Does anyone else have crippling anxiety from this that has caused other symptoms? I’ve had my spondy for years, but only in the last year have I started to feel burning and buzzing in my legs.

There are days I think it’s just my spondy and once I get that fixed I will be fine. However, other days I think it might be more, such as MS. I sometimes feel the burning in my arms, which makes no sense to be coming from a lumbar spondy. I explained these symptoms to my neurosurgeon (who is different from the neurologist that I mention below), and he ordered a cervical spine MRI, but NOT a brain MRI. What gives? I have experienced occasional brain fog, occasional short-term memory impairment, occasional dizziness that lasts for a second or 2 and makes me feel disoriented, general anxiety and depression.

My family doctor keeps telling me to relax about thinking that it’s MS. He says it is my anxiety getting the best of me. I hate that answer, because the anxiety to me is a symptom of what I am going through, NOT the underlying problem. I had a nerve conduction study and EMG conducted by a neurologist that came back negative. No further tests were ordered because of this. I still would like an MRI on my brain and spinal tap. I also have an appointment scheduled with a rheumatologist that isn’t until May 2023. My worry is that I might have back surgery before that, and that may not even be what’s causing the problem.

My question is this: have any of you have anxiety that exacerbated your symptoms into think it’s something worse? Some days I feel fine and know that it’s just my back, and other days i am completely convinced that it’s something more. The symptoms I feel on those days are very real. Surely it can’t be anxiety? For those of you that HAVE had symptoms that were exacerbated by anxiety, did they go away after surgery?