Mental Health and MS: Anxiety Disorders

Hi Jeri...in my story, I didn't get the"pill".  I got more than a year with the Shrink.  I agree that the panic is a symptom of tis ililness.  Our bodies were giving us a mssage

Jeri,

About 2 years before I was diagnosed with MS, I was also experiencing severe generalized anxiety which seemed to have been triggered by circumstances in my life.  More than 12 years before I was dx with MS, I began experiencing major depressive disorder.  Before reading this study and looking further into the research, I would never have connected the generalized anxiety (which Xanax was wonderful for) to MS.  Although I did wonder if the stress I was experiencing during about a year didn't contribute to eventually developing fullblown MS. 

It really is good to know that my experience echoes other's.

You know, Lisa, now that you mention it, 9 years before my official diagnosis I was having 2 seemingly unrelated issues. One was that my arm was falling sound asleep at night -- so sound asleep that I threw it off me (it was the arm on top, not the one I was laying on) thinking it was my husband's, only to be alarmed to figure out it was attached to my own shoulder.

The other issue was panic attacks. I had never before had them. I didn't see a doctor, but my mother (who worked in a hospital at the time) sort of "diagnosed" me and my father bought me a self-help book called "Don't Panic!"

At that time in my life, there was a lot of stress. My sister-in-law died of breast cancer at 37, I just got married, we got evicted from our home and my new husband got laid off. Oh, and the car broke down. Pretty much all in the space of a week I had become a living country western song.

I did see a doc for my arm falling asleep. I will never forget it. I go in, don't get undressed or anything, and the doc comes in and asks what's the matter. I proceed to tell him about my nightly arm numbness.

Without even blinking an eye he said "You have Multiple Sclerosis and there's nothing that can be done. You will eventually be in a wheelchair."

I was shocked and reeling from the news. This guy was just a general practitioner so my mother arranged for me to see a neurologist who scoffed at the MS diagnosis and told me I probably just had carpal tunnel Syndrome.

We all had a collective laugh and that was that. The panic attacks went away and so did the nightime numbness.

Until 9 years later when I heard the same words again. My new neuro sort of wondered why there was no look of surprise on my face.

Hi Helen

As I mention to Jeri above, I also have experienced bouts of anxiety in the years before the MS diagnosis.  Xanax was very effective as was counselling.  I never considered that it could have been part of the MS, although I do believe that the years of depression I've experienced was most definitely early symptoms of MS. 

I found this topic to be extremely interesting and wish that more information was available.  I'm just lucky that I had access to the entire article to read this study in more detail.

Yes, I think that most important point is that Anxiety Disorders are treatable.  Patients should not suffer just because they have MS and other health issues might be overlooked. 

Anxiety disorders (panic disorder is one type) are all treatable. Please check out the website for the Anxiety Disorders Association of America for more detailed information, plus a searchable Find-a-Therapist database: www.adaa.org.

Hi Maris,

I'm so glad that the anxiety (besides what's for dinner) has left you alone since your diagnosis.  You always have such a positive outlook and calmness about you which is contagious.  Thank you for that!! 

Me too.  All that time the "experts" thought I had an emotonal issue (crazy). m I think I WAS depressed a bit but it was MORE than that.  I believe that my body knew about this illness long before I could deal with it....so my body did the panic thing and left my mind and others to figure out why.  After my dx, I did figure it out and,frankly, I was angry for a long time.  I'm ok with all that now....just talking

Shauna,

I have read much about depression and MS onset, but much less about anxiety.  This was very interesting, especially since I too have experienced bouts of anxiety (for which I completely blamed personal circumstances and events).  I'm so glad that physicians and researchers are looking into these connections.  And also glad to learn that even in this small community a number of MSers are coming forward with very similar stories.

Personally, I still treat my depression and have a supply of Xanax (just in case).

I think depression was my first symptom, and had anxiety attacks completely unrelated to any life stress - out of the blue they struck. I kept telling the docs that it felt like something was wrong with my whole body, not just my mood. but nobody ever did a scan until I had many ms symptoms. I do not think anxiety and depression are always the result of an ms diagnosis, as so many of us had these before diagnosis. In fact, since diagnosis and treatment with interferon, both of those have lessened greatly for me. I doubt it's coincidence. Great topic and hope to hear more...

Thank you for adding to the discussion.  I absolutely believe that we need to be aware that anxiety and depression is often not a reaction to our diagnosis but part of the disease itself.  Wonderful to hear that your anxiety and depression have lessened since diagnosis and after being on one of the DMDs.

It is wonderfully validating to see that in our individual experiences we have so many commonalities.  Just look at how many people here have said the very same thing about anxiety and depression in the years before their diagnoses.