Hi guys! Can someone please help me? im so worried I might have MS. When I was 17 I was so stressed out with school and was having trouble breathing. The doctor told me I had anxiety. In college I would start getting a tingling pinky on and off that was usually on one side at a time. Somedays itd get bad id need ice. Usually it got better asleep. The tingling pinky (sometimes ring finger also) would occur on and off for about 3 years but never really go away for too long. At around 20 I started getting weird tingling feelings in my foot on and off. Usually one foot at a time. Then around 2 years later it became foot vibrations too. I tried going to a neurologist but they didnt think it was MS. I didnt take an MRI though. Fast forward Im 26 and stilll have this!!! Except sometimes I may get foot vibrations in one foot and tingling in the other or pinky tingling also. Also sometimes when im stressed I can get vibrations in other spots. This makes me so nervous I am always searching my symptoms online and stressing over this. I keep imagining myself in a wheelchair that I have MS. Somedays I am okay but then I remember about my illness and thats when I may feel a foot vibration. Also when I need the restroom and I hold it in my feet feel tingly. Does anyone else have these symptoms? I am scared and my mom doesnt believe me and just says i have anxiety. im scared oneday ill wake up and not be able to walk.
randy take a deep breath because i know exactly what you are going through. , i wanted to let you know that i also thought i had MS when i was in my twenties
. i had tingling all over plus numbness in arms, legs, scalp, hands, feet,etc. also, vibrations everywhere even in my head, floaters in eyes, weakness, dizziness, muscle twitches, brain fog, unbalanced feeling,etc.
i was convinced of MS!!
my dad took me to a neurologist who did a thorough exam. He could not find a single thing wrong. He told me it was anxiety. I didn’t believe him because the symptoms came on all at once and they were something I never had before.
Long story short… I continued to have the symptoms on and off. For years. I never got any worse. I never got MS.
Iam In my 50s now. I am very healthy. I eventually had an MRI which was perfectly normal.
in my 50s now. I am very healthy. I eventually had an MRI which was perfectly normal.
Basically all of these symptoms were due to long-term stress and anxiety!
the body can only take so much stress before it has a breakdown. The breakdown is when we start getting symptoms of anxiety and your body is telling you that there’s too much stress and anxiety. The actual symptoms are not harmful. The problem is unmanaged anxiety and stress. That’s what causes the symptoms.
you have had your symptoms for several years now. If you had MS, you would definitely have had other symptoms by now.
there are so many other reasons for tingling including anxiety, stress, vitamin deficiency, and many other non-serious reasons. If you read this site you will notice how many other people get random tingling due to anxiety. Please don’t google because it doesn’t pertain your individual situation. You’ll scare yourself for no reason. You can take just about any symptoms and it can go along with hundreds of different conditions.
the reason many people think they have MS with the symptoms is because anxiety tends to show its symptoms through the nervous system. so we get numbness, tingling, vibrations, etc.
I think possibly your main issue could be anxiety. So what you need to focus on now is reducing that. Talking to a counselor helps, not taking life too seriously, doing things that you enjoy and that relax you, etc.
YOU are going to be just fine! By the way, even in my 50s when I’m feeling anxious I often get some of those symptoms but I basically ignore them now and they go away. I just wanted to let you know that because it’s all anxiety!! 
hi Jan! thank you for the reassuring response. Its just really scary. Its never truly gone away for more than a week. Its nice to meet someone whose had the same as me in her 20s but now is fine in their 50s. I worry itll never go away and just keep getting worse. My grandma died from MS so thats also worrying me.
just remember that the more you worry the more the symptoms will hang around. The more I would think about them years ago the worst they got. Basically when we do that we are telling our brain that something is wrong so it will respond by creating those symptoms. I learned a lot over the years and the mind is a very powerful thing! I had an aunt who had MS she was my father’s sister so I had it in my head that I was going to get it also. what a complete waste of time all that worrying for many years and nothing bad ever happened.
That’s why I say go enjoy each and every day because life flies by! You’re going to be OK. But you can lessen the symptoms with positive mental attitude and knowing that anxiety very often produces negative scary thoughts. Just being aware of that is a great start.!