypass a few years ago. We were so lucky that we found it before anything bad happen. He did not have any symptom and was just randomly checking. We were so grateful that it was found without any heart damage and that now he is taking medicines to control his risks. The thing is, he was always super healthy even before the surgery: normal blood pressure, exercise 5 days a week, eats healthily, etc. he just had slightly (10%) high cholesterol . this really threw me off and I've always been super worried about him ever since. I always dread his bi-yearly check up. and am sick with worries if the time has come for him to do check up. I am grateful that his check up has always come out great but I still cannot stop worrying. 2 years after that, My mom has developed piriformis syndrome which prevented her to sit too much. she is now so much better but it comes and goes. I know this is normal and she just needs some lifestyle changes. and again, I should be grateful. I just cannot shake the memory when Dad has called in the morning a few months back saying that mom is really hurting and needed to go to the Emergency room for this. This has come to a point where I cannot concentrate at work, I obsessed over every little "pain" they have and just overly worried about them all the time. I check on them all the time and I know this can be annoying for them as well. Furthermore, I am terrified if they decide to go the doctor for something, and this prevents me from reminding them it's time for their checkup!! this is horrible. it is a good thing they want a check up. but I tremble every time and this is exhausting. just sharing my thoughts. it would be great if anyone would chip in on how to overcome this and/or has the same experience. I'm quite exhausted.

I wanted to share very briefly what I have been going through the last month. Im a 39 year old male and Ive had HA off and on since I was a child. Some months are great and some months are bad. My most recent episode started with me having internal trembling when I was in bed. Whenever I would wake up throughout the night I would have sensations of my limbs trembling (non-visible). I've had this off on through the last year, but it was becoming more persistent. So, I made the mistake of googling what might be the cause. Of course many things can be the cause, but I zeroed in on ALS (which I guess internal vibrations is not a common ALS symptom). This is when all the crazy stuff started to happen. At the time I started to Google ALS the only symptom I had was internal vibrations. The more I read the more I started to manifest symptoms. The first new symptom was that my hands started to feel stiff and I started to have a lot of trouble typing (within one day of googling ALS). I'm graphic designer so I type and use a mouse all day long. Next my legs started to become very weak. Both legs from my thigh to my feet would become very wobbly and felt that I had just worked them out. My legs felt like they were falling asleep and would be tingling, almost ticklish. I then started looking for foot drop and I started walking funny and favoring one leg over the other because one leg was weak and tingling more than the other. Next came twitching and spasms at night mainly, but some during the day as well. Next I started remembering back that there were times when I had thought I was slurring my words. The slurring started to get worse and I was concentrating on my voice and speech constantly. My neck began to hurt and my voice began to be more raspy and hoarse (almost no voice at times). My tongue started feeling awkward in my mouth and I began to inadvertently bite it. Next I started checking reflexes and noticed that I was very jumpy and my fingers would constantly twitch when I would fan them out. This all happened within two weeks from when I first started googling ALS. My inclination is that many of these ailments/symptoms already existed, but I'm just more aware of them because Im looking for them. I still have all the above symptoms and I'm still constantly checking all parts of my body and I find new symptoms that I think point to ALS every day. I'm a little over three weeks into my ALS fears and my mindset and more importantly my body is really feeling the affects of my anxiety. I'm sore all over and I have the urge to cry and my throat feels tight (can't cry though). I'm sharing all of this because there is a big part of me that knows a lot of these symptoms are very likely due to anxiety and my ability to manifest very real symptoms. I also thought it my be therapeutic to express what Im going through and also help anyone else who has had these symptoms and is battling HA. I look forward to the day that some of my symptoms subside so I can get myself out of this viscous ALS fear cycle (ALS symptoms seem to mimic anxiety symptoms almost perfectly at times). Thanks for letting me express myself and feel free to reply if you can relate.

I've been trying my harderst to get my anxiety under control but I've been failing. I've been obsessed with my throat lately and getting throat cancer. Everyone I show says they see nothing wrong, I have no pain or discomfort, no swollen lymph nodes or pain of any kind. The more I think of it the more I feel a lump in my throat when I swallow. And i think the veins in the back of my throat look weird. I'm only 25 years old and I'm always scared of one thing or another but this really has me by the throat. Can anyone help?

