Jacob Lopez51 said:I went ahead and got an MRI of my brain, neck, and thoracic and lumbar spine—brain was done with contrast. For the most part, everything looks fine. There are just some tiny lesions on the brain, likely migraine-related or microcirculatory in nature, which aren't significant, and the angiography came back normal. My neck shows minor degenerative changes and there's some lordosis in the thoracic spine. In principle, the results are okay. Of course, I had spent all this time convinced I had MS.
My neurologist, following a clear EMG and color Doppler ultrasound, diagnosed me with benign fasciculation syndrome (those muscle twitches). Bloodwork came back positive for H. pylori and showed a massive Vitamin D deficiency. Everything else was immunologically negative, including testing for Lyme disease.
After running through every test imaginable, I’ve finally given up. Antidepressants didn't really do much for the tingling and crawling sensations; an anxiolytic might be better, since I suppose I’m just chronically anxious most of the time.
It seems we are dealing with the exact same issue: anxiety. At first, I was certain my heart was failing whenever those panic attacks hit, so I convinced myself I needed cardiac clearance. I ended up seeing three or four different cardiologists and even wore a 24-hour Holter monitor, only to find every single test perfectly normal. Then I moved on to my stomach, where they found a hiatal hernia. All my bloodwork was within range, aside from cholesterol being slightly elevated. Once all these tests were finished, I think I finally settled mentally; the panic attacks stopped, though now I'm dealing with these dizzy spells. :-)
"Quality of life" used to be such a vague, almost humorous concept to me—something people talked about without really grasping how it's eroded—but now, thanks to this anxiety, I understand the term completely.