looking for some help

[Jules5251]

Hi I am a 33 year old mother of two that has been dealing with severe anexiety for the past few months. about two months ago I developed random muscle twitching, and a kind of internal tremor/ vibration feeling that i feel several times throughout the day in my jaw and sometimes back of neck. This isnt something you can see i just feel it from the inside. I also have a vibrating feeling in my muscles that comes and goes.

I have been to my regular doctor too many times to count over the last few months. She ran all kinds of blood work, ekg's , echos, did a spinal x-ray and an MRI with contrast that all came back normal. As well as 2 neuro exam that she said were perfect.
She feels my physical symptoms are due to panic/ anexiety disorder.

My voice has recently become alittle horse and it feels like i have to force sound out. I feel like I am constantly clearing my throat. I also feel tounge tied at times like my mouth just wont move right. Sometimes it feels like i cant swallow and chewing feels weird. If i stick out my tounge it twitches a little at the tip but seems pretty normal while at rest,although i did see it twitch once or twice.To be honest i have no appeitite and have lost bout 15 pounds the last 2 months~ which of course makes me think that my muscles are wasting away.


my Dr refered me to a neurologist. He Did a complete neuro exam, checked my tongue and said i am fine. I do not have ALS. He even gave me a 100% promise that i am fine which i know drs just dont do. He said there is no atrophy, no weakness and statisicly i dont fit the profile of having AlS. I asked him how he could tell just by the simple tests he did and he said he has been practicing for many many years. AlS is not a common condition and a good neuro can tell someone with ALS by a neuro exam. he felt no need to do an emg and says he thinks anexiety is causeing my symptoms.

My problem is I feel like I cant stop thinking about ALS. Im constantly checking my tongue in the mirror, trying to open jars, walk on my toes and hop up the stairs with both feet together! i noticed my tongue looked scallopped and the inside of my cheeks have a slight line from where my teeth are and i've been googling it for hours! Does anyone have any advice they can give me to get past this? i think im just having such a hard time beliving that anexiety can cause so many physical problems that im driving myself crazy looking for things that would explain my symptoms and getting fixated on the most horrible things. Does anyone have these symptoms? I'm so scared that maybe its Bulbar i just cant stop thinking about it. I would really appreciate any advice or reasurance anyone can give. ..

 

[joelc]

With what you have described and the added fact your doctors have told you that you do not have ALS I would scream with joy.

Read through this and you should be comfortable that you do not have ALS.

https://www.alsforums.com/forum/do-...might-have-amyotrophic-lateral-sclerosis.html

 

[Moonmark]

Jules-

It sounds to me like you are dealing with depression and anxiety, particularly with a 15 pound weight loss in such a short period of time. Sounds like there is some obsessive-compulsive disorder stuff in there, too, if you are constantly checking your tongue, testing your physical abilities, etc.

I think if you received a sound neuro exam by a good doctor who said you are in the clear for ALS (and who also sees no neurological deficits at all), then you should run with that. If you still cannot escape these intrusive, obsessive thoughts about ALS with that reassurance, then you should seek help from a mental health professional and perhaps get some medication that can give you relief from these obsessions and give you your life back. Anxiety, excessive stress, and depression can indeed lead to physical symptoms. There is a disorder called somatoform disorder in which people unconsciously express mental problems through physical symptoms. People who have suffered trauma in the past, such as child abuse or a bad car accident or disease, etc. are more likely to develop such a disorder, from what I understand. I guess the idea is that you "convert" difficult emotional issues into physical symptoms as a way of coping with these issues.

Raising children is a difficult job and perhaps you are under too much stress. Please do not let this unfounded obsession and anxiety take over your life. Get yourself to a therapist and/or psychiatrist and get some help for the real problem. Life is too short to live in this kind of emotional/psychological pain.

Good luck-

Sandra

 

[Jules5251]

Thanks For the advice. Your thoughts on the trama are right on. I teach preschool and at The end of the school year last year I was alone on the play ground with 15 of my kids. One had a full blown seziure and i was by myself screaming for help, trying to help him and deal with the other kids that were tramatized by what was happening. Another teacher finally came outside and i picked him up and ran with him to the nurses. Then two days later our family dog had a seziure and died. I really havent been the same since then. I started seeing a Therapist this week and hope that will help. I've never felt like this before! I truley feel that i am having real physical symptoms. Its hard to feel your body doing things like twitching., tremoring, and jumbling your words and accept that its just anexiety. I guess i should take the word of my neuro and be overjoyed~ he even wrote it out for me on a card to carry with me. I know I just need to be thankful for today and hopefull for tomorrow and thats all any of us can really do

 

[Kirk]

Jules - hug your kids, SHOUT praises to God almighty that you don't have ALS and turn OFF your computer! Sounds like you are a blessed & talented woman...enjoy your life! Blessings to you and your family (oh and p.s. thanks for being a teacher...such a special calling!) - Kirk

 

[Tokahfang]

I can speak from experience as someone who experienced psychogenic convulsions for a few years in my late teens... your psychology can absolutely be that powerful. I remember back then looking down at my flailing limbs and not believing for a minute my own brain could be doing that to me, but looking back I am able to say that it absolutely was. It isn't "in your head" in the sense that you aren't experiencing those symptoms, or have control over them. Mental trouble is just as meaningful as physical trouble. They PET scanned a few people with somataform paralysis in a limb, and every time they could just watch the nerve signal the patient initiated by trying to move that limb just stop before it hit the spinal cord. This isn't faking, malingering, or anything like that. It is a real block in your brain.

If it is anxiety, that is actually a really good thing. Anxiety-caused symptoms are treatable with a variety of drugs, unlike many of the "organic" disease symptoms they mimic. From my reading (my psychogenic time was with conversion disorder), accepting that anxiety is wracking your body with trouble can speed the easing of those symptoms. Take your therapist as seriously as you have your neurologist, they really can help.