Hello, For the past six weeks, I've had a constant metallic/bitter/soapy taste in my mouth that varies in severity from mild to absolutely intolerable. After having it for about three weeks, it went away for a few days, then came back, and has now been constant, day and night, for about a month. It started suddenly one evening when I was having dinner. A copper/bloody taste felt like it came up from the back of my throat and coated my tongue. I thought I had bit my lip or something, and it really freaked me out. Ever since then, it's there constantly, and seems to get worse throughout the day - by the time evening rolls around, it tastes like I have a bar of soap in my mouth. Oddly, this hasn't really impacted the taste of food or drink - in fact, because food and drink tastes normal, I've been over eating as a kind of escape. Every day I have to use so many mints to mask the taste that it makes me nauseous. I saw my GP about it, and she put me on a round of steroids which did nothing. I went to the dentist a few weeks ago, and it's definitely not a dental problem. I have no fillings. I have an appointment with my ENT in a week. I take gabapentin and lorazepam daily - my GP said it is very rare for either of these medications to cause a metallic taste. I have absolutely hideous anxiety, and I've had a metallic taste during panic attacks before, but it never lingered 24/7 like this. It's there even when I wake up to get a drink of water in the early morning. Needless to say, it's driving me insane with worry, as well as just being annoying - I'm afraid something is wrong with my kidneys/liver/who knows. I'm a healthy (as far as I know) 25/m. I've had problems with heavy drinking before, but not recently. 6ft, ~190. I've had issues with GERD the last two years, but quite mild - burping, some mild heartburn here and there, etc. There have been no changes in these symptoms before or after the onset of this horrible taste. Has anybody else experienced this? I'm at a loss. It's had a huge negative impact on my life. I called into work two days last week, and have been sleeping 10-12 hours every night just because I can't stand it anymore. Help!

I don't know if anyone really knows about the subject but I'm terrfied of getting head and throat cancer from HPV. A couple months ago i was here with fear of als. It crippled me, i was in bed for weeks. My mom finally took me to the hospital, i was prescribed ablifiy and hydralazine. I had to stop abilify due to losing insurance. Now im here. 4 years ago some woman pushed my wife against a wall and gave her an open mouth kiss. There was no sexual activity whatsoever. Just a kiss that lasted seconds. Idk that person so I have no way of knowing if they have hpv. My wife isn't concerned but I AM. Since oral cancer can be spread through oral sex and I have no way of knowing if this woman had oral sex with someone who had hpv and spread it to my wife and in turn to me. I am terrfied of getting head and throat cancer and as of know there is no sure way to test for hpv inside mouth. I am scared and right back to where I was. Can anyone help me ? Please. I have only ever had one sexual partner as has my wife.

I am new to this forum and I am in your exact boat. I have been worried about ALS for 6 months ever since I had a brother in law diagnosed with it and started having twitches. I posted my story in my intro here. Today was my neurological appointment, and the Dr told me I was the 4th person this week that had presented with severe twitching all over the body and not a single one had ALS. She gave me a complete neurological exam and was told I passed with flying colors. I could have an MRI if I needed for peace of mind but in her professional opinion it was not necessary. She then told me I had something I had never heard of and explained my symptoms (muscle twitching, perceived weakness, trouble finding words (not slurring), fatigue, numbness, etc). Functional Neurological Disorder/Disease - FND. Often brought on by trauma, chronic stress/anxiety, panic attach, or even infection. In short, it is when you have no problem with the hardware in your brain (no tumor, cancer, stroke or structural disease such as MS or ALS) but there is a software problem in the way the brain is sending signals. I have scanned the document I was given below and the website it references. I did a search on this forum and only found 2 posts under FND so not sure how often it is mentioned or known. The big thing is it gave me a real explanation for my symptoms and something to believe in other than all the worse case scenarios I had been imagining in my head. It explains why the twitches don't stop even when I feel calm and why the jerkiness and trouble walking are not just in my head. And the great news is it is very reversible with therapies and other treatment. I encourage research on this and even googling it (yes, finally something positive to google). Having this knowledge helped my symptoms immediately. I hope this helps. Links to the websites in the document: http://www.neurosymptoms.org and http://www.fndhope.org

Hi I joined this forum two days ago. And I have seen at least four people here including myself fearing they have MS. Yes we might have googled our symptoms. Tingling in body, weird sensations etc. The problem with Google is, it will always bring up medical reasons. Anxiety is not adequately mentioned anywhere in the descriptions. Also for MS, it is mentioned that sometimes it doesn't show up on MRIs, It's different for everyone, doctors can't diagnose it for years, the earliest symptom is tingling. This leads many of us to assume that we have MS. Yes we need to stop googling. But now we have done it and developed the fear. How to come out of it is the question I am still battling with.

