MS fears

[Heal 13]

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.

[Concerned-pa 17]

7 hours ago, Heal said:

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.

The part of it going undetected in MRIs is the part I that is causing such unease for me. I had a clean brain MRI but my insurance won't cover a spine MRI until I meet with my neurologist. I also have a back problem, but I feel like the pricks tingles, etc are so random (some days they're there for a few seconds/minutes, other days, they're gone all together), that there is no way it's back related. I've also read that it takes time for lesions to show up. I had my MRI done a few weeks after symptoms started.

Now I'm also dealing with right thigh/knee tightness.

I just can't settle.

[JOYCICLE 654]

Read the 100 symptoms of Anxiety post at the top of this forum page.  

Getting repeated MRI's carries risk itself. So to repeatedly  scan a healthy body is not a good plan. 

 

[DoxieMoxie 316]

13 hours ago, Heal said:

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.

As others on here know, I actually have MS so have learned quite a bit about the disease.  Let me make a couple of observations regarding the things you and Concerned PA mention.

MS can present in lots of different ways and the symptoms are pretty diverse.  Some of those symptoms overlap a lot with symptoms of other diseases, including anxiety.  For example, tingling can be caused by so so many things.  That is why HA sufferers quickly jump to MS.  HOWEVER:

1. A clear brain MRI is very good evidence of no MS.  Yes, lesions can show up later, but so can cancer.  That's part of life.  Yes, there are a few exceptional cases where it only first shows up on a spinal MRI.  I was one of those.  But please note point no. 2.

2. Although MS can present with a variety of symptoms, the symptoms do appear in certain patterns that neurologists know to recognize.  I'm not going to explain this in a lot of detail, because your anxious minds will start to develop the symptoms or imagine the patterns.  In my case, although my brain MRI was negative, the specific presentation of my symptoms quickly lead my neuro to order a spine MRI.   The way you guys describe your symptoms does not sound like MS to me at all.  Neuros know how to distinguish between anxiety symptoms and MS symptoms only too well. 

3.  It does sometimes take a while to diagnose MS because of the strict criteria, but that doesn't mean that a neuro doesn't know to strongly suspect it or dismiss it.  After my spine MRI, the neuro could not formally diagnose MS until I also developed an issue in a separate area (brief eye problems).  But she made very clear what she thought early on.   So don't confuse time for formal diagnosis with time to figure out that MS is not responsible.     

[Mark G 1186]

I think one of the main reasons why MS anxiety is so common is the variety of symptoms in which MS can present.  The more symptoms, the more suggestion can trigger fears.  Dr Google is to be avoided at all costs. 

[Concerned-pa 17]

On 3/29/2019 at 10:42 PM, Mark G said:

I think one of the main reasons why MS anxiety is so common is the variety of symptoms in which MS can present.  The more symptoms, the more suggestion can trigger fears.  Dr Google is to be avoided at all costs. 

Agreed. Just today I googled "multiple pinched nerves" thinking it may be what I'm experiencing since my leg gets more sore/tight when doing activity. I also notice the tingles in my legs come back when running around in the yard with my kids then goes away.

 

Anyways the top results were MS diagnosis stories saying they had the exact same situation. Can't win. Don't google!

[Mark G 1186]

Yes, a good example of how Google bunches all symptoms into worst case scenario's.  No consideration is taken for the plethora of other, more plausible explanations.  Worth noting also that it's only sufferers of disease/conditions who actually post online so the results are highly skewed.