Wow, didn't expect this thread to be revived. Well, since that incident, my symptoms keep randomly changing and never stay the same. Last time, for three days I had a 5/10 pain in my upper left gums and the left side of my tongue on that side, replaced by tingling at times. It always came around the evening hours. I went to the dentist right away, convinced it's TN or something of the sort - and then, apparently the problem was found. I have badly impacted wisdom tooth growing on that side, which according to several of my dentists can cause all sorts of issues - including even electrical shocks through the face akin to classical TN. This coupled with my clenching/grinding/TMJ problems - is apparently giving me the plethora of issues I have, AT LEAST I HOPE SO!
However, regardless of Red's intense knowledge on topics of TN and other medical issues, I have to disagree strongly here with him. There are numerous evidences, well and not so well documented, numerous books and different medical literature, numerous websites and forums dedicated on health anxiety and how it can produce actual physical symptoms. And this is actually true. I can point you towards forums with hundreds, if not thousands of people who are "hypochondriacs" and are experiencing physical symptoms due to their constant worry and stress about getting an actual disease - and those people have confirmed health anxiety and all their tests have come clean numerous times.
I too can simply tell you that it is all true, because I have had horrible anxiety symptoms for four years now, symptoms which convinced me I had MS for that time. But, it wasn't MS at first. First it was HIV, then it was meningitis, then it was a Brain Tumour, then it was Dementia (During severe periods of stress, my memory/orientation/thinking capabilities were non exsistant, i was forgetting words and putting the milk in the dish washer - and I simply couldn't get my mind to think, complete brain fog.) - my major symptom, however, is tingling all around the body. And that's the main guide here. IT's "all around the body". This is not how diseases of the central nerveous system present. Multiple Sclerosis' symptoms are equal to whatever lesions you have and where the lesion is. You cannot have full body symptoms unless the disease has progressed severely. My tingling comes and goes in different parts of my body, and is almost always associated with periods of stress - just yesterday my grandfather went into hospital, I was so worried about it that by the time we drove him to it, my left leg had gotten numb and really, really tingling. Left arm followed this ordeal. It lasted entire night. When I found out he is going to be alright, the symptoms began lessening.
So, no. You are, at least according to me, quite wrong on the fact that health anxiety and the state of mind can't produce real physical symptoms, I believe there is enough evidence all around us to point towards that. As for my MS symptoms? I've had tons of them, believe me - over the course of 4 years. I thought once it had hit my bladder, because i was urinating very often. Then I associated twitching with it, then i associated all sorts of other things, even heat intolerance and tightness around the body. They all seemed to match. Each time i got a symptom, I remembered reading about it somewhere and it instantly stuck with me, getting quite intense. Do note, however, that I am not the type to just chalk up everything to anxiety - i've demanded -numerous- neurological visits and tests, and I still don't believe them even after all of this. I have even seen the best MS specialist in my city for a private evaluation on my entire history - a man with 40+ experience in neurology and specialising in MS. He gave me, after a very long physical exam and looking at all my MRI's, a long and elaborate explanation on anxiety and how it causes real physical symptoms in certain people. (The other -5- neurologists I visited said the same.)
Anxiety can, and -is- giving a lot of physical symptoms. I tend to believe that even people with multiple sclerosis who claim "this is a symptom of MS", are simply having sensations due to other causes and think it's their MS. It's not their fault of course, and certainly isn't done on purpose - it's just how it happens.