First of all, I am a female, 20 yrs old, and I do have the epstein-barr virus. All three things are against me in getting MS... reason for my concern in that my calf (mostly the left side of the left leg) is numb, and has been chronically for about a year. I've been to the emergency room countless times, and they said it was only from stress. I've even had neurologists give me exams and tell me that nothing is wrong with me.. but when i went to the foot doctor about it he suggested MS, which really freaked me out. I also suffer from severe anxiety and depression. Not sure if is just from being overly anxious or if I really do have MS. There's not history in my family, but I've also read that genetics is not a big thing in MS. Now that I've researched it more though... I am starting to feel all sorts of symptoms. My leg is now starting to get tingly and itchy the more that I panic. I just am not sure what to do. I am going to hopefully see another neurologist, but I am very panicky about what is going on. Has anyone else completely convinced themselves that they have a disease?? To the point where they are in constant panic and nothing will help? Very scared.
First of all, I am a female, 20 yrs old, and I do have the epstein-barr virus. All three things are against me in getting MS... reason for my concern in that my calf (mostly the left side of the left leg) is numb, and has been chronically for about a year. I've been to the emergency room countless times, and they said it was only from stress. I've even had neurologists give me exams and tell me that nothing is wrong with me.. but when i went to the foot doctor about it he suggested MS, which really freaked me out. I also suffer from severe anxiety and depression. Not sure if is just from being overly anxious or if I really do have MS. There's not history in my family, but I've also read that genetics is not a big thing in MS. Now that I've researched it more though... I am starting to feel all sorts of symptoms. My leg is now starting to get tingly and itchy the more that I panic. I just am not sure what to do. I am going to hopefully see another neurologist, but I am very panicky about what is going on. Has anyone else completely convinced themselves that they have a disease?? To the point where they are in constant panic and nothing will help? Very scared.
Hey, I just joined these boards and saw no one has responded. So I will.
I am a hypochondriac. I know it. Whenever I feel something in my body, from an ache to a tingle, I look it up. I panic and research online. I'm finding that this doesn't help. You aren't alone in your problems. The best and only thing you can try and do is be positive. Slow life down, take a deep breath, and relax. I always try that. I forget my worries because they only drag me down, and I try to breathe and tell myself it's ok. I have a fear of heart related things. Don't even know why. But I'm here talking to you, I'm relaxed. I'm not sure about anything with MS, go to a doctor and tell them everything. They'll try their best, and what you can do is be positive. Hope this helps.
i went to the hospital last month because like, parts of the left side of my body, even part of my face were numb! i didn't know if i was having a stroke or ms or what. anyways, the doctor told me that when you have ms you usually get random weird numbness all over your body off and on, not just one spot for a long time. i can't say this is 100% correct, but my problem was nerves (sitting in a bad computer chair and sleeping all messed up). i changed some habits and that went away. trust the neurologist. they see hundreds of people and can probably really tell if it's MS or anxiety or nerves.
Yeah, it's perfectly common/normal for bad posture to cause numbness. It's just from interfering with nerve function. Good posture, gentle stretching and regular physical activity may help prevent/resolve it in the future. It's too bad your foot doctor scared you like that! (But isn't it relieving to find out there was nothing to worry about?)
Speaking of worry, I'm now careful to avoid excess calcium (as well as caffeine) and it's made me so much calmer and happier. Excessive calcium causes anxiety and depression. This is well known by medicine when it rises to the level of hypercalcemia. But I think there must be "subclinical" high calcium levels that have similar effects. (I find calcium also lends itself to reinforcing type A personality traits--if any tendency existed already.)
I've come to believe that the "freak out" component of hypochondria may often have to do with excessive calcium activity in the brain. I think it's responsible for the hypochondria that's fairly common in the men in my family (dad & uncles). I also noticed I had more twitchy reflexes than most people, which I took as a likely sign of high calcium. (Most often twitchiness in (otherwise healthy) people is probably just from caffeine, but interestingly, caffeine does that by increasing Ca activity in nerves.)
Eating healthier--especially avoiding caffeine and not overdoing it with calcium-rich/enriched foods (or antacids)--has done wonders for my anxiety, depression, and hypochondria.
I just thought I'd throw this out there. There's obviously no sense in generalizing my experience to everyone, but it seems like it could be a useful consideration for others with hypochondria.
