To think this is NOT ‘just anxiety’

[Badcraic]

posted before, unfortunately I can’t seem to find my original post but since then I’ve been back to the doctors and had no improvement anyway.

I keep getting told my symptoms are just anxiety, which I agree they could be but something just doesn’t seem right in my opinion. I’m not at all an anxious person, and I’ve never had any anxiety before. My gut instinct says something isn’t right- I don’t know how or why, but I just know that something isn’t right in my body.

I keep getting sensations down my leg on one side of my body. It comes and goes but when it comes it involves a numbness/dead feeling going from my mid thigh down my knee and calf and into my foot. The feeling is always down the back of my leg not the front. I get pins and needles down my leg and under the sole of my foot too. It feels like I’ve been lying on it but I haven’t. It just comes and goes randomly. It’s always on one side of my body. I also get awful pain at me knee- again, it comes and goes but at times I can’t bend and straighten it. It’s not swollen or bruised, and it doesn’t hurt to talk on it. I haven’t injured or hurt it at all. I’ve started getting the exact same numbness and deadness on my arm on that same side of my body too. I’ve had excruciating headaches several times a week- again, on the same side of my head as the other symptoms.

I know this could be anxiety, but I’ve just got a bad feeling and I can’t explain why. I never usually have any type of anxiety and I don’t get worried about health problems. I’ve had 2 blood tests and I don’t have low folate, b12, anaemia, or anything like that. My GP said the only thing it could be is anxiety because I’m under 30 and otherwise healthy. I asked to be referred to someone else (anyone who could help!) but he said it wasn’t necessary. I went privately to a physio who said there’s nothing wrong with my leg or arm on that side of my body that they could help with and to keep going to the GP, but when I do they tell me it’s anxiety. I’ve tried mindfulness and all the anxiety management but it didn’t help and I’m not anxious

but it’s having such a big impact on my life now and I’m miserable all the time because it comes and goes so often and it’s so uncomfortable :(

does anyone have any advice on what I could do? Or if it could just be anxiety and I’m being silly about it all?

Nobody on here can diagnose you, and, if you do have anxiety there are a number of these responses that will actively make you feel worse.

Go back to the Dr and, if you can afford it, look at accessing private treatment .

@Badcraic I haven't had throwing up at all- they certainly need to be excluding MS- it's because I'm 61 that the neuro said it was less likely - although I'm still not 100% convinced. I get weird facial type burning too -

The strange thing is my bloods only showed lowish vit D and pre diabetic but about 5 days ago I started using the B12 spray under the tongue (even though my active B12 showed as fine- felt it was worth a shot ) and my headaches have gone down a lot and I've had less pins and needles too- whether it's just a coincidence I don't know.

@gardendream
I have seen curable mentioned on the mn thread I'm on for chronic back pain. Why do you think it would help me please?

I think that the difference between anxiety and your issue is that you only have it in one side of the body. My sister has anxiety and has it in both legs, hand and her head. Pins and needles and numbness makes it sound like a form of neuropathy, the exact cause of which can be hard to diagnose and therefore treat.
Your headaches and poor mood I would say is probably more likely to be from anxiety - over your leg issue. Even though you don't think you're anxious, your subconscious can be working on a completely different track.
GPS see so much of this that I think they're really hesitant to refer onwards. It took me 15 years for them to take my pain seriously by which time I occasionally had to go in a wheelchair. Keep going back.

Because it’s a helpful approach for any kind of chronic pain. I took this screen shot from a neuropathic pain therapist on Instagram the other day, it gives a quick guide as to when the Curable type approach can help.

Are you on the combined pill OP?

Really annoys me when women’s symptoms are brushed off as anxiety. It feels like the modern version of calling women ‘hysterics’ or hysterical.

I’d want nerve testing.

Have you researched hemiplegic migraine at all? Or migraine with aura?

Absolutely all women should be aware of medical sexism and be prepared to advocate for themselves.

Then again GPs generally assume anyone under 30 has nothing serious regardless of gender unless it’s staring them in the face.

