My symptoms began a couple years ago with what I could only describe as bowl sensitivity, I went to the doctor mildly concerned and was referred for a colonoscopy to check for bowl cancer, this freaked me out a little bit as I was a healthy 34yr old male and the fact that the scan wasnt or several weeks I began to dwell on it and scan my body for issues, all the while incessantly googling my symptoms which by this time had multiplied (I had tender abdomen, weight loss, fatigue etc, In the mean time I had blood tests etc and nothing was found amiss apart from high bilirubin, which I'm told is benign, Again more google and more convinced I had a wide range of diseases. This all seems like bizarre behaviour now but at the time I was trying to fix what was wrong and escape the danger involved, my analytical mind and career in problem solving really didn't help. The colonoscopy was complete and clear but had a couple of small iregularities (microscopic inflammation) in the report that i latched on to and took as proof of a problem. I just couldn't get my health issues out of my mind. I was referred for a CT scan and again some very small iregularities were found being slightly swollen lymph nodes, to which an interern doctor casually mentioned it could be lymphoma. Well this was all I had to hear, I lost it, resigned to the fact that I was going to leave my young family .. well not resigned to it as I was still fighting it and was deathly scared. Around this time I had a couple of other life stressors (my partner nearly died in childbirth), and looking back now everytime a stressor presented itself my health declined dramatically. To shorten the story somewhat I would always get the all clear and told I'm healthy. Although I felt like I was on my death bed. I was so scattered mentally that I couldn't even boil a pot of water, I was having EXTREME anxiety and was loosely diagnosed with health anxiety.
The symptoms multipled and magnified, and there has been so many of them it would be hard to remember but the most prominent and worrysome to me were the nerve related ones, my skin from head to toe would be on fire, severe muscle type pain but not usually a large muscle group pain but more a feeling of torn connective tissue, shooting pains mainly in feet and legs but sometimes in the arms and anywhere, feeling of sunburn and clothing iritating the skin (allydonia, hyperalgesia), temperature sensitivities and always feeling hot. Etc etc.
I worked on the mental side of things and acceptance and rarely get what I'd relate to mental anxiety anymore BUT some of my symptoms remain and seem to be more and more painful as times goes on, they are the burning sensitive skin and stabbing nerve pains, the feet are by far the worst and wearing shoes is almost unbearable, It feels like someone driving a needle in to my feet at different parts that roam, the rest of my legs have the sunburn sensitive feeling. This can migrate to my arms and rest of the body at times, and my arms get itchy and sting when I itch, When I exercise lightly my small muscle tissues ache for many many days and feel torn. I fall asleep fine but wake very early and then the pain starts creeping in, so sleep is an issue. Keeping cold, or wearing no clothes is extremely soothing. Showers are heaven.
Relaxation etc definitely has a positive impact and stress and activity a negative one.
Doctors have no answers.
I still continue to chase other causes, most recently having a nerve conduction study and brain MRI (all clear apart from 1 lesion on brain which I'm told is benign), but the logical part of me can only conclude that this is a stress response hyperstimulation / ANS disregulation based on the prolonged mental stress i put on my body with my health concerns... But there is still that percentage of me that finds that hard to accept given the unrelenting pain, especially now that I manage stress really well (have totally changed my lifestyle, moved to the beach, work part time etc, although we are raising two small children which can be testing).
I've always been an achiever and successful healthy person, now I feel this condition has not only robbed me of my physicality but also my emotional confidence. I used to love hanging out with friends, partying etc. Now even having one beer and I feel more symptomatic the next day so my social life is non existant.
Does this sound like TMS? Or have I developed neuropathy??
MANY thanks
The symptoms multipled and magnified, and there has been so many of them it would be hard to remember but the most prominent and worrysome to me were the nerve related ones, my skin from head to toe would be on fire, severe muscle type pain but not usually a large muscle group pain but more a feeling of torn connective tissue, shooting pains mainly in feet and legs but sometimes in the arms and anywhere, feeling of sunburn and clothing iritating the skin (allydonia, hyperalgesia), temperature sensitivities and always feeling hot. Etc etc.
I worked on the mental side of things and acceptance and rarely get what I'd relate to mental anxiety anymore BUT some of my symptoms remain and seem to be more and more painful as times goes on, they are the burning sensitive skin and stabbing nerve pains, the feet are by far the worst and wearing shoes is almost unbearable, It feels like someone driving a needle in to my feet at different parts that roam, the rest of my legs have the sunburn sensitive feeling. This can migrate to my arms and rest of the body at times, and my arms get itchy and sting when I itch, When I exercise lightly my small muscle tissues ache for many many days and feel torn. I fall asleep fine but wake very early and then the pain starts creeping in, so sleep is an issue. Keeping cold, or wearing no clothes is extremely soothing. Showers are heaven.
Relaxation etc definitely has a positive impact and stress and activity a negative one.
Doctors have no answers.
I still continue to chase other causes, most recently having a nerve conduction study and brain MRI (all clear apart from 1 lesion on brain which I'm told is benign), but the logical part of me can only conclude that this is a stress response hyperstimulation / ANS disregulation based on the prolonged mental stress i put on my body with my health concerns... But there is still that percentage of me that finds that hard to accept given the unrelenting pain, especially now that I manage stress really well (have totally changed my lifestyle, moved to the beach, work part time etc, although we are raising two small children which can be testing).
I've always been an achiever and successful healthy person, now I feel this condition has not only robbed me of my physicality but also my emotional confidence. I used to love hanging out with friends, partying etc. Now even having one beer and I feel more symptomatic the next day so my social life is non existant.
Does this sound like TMS? Or have I developed neuropathy??
MANY thanks
