I suspect that some people read my blog who do not have MS, but are afraid of getting MS. In such a situation, sites like DocBlog are used to learn about MS. Therefore, I want to write something for this group, because quite a few people visit a neurological clinic out of fear and uncertainty.
Regarding the fear of developing MS, one can even see a slightly increasing trend. This partly reflects a very welcome development – namely, that the presence of MS in the media and on the Internet means that more and more people are able to associate something with the term MS and have concrete ideas of what happens with MS. A slight downside, however, is the fact that the increased public perception causes some people to develop vague fears that they themselves could be affected by this disease. Additionally, while the image of MS in the media is becoming increasingly realistic, the symptoms of MS are often presented very unspecifically – a diffuse mix of sensory and mood disorders, a constellation that even a healthy person could identify in themselves if they look inside themselves closely enough.
As a doctor who treats many MS patients, however, I primarily experience the initial symptoms of multiple sclerosis as relatively specific. The disease often starts with optic neuritis or paralysis symptoms, which are relatively specific constellations that go far beyond a “tingling” or mood disorders and can usually be identified as clear neurological disorders in examinations. Furthermore, real symptoms of an MS relapse are also persistent, at least over 24 hours, and often with increasing severity of symptoms.
There is certainly still a lot of educational work to be done in the media – also in the interest of the many unsettled people who sometimes show up terrified in the emergency rooms of hospitals – often with eyelid twitching, or intermittently occurring abnormal sensations – harmless symptoms that can be built up into a severe impairment by a considerable amount of fear.
Of course, we neurologists also take good and thorough care of people who have fears of a chronic illness. Usually, it is possible to reduce these fears through explanations and reflection. However, the emergency room of a hospital is certainly a bad place for these patients. The task of an emergency room is to care for seriously ill patients and to identify medically dangerous situations – what is certainly not feasible in this environment is a sensitive dealing with the fears and worries of a person. This often leads to considerable frustration on both sides, in the patient because he feels that his serious worries are not being taken seriously, in the emergency doctor because he is under immense tension and ultimately has a completely different care mandate.
Therefore, the best recommendation in such a “fear situation” is that before it even comes to this overwhelming feeling of fear and threat of a chronic disease, one should ask their family doctor or a resident neurologist for advice and help. Here, calming measures can be taken, necessary exclusion diagnostics can be initiated and, above all, a hasty presentation in the emergency department of a hospital can be counteracted.
In summary, one can say that the human body always produces “strange sensations”. The more you listen to yourself, the more you will discover – and fear can then become a perfect amplifier. And as mentioned – when in doubt, ask a neurologist, that’s what we’re here for.
