Have you ever had this as an anxiety symptom?

[mollyfin]

As some of you may have noticed, I'm in the middle of a brain tumor panic.  I know logically that a lot of my symptoms can be explained away as medication side effects and anxiety, but there's one thing that doesn't seem to show up on any anxiety symptom lists, and it's the one that has my doctor concerned.

My left leg and arm are weak and tingly - doctor confirms the weakness.  The left side of my face tends to go numb.  This is usually a migraine aura thing for me, but it's become permanent and continues to worsen.  My left leg feels awkward to walk on and my left hand tends to be numb and stiff and hard to type with. 

I know anxiety can cause a lot of things, but can it really cause weakness on one side of the body only, so much so that a doctor can notice?  I know reassurance-seeking is bad but I have nine days before I see the neuro and I'm going a little crazy. 

[Pippy187]

Molly,  I have a friend who has experienced similar issues in the past... she is in therapy and doing well with CBT.

[mollyfin]

I am looking into therapists who have experience with treating HA...they're surprisingly hard to find...but I am also looking for someone with experience in CBT. 

[AMRELP2712]

I often get that a lot while my anxiety is at work.. i'm sure its nothing. you  are just noticing the sensation that your anxiety is giving you wayyy too much but its okay i do that often also :p

[Carlton91]

Molly,

You say your Brain Tumor panic, I am also going through this I am only 15.

Do you get headaches at all?

[mollyfin]

Yes, when I manage to distract myself with other things I don't notice them so they're probably not as bad as they feel when I'm worrying.  My occasionally inability to walk properly scares me, though, as does my inability to smile normally.  (Seriously, that last one is just weird.  It's like my lips are stuck.  I don't know if it's muscle tension or what, but again, of course, I'm convinced it's a brain tumor symptom.  Even though I don't know how a brain tumor or anything really could cause this...)

[bertybotts]

Quick tip: if you had a brain tumor, ALS, MS, or [insert disease here] your symptoms would NOT get better if you just got distracted. Any (or at least, a lot) of symptoms that get better while distracted are almost certainley anxiety.
Yes, pain can get less and lots of stuff can subside while you are distracted, but for your "neurological" symptoms to disappear or get a lot better while you are distracted suggests that you are in a bad feedback mechanism of listening to your body, interpreting it as 'bad', listening more, interpreting as 'bad', listening more....etc.

[mollyfin]

That does seem very logical.

[LindaRK]

I went through well over a year with extreme leg weakness and serious headaches ..... and yes, some numbness as well.  Scared the crap out of me.  This was several years ago - it eventually went away.  I attribute it to stress in my case and, of course, add in anxiety to make it worse.

[mollyfin]

Yeah, I've had wobbliness before, but the one-sided aspect is freaking me out. 

[momo2]

I've been to a neurologist for similar symptoms. All tests came back fine. Of course we know that these are all symptoms of anxiety but he also stated that migraines can cause these symptoms as well. He said he had a patient that thought they were having a stroke because one side of their body went completely numb but turned out to be a migraine. It is definitely freaky though!

[mollyfin]

Yeah I've had it with a migraine before but it came and went, and this is not going anywhere, so I was wondering if it might just be anxiety.  I'm still worried about a brain tumor of course...siiiigh.

[momo2]

I've had some of these symptoms last for literally 3 months straight! Do your best not to focus on it. That may help it go away.

[mollyfin]

That's what I'm trying to do.  I have a neuro appointment coming up (suggested by my doctor because my left side is weaker than the right) but trying to keep from panicking until then is proving difficult.