After seeing a couple of similar stories on here I thought I'd share my own story about being misdiagnosed with anxiety for years.

Since about 2017 I've been having a myriad of bizarre symptoms. Random numbness, nerve pain (sometimes severe), exhaustion so severe I've had to quit my job, intense brain fog, vision problems leaving me at times unable to see in my right eye, tingling in my limbs, slurred speech to the point where I've been accused of being drunk, plus other strange and frightening things.

I've seen around 4 different Doctors over the years about these issues. Every single time I would be diagnosed with anxiety and essentially felt as though I was considered a hysterical hypochondriac. At one point a Doctor told me the reason for all my symptoms was because 'driving makes some people anxious, and you drive nearly every day.' Yep. Apparently having immense pain in my back and neck, losing vision in my eye, slurring my speech, and everything else I've experienced is because I drive a car.

That was about 18 months ago. I went home feeling humiliated and stupid. I gave up and have never tried to get a diagnosis again.... Maybe I was just crazy.

That was until a couple of weeks ago when I woke up with completely numb feet. I wasn't scared though, I was used to it. I've dealt with this shit for years and this was just yet another instance of my body being weird. Hoping it would be gone by the next day I ignored it, only to wake up the day after to find that I had completely lost feeling from the chest down.

I went to hospital where I stayed for over a week, and long story short I was diagnosed with a condition called transverse myelitis caused by an 'acute' Multiple Sclerosis flair up.

They did MRI scans on my brain and spine. Some of the many lesions I had were very old, which, according to the neurologist, means that I have likely had MS for years.

Although once diagnosed with my kind of MS there's no way of entirely eliminating the chances of a relapse, there are treatments available and precautions one can take which mean that relapses are less likely to happen and less severe. Because I was undiagnosed and untreated for literally years and have had a severe relapse, I have been in a wheelchair since my diagnosis and I have no idea if I will ever be able to walk normally ever again. I am 27 and I am in a fucking wheelchair. I can't feel ANYTHING below my chest except nerve pain and constant, awful pins and needles.

I've spoken to 2 male friends since my diagnosis. One with epilepsy, and one with MS. Both of my male friends, even the one with MS- who had almost identical symptoms to me, were referred to neurologists immediately. No 'you're anxious because you drive a car' bullshit.

So to any women out there being dismissed by health professionals as I was for fucking years- I feel you. I don't know what else to say except that I am heartbroken and furious that so many of us keep having to go through being labelled as essentially 'hysterical women' when we know we aren't. Not being believed is devastating when you can feel your brain and body failing.

Sorry this is poorly written. I actually have an English Degree but the MS has seemingly robbed me of the ability to think straight enough to write as well as everything else.

EDIT: Thank you all SO MUCH for the support. I'm sitting here with tears in my eyes reading through everything. I know I will keep coming back to read these lovely comments when I have a bad day. I'm also so, so sorry to hear all these stories from other women- I feel so lucky that my illness is not life threatening.

Please don't worry about giving me any more awards :)

For those of you that don't believe me - thank you for proving my point.

Finally - I was diagnosed less than 2 weeks ago. Please do not PM me asking if I think you or your loved one has MS or what advice I can give you. My heart really goes out to you but I really am in no position to advise.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4892394&forum_id=2#42892461)

Anxiety can mimic any neurological symptom. Plenty of people sure that they have ALS end up having benign fasciculation syndrome.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4892394&forum_id=2#42892491)

Also 50/50 it’s Lyme which fraud doctors insist doesn’t exist

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4892394&forum_id=2#42892494)

the way to fix this is to not diagnose anxiety as a medical condition, but an issue of emotional regulation. that would prevent the misdiagnosis of true medical conditions as anxiety. it would also actually help frame the treatment of the emotional condition. the treatment for anxiety should involve the treatment of emotion itself, not the neurological underpinnings, which are for practical purposes unknown.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4892394&forum_id=2#42892508)