Hello everyone, I’ve been off and on this site for awhile. Let me just keep it simple.... back in October that’s when I started my HA FEAR. My hotspot is my left calf. And of course I twitch everywhere else sometimes but majority left calf. Ive seem more than 3 doctors and they told me it was ALS. I was good for awhile, I got a new job, etc. started working out more and more. I had an appointment last month with a neurologist but I felt like I was okay. A month later I twisted my left ankle in basketball cause I tripped on my friends foot. Then I reinjure my ankle cause I was dancing and I guess I slipped on some water on the floors anyways my head has been saying “what if it’s the beginning” ive had twitches since October and I know something more sinister would show by this time now so I calm down a little but it’s always there. I’m going through a brake up right now, I dropped my friends and don’t go out as much anymore. I sleep most of my days. Just a lot going on rn and I don’t know what to do. I’m 25 and I feel like I’m going no where in life and everything is falling apart. Thanks for reading this.

Does anyone else here have health/illness anxiety? I've had generalized anxiety, and at times, panic disorder for the past 12 years (I'm in my early 30's). Most of my anxiety was more related to social situations, academics, and big crowds. After having my first child about 2 years ago, it seems the health anxiety started. I had complications after the birth, including a severe infection and preeclampsia (let me add that I absolutely hate hospitals and they give me anxiety). After everything resolved, I began paying attention to my heart rate constantly. For a little while I was repeatedly taking my blood pressure and heart rate, even though both were great. It was almost if I was looking for something to be wrong. At times, I would also get the chest tightness/breathing issues that I know are associated with anxiety (had a chest x-ray, EKG). At the beginning of last month I ended up with the flu. I got pretty sick with fevers of up to 102.5, rapid heart rate at times, terrible cough. Went to the ER twice and they took chest x-ray, EKG, listened to lungs, ran blood work, everything looked fine. After recovering for a few days, I caught a gastro virus which came with a low fever. I went back to the ER, panicked that I had pneumonia or something. Everything checked out fine. A week later, my head was hurting, I had chest tightness, heart palpitations, and a stuffy, burning nose. I went back to the ER in a panic and they told me that it was a sinus infection and started me on antibiotics. I was sick for a good 3 weeks. After everything resolved, I began to have panic attacks and general anxiety throughout the day, convincing myself that I wasn't better and something must be wrong. Anxiety is a vicious cycle for me, it turns into faster heart rate, crying, nausea/stomach tightness and chest tightness. I have lost about 5 pounds and most recently convinced myself that something is seriously wrong because I'm not intentionally trying to lose weight (thanks, Google). I started tracking my calorie intake and realized I wasn't eating enough. So now I'm obsessively checking my weight and heart rate and forcing myself to eat more (its tough because of the nauseousness from anxiety). Most recently, bloodwork showed slight anemia, but the next week I took another test and it said it resolved. I think it was from not eating. My doctor ordered a final blood test before the last one, that I only went in for a few days ago (to check on the anemia, which has resolved, per the last test). I'm waiting for those results and having severe anxiety about it. I'm convincing myself that there is something else seriously wrong. I'm at witt's end here. Has anyone dealt with anything similar?

Hi guys i am a 20 yr old male and for the past 2 weeks I have had twitching throughout my body first it started in my eyelid and now it happens throughout my body randomly in different places any place in my body such as shoulder back butt forearm practically anywhere . I keep worrying that it is either als or some type of terrible disorder. I defiantly have health anxiety and worry about any little thing. I just am worried about this and I feel that posting on here and hearing others will help me tremendously. My twitches happen at random even at times when my anxiety flares up I do not notice them more than usual. They also can happen at anytime anywhere even if I’m not anxious nor thinking about them. Also when I go to look at them typically they are not there nor twitching only have seen my eye and leg and shoulder do it very few times. That’s how fast they come and go. They are 1-3 second twitches every time and only in my eyelid persist more than that or they’ll twitch for 1-3 seconds on and off for a couple of minutes . I’m very active I ran a mile today and did 100 push-ups and sits up yesterday and the day before that. I just am worried it is something worse and that it is not yet progressed because it’s only been 2 weeks. Please help

