I'm sorry you've been suffering and you've had to come here.
Many of us have anxiety issues, and it's not very strange considering what we're going through and all the uncertainty it involves. But don't allow an incompetent and unempathetic physician to convince you that the
cause is anxiety. Anxiety can and does make the PN worse, certainly, but it doesn't cause it, not this way. Can it, perhaps, maybe, but highly unlikely that it would manifest that way. I used to get eyelid twitches when stressed and anxious, but I didn't get symmetrical, progressive whole body SFN symptoms. So when I had the first neurologist, after two negative EMGs, say it was stress and anxiety and I should just relax and exercise, since it might be some soft tissue too, I went to the next, and when that physician was an equally an incompetent moron, I went to a third, who was surprised they hadn't even done a skin biopsy, since I clearly had the symptoms of SFN and only a skin biopsy could diagnose it; well, an EMG couldn't at any rate.
Physicians use the 'it's all in your head' etiology when they come up against a wall and can't figure it out, most often through sheer laziness and incompetence. Become your own advocate, reduce anxiety (easier said than done, especially at the start when so much is uncertain), and don't allow physicians to push you around. PN needn't be a lifelong horrible sentence, especially if you're proactive and have good medical care, which does exist, however rare.
Until today, despite my diagnoses, which seems to have an autoimmune etiology, I'll have physicians say to me 'you look great', 'you're a healthy young man', etc., etc., because they just don't want to think and to run tests to figure out what's going on. These is some ageism in all this too, in a reversed, strange sort of way. Being young does mean that you can heal more effectively, if you do things right/create the conditions for it.
I hope that helps somewhat. This place is a great resources. It has helped me quite a lot. You've come to the right place.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Williamson99
Hi everyone,
So let me start off by saying I do have health anxiety.
For the past few months I've been having peripheral neuropathy symptoms in my hands and feet - pins and needles, sharp stabbing pains, strange crawling sensations on the skin, and (probably perceived) weakness. The symptoms come and go at random, but always seem to come on symmetrically, ie. both soles of both feet would suddenly feel crawling sensations at the same time.
The symptoms also seem to be slowly getting worse. Week 1 was just pins and needles in only the hands; a few weeks later the stabbing pains started in the hands; a few weeks after that the toes felt these symptoms; in another few weeks the entire feet get these symptoms; the strange crawling sensations then appeared in the hands and feet. Burning sensations is the latest new feeling I get.
I just had a nerve conduction study and an EMG, both of which came back normal, and the doctor tells me this is all in my head, that it's all anxiety induced. This is possible because like I said, I do have health anxiety. Still, my symptoms seem like a textbook case of length-dependent PN, and I just can't get it out of my mind that I have PN and I'm totally freaking out about it - a lot of information online (including this board) paints a very grim, painful, and debilitating future for sufferers of PN.
But the doctor's convinced I'm physically healthy. I live in a fairly rural area, and seeing a neurologist is difficult. Even if I get a referral to another, it'd be months away, and I could really use some advice right now to calm myself down because I am not functioning well at all due to the stress these symptoms are causing.
I know you're all more experts on PN than anxiety, but does anyone have any insights into this situation? Could this really be all in my head? Or do my physical symptoms strongly suggest PN despite the normal nerve tests?
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