It sounds very much like sciatica, which can come and go.

An MRI of my head and neck showed that I have a compressed nerve in my neck which was causing numbness, pins and needles down one side. I paid for a private MRI as was worried about MS but GP was dismissive.

Could it be hemiplegic migraine?

Sorry missed that's already been suggested!

My sister's friend aged 22 was diagnosed with MS... see a different GP!

https://www.her.ie/celeb/selma-blair-urged-christina-applegate-get-tested-ms-spotting-symptom-579095

Sciatica is not in your arm and head.

Pain caused by trapped nerves is called sciatica if it is in the lower back, buttocks, legs, and feet and brachialgia if the pain is felt higher, such as in the shoulder, arms, and hands. It can start as high as the neck and sometimes the head.

Sciatica has many causes, it’s not just caused by compressed nerves.

Brachialga just means arm pain, normally from compressed nerve.

Hemiplegic migraine is definitely something to consider, how quickly do the symptoms come and go OP?

I have a severe anxiety disorder and to be honest, I've never had such localised symptoms. I do get tingling/numbness and headaches etc, but it usually moves around, and also comes and goes quickly and at random times. That's not to say your symptoms couldn't be caused by anxiety, but it does seem odd they'd be only on one side.

Sorry you're dealing with this! Could you try seeing a different GP? Explain that you've never had anxiety before, you don't feel anxious and you don't want to be brushed off.

I get the pins and needles and numbness in my hands but I have disc bulges in my neck. The GP also said it could have been my diabetes or high blood pressure, as I have them too or vit b12 deficiency. May be worth some checks?

I'm a mental health professional and just wanted to say that if you don't think you're anxious, that doesn't mean this isn't caused by anxiety.

Over the years I've had patients who didn't seem the least bit anxious - scores on all our measures are in the normal range, probably lower than mine would be on an average day, they find it hard to answer questions about what brought them to therapy, but had unexplained physical symptoms. I've realised there can actually be a connection.

I've had come across this in my personal life as well - my brother was in serious car accident and was completely nonchalant about it. He seemed completely unphased by it but then 6 months later all his hair fell out and the only explanation was the shock of the accident.

Similarly, I have a friend who is also a psychologist and she has had very similar symptoms to what you've described - tingling, numbness and sometimes pain in arms and legs. It was investigated but they couldn't find a cause and the doctor concluded it was anxiety. She was convinced it wasn't as she wasn't anxious and felt she would know as she works with anxiety every day. (She did note she was going through several life events that others would consider stressful (eg buying a house) but didn't feel stressed by it.)

It did go away on its own but has come back over the years, always during stressful periods.

I have no idea if this is the case for you but for some people, they don't feel their stress emotionally; they feel calm and unphased by things but then their stress comes out through seemingly unrelated medically unexplained symptoms.

If OP has thorough testing, nasties are ruled out and nothing shows up, then CFS/migraine/anxiety are in the picture. But I wouldn’t jump to a conclusion on the basis of 2 blood tests.

Have you had an MRI? I think you're well within your rights to want to rule out MS here.

I had weird pins & needles and numbness and the GP worked out I had a vit D deficiency- was that checked/ruled out in your blood tests?

Sorry I haven't read the full thread but I've read all your updates. The symptoms sound very neurological in nature, could it be FND? This is a neurological condition and can really range in severity, but often has no bearing on tests and diagnostics so can often be dismissed as MH or or even "putting it on", but that is purely down to ignorance and uneducated professionals. I work in neurology, and assuming you're in the absence of any alarming "testable" physical signs (other than the symptoms you describe) this could be a real possibility.
Given what you've described though I'm really surprised they haven't at least done a CT head or other scan to rule things out.

I think you need a review by a neurologist and you need to tell your GP they absolutely need to rule out other pathologies before jumping to anxiety. Yes of course it could be related, but this is massively affecting your life and it needs to be going further than just your GP. You need to stamp your feet and kick up a fuss sometimes to be heard and to get the treatment you actually need, unfortunately, they are far too quick to write things off and just put down to mental health.