Stress and anxiety mimicking MS symptoms

[alana]

Hi

I know there are a lot of postings on various forums about this stuff, but I need to ask people myself! For about 3 weeks I have been experience, sporadically, the following things: tingling in my hands and face, occasional pins and needles in my feet, a "crawling" feeling all over my body. These things are just sporadic - they don't stay and it's not a condition that is getting worse. I had a CT scan, EEG, ECG and they were all fine. My blood tests are all clear. My neurologist said that it is very unlikely it is MS as my tingling is not getting worse - she said usually the tingling starts and gets worse progressively, whereas mine just comes and goes. Also I had a clear MRI 11 months ago which she said is a good sign as symptoms would most likely have shown up. In any case, I am having an MRI tomorrow to rule it out. I am under quite a lot of stress with university, work, home life, and am the sort of person who stresses about EVERYTHING:) I cannot stop thinking about MS even for a moment, and keep getting panic attacks. I feel like a hypochondriac but I just want to know if people have been through teh same or similar symptoms because of stress and anxiety??

Thank you!!

Alana

[alana]

Oops, I should also mention this... I had two chiropractic sessions and a thermal image of my spine and nerve irritation. It showed up that I had very high levels of nerve irritation on my cervical spine and I actually felt better after the chiro treatments.

i also work full time as a secretary so am typing, filing, doing stuff at my desk most of the day... ie sitting and bad posture may be contributing??

I find that my symptoms dissipate when I am relaxing at home or at my family's house, not worrying about work or studying. Is this all psychological??

Look forward to hearing from anyone who is going through, or who has gone through, similar stuff.

Thanks:)

[RabidBadger]

Hi Alana

I must stress that I'm not a doctor or anything but I have experienced the same thing that you describe and I have done a lot of research into the effects of anxiety on the body. This is what I have found...

Firstly, there is a strong theoretical link between anxiety and an imbalance of certain neurotransmitter chemicals, such as serotonin. As these chemicals are responsible for transmitting sensations between the nerve endings and the brain, it is logical to assume that they will affect your sense of touch.

Secondly, at times of anxiety, the blood is diverted to the parts of the body that would need it if you were in danger (heart, lungs, major muscles) and away from the parts that don't need it, such as the skin. This is why people appear pale when they are frightened. You will know from experience that if you cut off the blood supply to an area of your skin (by sitting on your feet for example) your skin tingles and you get a pins & needles sensation.

Print this mail off and discuss it with your doctor; I'm sure they will back up what I say.

I can't say that you haven't got anything physically wrong with you - hopefully the tests will confirm that - but these tingling sensations are a common effect of anxiety.

Best of luck

Chris