i figured it's time to join a forum because i'm so tired of keeping everything bottled inside. i got a concussion in may and ever since then i get anxious every time i hit my head. yesterday, i hit my head against the edge of my laptop and the first thing i said was "ow...oh now i'm worried" because i was immediately worried about getting a concussion. this morning i woke up with slight head pressure and i'm really tired (but i'm also a busy college student). i have no other symptoms besides that and this anxiety, but somehow i am convinced that i have a concussion. i don't only have anxiety around concussions. in fall 2018, i got a virus from the common cold that made me pass out and i was sent to the hospital. i had an abnormally elevated heart rate. since then, i've developed a fear of passing out and for a while, i was obsessed with checking my heart rate. every time i have to give a presentation or speech, i am now scared i'm going to pass out in front of everyone and end up in the hospital again. if there is a sickness going around, i assume i'm going to catch it. sometimes i think that i'm going to get cancer and not even know. i have such irrational fears and i'm so scared of dying. wow, things just got deep. i've been trying to go to my therapist and the good news is that i am the kind of person who wants to fix my issues right away. i don't like feeling like i can't control what i have, and perhaps that is why i have anxiety. i'd appreciate any sort of comment because i hope i'm not the only one who feels this way. that is why i joined this forum.

About 9 months ago I had sex for the first time. It only lasted about 2 minutes before I noticed he wasnt using protection so I quickly told him to stop and leave. I'm 18 and I'm very scared of std's. So I asked him 24/7 did he have any std's he always said no I even ask him so much till the point where he gets mad and fustrated and told me to go get tested if I didnt believe him. I have since then developed health anxiety. I've been on google ever since the sexual encounter. I've convinced myself that I've had HIV and cancer and a brain tumor. I cant even say these words because everytime I hear or say them I get really weak and sweaty and anxious. Everyday I wake up feeling terrible and I'm really scared to go to the doctor. I stay up late on google just feeling so much worse. No matter what I do I always think I'm dying soon it's always on my mind I cant enjoy life. I have brain zaps, and my skin itches for about 10 minutes everyday and then It leaves, I have really fast heartbeats of over 110 every day, I havent had any weight loss, I have a rash on my leg, I get sweaty sometimes and hot flashes. I havent had any flu like symptoms even tho I do have upset stomach sometimes. I am constantly checking my body everyday for new symptoms and sensations so I can google it and feel even worse. If anyone has these symptoms when they are anxious please let me know I'll feel more relaxed. I just set up an appointment to the doctor next week but I really want something to take my mind off of this until then

I am 22 years old, and the past couple years for me have been some of the most difficult times of my life, from a mental standpoint. Health anxiety is something that has affected my sister, and I never understood her pain, until recently I have realized I am going through the same thing. These past 2 years have been extremely difficult, and it actually caused me to quit a very good job and move back to my hometown, which was something I never thought I would do. The more frequent it is becoming, the worse the incidents are. Lately, the past 3 months to be exact, I have completely convinced myself that I have ALS. I started working 68 hour weeks on nights, and started twitching in my eyes constantly. I tried to ignore it to the best of my ability, but never could completely block it out. Then one night, I started to twitch right above the knee on both legs, along with a feeling that I just ran a mile. Dr. Google had come up with ALS, and of course that is what I set my mind on. The constant twitching and weakness went away, but my worry of ALS just got worse. Now, I have random twitches all over my body, and a perceived weakness in both shoulders and my right hand. I went to the doctor, and he referred me to a nuerologist, but the appointment is 3 months away. When I can keep occupied, the twitching and perceived weakness seems to go away. But once it crosses my mind, it’s there again. I can’t help myself from reading every google article that comes up about ALS, as well as patient stories. It’s getting way out of control, and it is affecting my social, work, and everyday activities. Any help, comments, tips, and just a conversation would be greatly appreciated. Thank you all.

Hi guys... new here I’ve been reading many posts which seem to help me a bit! But I had a few questions.. I have been getting tingling/ pins and needles sensations in both my feet non stop. I had it for a few weeks and it goes away then comes back for no known reason. Had an mri of brain and cervical spine recently and all is completely normal. Just had a full work up of blood tests, absolutely perfect on everything. I have severe health anxiety and both my neurologist and primary care say I need to get ms out of my head. But I just don’t understand why these sensations keep coming back when I don’t even feel particularly anxious. I get other anxiety symptoms like tense muscles, sore muscles in arms and legs on occasion but this pins and needles is really stressing me out and I can’t calm down. Any one else have persistent symptoms like this?? Please help.

