I fear that my anxiety and stress and depression will somehow develop into a seizure disorder.

Mental health
1

Hi, I’m 26 years old. I’ve been perfectly healthy my entire life. I would like to note that I have NEVER had a seizure.

but as of recently my anxiety and stress have been turning into involuntary body tremors and shaking and panicked surges in my head even when I’m believed to be relaxed.

So I ended up doing the one thing advised against. I looked up my symptoms on the internet. Big mistake, because I learned that you CAN in fact develop epilepsy from stress and anxiety.

Non epileptic seizures as well, which worry me less but about as much as real seizures would.

I ended up taking my concerns to my doctor, who was very robotic and careless and in fact confirmed that this was true without offering any comforting words to the fact whatsoever.

Hearing these words from my doctor has sent me into an even more anxious state, strengthening my fear of this happening.

I want to know the chances… I am searching for some comforting words. Any comforting words at all-

because now I’m stressing and being anxious over stressing and being anxious and it has become a VICIOUS cycle that is leading to insanity.

Please help.

The thought that I could lose control of my body just because of my anxiety and stress TERRIFIES ME!!!

My epileptic friend described her seizures as a sudden feeling of terror and dejavu before she wants to SCREAM but her jaw locks up and she can’t and passes out.

HOW TERRIFYING IS THAT!? I DON’T WANT TO SCARE MYSELF INTO THIS CONDITION!!!

I want to point out that I am in therapy, albeit very slow moving and barely helpful, and I am on medication for depression, anxiety and sleeplessness.

I’m trying exercising and eating right and I’m losing hope over this fucking fear of mine.

2

I am so sorry that you are going through this, and I know how scary it is. But I want to tell you that the vast majority of people with anxiety and stress, including myself, will never develop seizure disorder. There are millions and millions of people with anxiety and stress.
To tell you that I’ve had anxiety and stress since the age of five or six. It snowballed over the years and then when I was in my late 20s, I suddenly developed all kinds of sensations all over my body, including muscle, twitching, numbness and tingling, floaters in my eyes, weakness, buzzing in my arms, legs and brain. I thought I had some horrible disease. My dad took me to a top neurologist, and all my testing came back normal. He said stress and anxiety can cause all of these sensations, but none of the sensations are harmful. through the years, they would come and go especially when I was very anxious .
I can also tell you that I am in my 60s now and I have never had a seizure in my life. I have stress and anxiety that I have learned to control much better now through counseling, meditation, exercise, etc..
What you need to do is take the focus off of what you are worried about and put your focus on your physical and mental health! The more you worry about things like seizures the more you are going to get sensations that scare you, depression, increased, anxiety, etc. It’s time to take care of you!
I wasted so many years with worry that I cannot get a single day back. Don’t do that to yourself. And stop googling because what you are reading does not pertain to your individual situation. It’s a waste of time and it will only make you feel worse.
It’s a fact that what we think about the most will grow in our mind whether it’s positive or negative. Thinking negative will do you absolutely no good and it can hurt you. So focus on feeling better! I will private message you and feel free to message me anytime! I’ve been through this for such a long time, and I finally started feeling better through changing my thoughts and taking care of my physical self! Positive positive positive. One day at a time. Take care. :heart:

3

You have no idea how much reading this has calmed me. I am so grateful that you took the time out of your day to type this out and comfort me. I too experience buzzing- primarily in my legs and this scares me into a panic along with so many other physical sensations that make me feel like breaking out into a full seizure of some sort is imminent.

It didn’t help that my doctor was just like: “Yup. That can happen, so get your ■■■■ together.” It just put me into another panic attack that only spiraled even more because I had to somehow find a way to subdue that panic at the RISK of what I feared coming true. VICIOUS.

I want to believe that my brain is stronger than this, but my worries quell the courage I’m meant to have inside of me.

I feel like a coward.

4

Every single symptom you have said i have, i struggle with health anxiety and its a horrible thing to live with.
my floaters are really bad did they start to pass once you stopped feeling as anxious?

5

You will never get epilepsy from anxiety. I have epilepsy and bad health anxiety. You are either born with epilepsy or get it from a head injury.

There is Non-Epileptic Seizures from stress but its not actually epilepsy or a real seizure, instead they are caused by psychological factors.

Don’t worry, your anxiety and stress can’t cause you to develop epilepsy.

6

what has recently calmed me is to tell myself im not a doctor. i am in no way a medical professional in the slightest. i know nothing. so why on earth am i believing my own diagnosis!! if the world of illness was as easy as diagnosing via reading bullet points of symptoms online then doctors wouldnt need to spend years and years and years of hard medical training. diseases are far more than a list of symptoms from google.

if your doctor is not worried then trust that. He told you its possible but did he tell you in anyway that he believes you ARE having seizures or did he tell you its anxiety? granted he could of been much much kinder but he was just being factual, not diagnosing you. it does sound awful for your poor friend but she is diagnosed with epilepsy. you dont have that.

anxiety is a soul sucking illness but it can be quietened. telling myself i am not a doctor and not diagnosing myself because of google has been my relief this week. so far ive gone a week without a headache (ive had one constantly since oct so 14weeks) that belief and relief that i could stop self diagnosing because i am not a professional was enough to calm them after all that time. it really is unbelievable what your mind is capable of.