What does MS Hug "feel" like?

[lilly.hewlett]

I feel like someone is sitting on my chest or squeezing me from behind. I just started taking prednisone (Im on day 3) because Ive been silently suffering for a while now, but Im not sure if Im having a heartattack or something or if Im just experiencing the hug. Is there a clear way to tell? Im not really having pain - just some soreness in the middle of my back. Any advice? Am I just being a worry wart? Should I get to an ER?

[Hawkgirl]

I have had the hug for a long time. Most of the time it feels like I'm wearing a really tight belt. Sometimes the pain is unbearable and comes in waves like birth contractions.

I have also had that squeezing in my chest, just last night. I didn't know if it might be a heart attack. I wasn't sure if I should wake up my husband and tell him to take me to the ER. I don't know what a heart attack feels like, but that pain in my chest is terrible.

Hug is different for everyone. Mine is so painful. For others it's a milder squeezing. For me it is really unbearable pain, almost like contractions when you're in labor. I feel like I've tried so many different things for it. Most things work at first, but then stop working. It's frustrating and disheartening.

[pjsSissy70]

In a nutshell, ms hug is when the muscles between your ribs tighten up and dont relax. Alot of us have it. I have it every day almost all day. I get the squeezing and tightness. Its usually all around, front and back, for me. It causes alot of pain for me. It can make me cry at times. I take baclofen for the spasms. Ibuprofen does nothing.

[Toomnyhats]

For me, it feels like my bra is too tight. Ranges from mild discomfort to uncomfortable taking a deep breath. There is usually a degree of tingling/numbness with it.

[Shashi]

If you are having chest pain, it's best to go to the ER and get it checked out. Not everything we might feel is caused by MS, and while it could well be the hug, it's better to be safe than sorry.

[Just MS me]

I have often felt the same thing and wondered if it was ms hugs sometimes mine will last off and on for several days the last time last week it lasted 3 days

[valeriem2220]

I do believe I experienced this for the first time just weeks ago.
I had muscle tightness from my chest down to my hips and every so often my muscles would spasm and cramp.
I described this to my friend as feeling like child birth then I quickly took that description back and replied with, No I would much rather be giving birth.
When the spasms would hit it was enough to make me curl up into a ball and just hold my breath until the spasm subsided, as even breathing made the pain worse.
It was horrible spasms and cramping for about 12 hours and the tight muscles lasted for 5 days.
I kept saying..."How do people deal with this for years??" I feel for all of you that have the hug for very long periods.

[gomer]

For me, I am lucky, its just a nasty rib cage muscle cramp. Usually mine start on one side, then often not always migrates to the other side. I will go for long periods w/o any hugs tne I will get them often for a while, kinda like it comes in waves.

Right now I am recovering (a little) from a fall and 5 broken ribs, so I am glad I am not getting any hugs at the time.

Gomer

[lilly.hewlett]

Thanks so much for all of the replies! The weight in my chest comes and goes and the pains in my back also the same, I guess I just have never felt it all so pronounced. I hope the prednisone will give me a little relief. It's so interesting to read about the varied experiences with the similar symptom.

[Thinkimjob]

It feels like a boa constrictor has wrapped himself round my midriff, just below my ribs, and every minute or so, he squeezes as hard as he can.

This goes on for about three days, and then it stops, thank the Lord. It's only happened to me twice. I don't think I could stand it if it was a permanent thing.

There's not much that will stop the pain. Warm shower, hot water bottle - nope.

Buscopan (a kind of anti stomach cramp drug), yes, but not for as long as it says on the packet.

[Hawkgirl]

I kept saying..."How do people deal with this for years??" I feel for all of you that have the hug for very long periods.

I'm at two years now. Everyday, all day and all night. My ribs feel like I've been kicked by a horse. They are so exhausted and sore, but apparently my brain keeps telling the muscles to tense, so my poor, exhausted, weary muscle just keep obeying. I don't know how I'm dealing with it--meds mostly. BenGay gives temporary relief.

It's very difficult to decide whether to go to the ER. I've only gone once in my life, and my diagnosis was hyperventilation. That was embarrassing. And there are so many considerations: who will stay with the kids if DH drives me to the ER? It's such an imposition to call someone at 11 p.m. to come sleep at your house so the kids won't be alone. And yet it's also a trust thing. Who do I trust to stay with the kids?

And then there's the cost. If I go to the ER, I know it's going to cost me $1000 minimum. Well, that would be with my DH's insurance. Now I'm 100% on Medicare, so it might be cheaper. But still I would bet it would be a huge expense.

So I just took a few muscle relaxers and passed out. Probably I should check with a doctor and have my heart checked, just so I can be sure. But I am SO SICK of doctor's appointments. I feel like I go to the doctor every week, either for me or one of the kids.

I'm just enduring. James 1:2-4 = "Dear brothers and sisters, when troubles come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy. For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing."

[0485c10]

Does it count if it happened before i was diagnosed but after my first episode of optic neuritis that was likely the start of MS.?

i had episodes over a 3 month period of time when it hurt to move my chest to breath, i wanted to breath as shallowly as i could so i would not cause my chest muscles to move. it would only last for a few minutes, multiple times during the day over that 3 month period of time. then it went away and never returned. Maybe 2-3 year later, it was other symptoms that caused my diagnosis...I believe that was MS Hug symptoms...which are supposed to be caused by lesions in betwwen the vertebea. i have no thoracic lesions, so maybe it was the hug and maybe it wasn't? but now that i have definite MS it does seem like an odd coincidence if it wasn't MS.

About 4 years before that, similar happened, i went to an ER because I thought i was having a heart attack. I was driving home, live alone(in an upstairs apartment without an elevator) and thought this is not a good time to go home alone, so i drove straight to the ER instead. Nothing found and it just disappeared? They released me after taking pulse and BP and having me sit there for a few hours of observation before i left.

A radio talk show host i listen to daily just had a similar situation & she went to an ER thinking she was having a heat attack. They kept her over night, did an EKG and even a treadmill stress test. On the show she was talking about the HUGE bill she got for that visit and they found nothing. They told her to take some tylenol, that her chest muscles probably had some inflammation causing the soreness when she breathed. She took some tylenol and that did help.

How does a person strain their chest muscles without remembering having done anything to have caused a strain? how does a person even strain chest muscles?

I'll keep listening to her talk show, maybe in the future she too will be diagnosed with MS & the HUG will have been her onset symptom?

[halleykempt]

I feel like someone is sitting on my chest or squeezing me from behind. I just started taking prednisone (Im on day 3) because Ive been silently suffering for a while now, but Im not sure if Im having a heartattack or something or if Im just experiencing the hug. Is there a clear way to tell? Im not really having pain - just some soreness in the middle of my back. Any advice? Am I just being a worry wart? Should I get to an ER?

I had the "hug from hell" for the first time last and it had me in tears. Worse pain I ever had and the only thing I could do to get relief was rest. But it has come and gone since. Hate it because I never had pain. I tried a brace and the pressure helped.