Before I begin speaking any, I guess I should give a little background on who I am and what I have been going through. My name is Daniel Hall and I am 18 years old. I'm currently a student at Lincoln Memorial University in Harrogate, Tennessee; I am studying conservation biology as I have always had a love for nature. I have always been a hypochondriac. I can remember multiple times throughout my very young life (6-15 years old) where I was having episodes of what I now know to be anxiety. These episodes were mostly due to the usual--cancer worries, tumor worries, etc. In my junior year of high school--to my great dismay--I was in A.P. Biology class and we watched a documentary on Steve Gleason and his journey with ALS. Ever since, it has been my biggest fear; however, it was never affecting my life in any way... until about 2 months, 1 week, and 3 days ago. I began having a twitch in my neck. I honestly don't believe it twitched more than two or three times and then stopped. Anyways, ALS had popped up in my mind a few days prior as I had read about someone famous being diagnosed with it (I believe), so, I immediately Googled "muscle twitching" and found that one of the first things to pop up was amyotrophic lateral sclerosis--ALS, or as it's better known, Lou Gehrig's disease. As many of you can imagine, an immediate panic went through my body and I freaked out internally, but managed to keep my cool as I knew it was super rare and that I most likely didn't have ALS. That didn't matter, though, as within hours I was twitching body-wide, head-to-toe, non-stop. 24/7 fasciculations. Luckily, my school was just about to begin Thanksgiving break and I was able to have a week to research (wish I didn't), mope (still do), and manage to get over my first bout of anxiety. I found that fasciculations are rarely the presenting symptom of ALS, and that body-wide fasciculations are even more rare as a presenting symptom. In fact--I've never read a story of body-wide twitching being the presenting symptom of ALS ever. Queue the happy, fun, and enjoyable Daniel. Back in business! That didn't last long, however, as I began to notice a tingle in my left arm which I knew had nothing to do with ALS. I began wondering if this is maybe MS or neuropathy or whatever other inconvenient but non-life threatening disease I could imagine. Then I began to notice an odd weakness in that arm. It only felt weak; I could still perform any action that I could before the feeling of weakness, but it definitely felt weak. Queue the anxiety! Within a weeks time this went away. I'm going to make the rest of this as short and undetailed as possible as this is beginning to really drag itself out. After the perceived arm weakness came perceived swallowing issues. I was having trouble swallowing, I had choked on my water maybe two or three times, and I was absolutely freaking out. The next symptom was nasal speech that was due to a very small sinus infection that I began dealing with. The perceived swallowing issues went away immediately. Then came perceived slurred speech. My tongue felt huge and was "dragging" in my mouth. It felt heavy. The perceived nasal speech went away as soon as my sinus infection went away. Then I finally accepted that I wasn't slurring and this was all in my head. It worked! I stopped worrying and had no more anxiety--or so I thought--and was out of the rabbit hole. I wasn't slurring, and life was ready to be lived from Mr. Daniel Hall! Until I began working out and noticing that my left arm was sore longer than my right :). I strained it. Very easy to do. I used to work out a lot, but quit after the beginning of my health anxiety over ALS. When I went back to working out, I went full force and full effort. I was sore for nearly a week! Anyways, this soreness led to more perceived weakness and tightness that has now went away as my focus has shifted to a new symptom--speech changes. Last night, my girlfriend and I were laying on her couch watching a movie, and I said something to her. Her reply was "your voice sounds different." I don't believe the panic was as bad as it has been before, but it was awful. She immediately knew what she had done, and she apologized and tried to calm me and reassure me. I was beyond the realm of peace from reassurance. I panicked and was anxious all last night and all today. I have been non-stop honed in and focused on my voice and the way it sounds. The point of all of this is to show the effect that anxiety can have on our lives. I joined this forum only days ago and already have seen countless threads of people worrying about ALS. I am 18, have no family history of ALS (or any neurological diseases in fact), with a family history of severe anxiety. Everyone on my father's side relies on anxiety medicine. I have just started anxiety medication not too long ago, but it is not helping as much as I'd like it to as I am letting this fear take control of my mind. The fear is irrational and is of something that I don't have and couldn't control if I did have it. It's funny, too; I can go on someone else's thread and reassure them and give them all the 1,000+ reasons why they don't have ALS, yet I seem to make the faintest connections from dots of information that aren't even real--dots of information that are just made up in my world of fear. I hope some of those who are having problems with ALS fears, or health anxiety in general, can read this and take a step back and look at their situation from a more mature and less anxiety-ridden view. I also hope that I can get some support from those of you who have been through these fears and understand the struggle. Anxiety is a real illness that can sometimes take a greater toll on an individual and those around them than a very genuine and very serious illness, but unlike those illnesses, anxiety can be conquered if it is recognized, understood, and an attempt is made to get rid of it, and support can make all the difference in the world when trying to accomplish those three things. P.S. Sorry for rambling on. My mind has been in a fog due to all of my anxiety, and thus my writing is very random and uncoordinated.