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    #1

    MS "hug"

    I am having serious issues with the "hug". It is pain SO bad I can hardly breathe. It lasts for HOURS and happens every single day/night. I have Tramadol (Ultram) to take but that takes at least 2 hours before it starts to help, by then I'm in tears and my 5 year old is beside himself with worry. It is by far the worst pain and discomfort I have ever felt. It's gotten to where I can hardly eat or sit up straight. I'm desperate for any other ways to ease this symptom. Any suggestions?

    -Katie
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    #2
    Hi Katie,

    I'm starting to feel like the expert on the "hug." More like iron girdle, right?

    First off, see your doctor and get some meds that help. I have Zanaflex, but that knocks me out completely. I can take half of one, but it doesn't help. But it might help you, since everyone is different. I also take Lyrica and Nortriptyline.

    Second: stress triggers the hug. Several of us have noticed this. So do your best to avoid stressful situations. I have three kids under 10, so I cannot avoid stress. But if you're able to avoid stress, that will help. Also physical stress like walking too far or working too hard.

    Third, tight pants. This is my personal theory. I have noticed that when I wear tight pants (I'm getting fat so all my jeans are tight), my hug ramps up. This is possibly a coincidence because the days I wore those tight jeans I was also stressed. But I think it might play a role here.

    Fourth, I have had some relief with Bengay or similar products. Others have found heat to be helpful, but I find heat does not help.

    Good luck! Look for my thread called Musings on the MS hug. I am trying to find the logic of why the hug worsens at times or lets up at times. So far there doesn't seem to be a pattern, but I'm still searching for one.
    Proud Mom of three kids!
    dx'd 1996

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      #3
      I'm so sorry you're dealing with the hug. I have it whenever I have a flare up of symptoms and it's just miserable.

      Last weekend when I had it last (or maybe that was the weekend before - I can't remember), it was so severe I could hardly move or breathe. I take baclofen, and it wasn't helping at all. I also take Valium at night when I go to bed, because it often happens at night. I ended up having to use a heating pad off an on most of the day on my ribs to get any relief at all.

      I hope you're feeling better soon. My prayers are with you.

      Hugs,

      Lisa
      Joy is not the absence of suffering. It is the presence of God.
      Cut aspartame from my diet in 2012 and my symptoms have slowly disappeared. Interesting!
      Alpha Lipoic Acid (200 mg) + Acetyl L-carnitine (1,000 mg) = No more fatigue for me!

      Comment

        #4
        I have noticed the hug at it's worst after drinking a diet coke. Than I read about aspartame(sp?)....And splenda and sweet and low ect.........So,I did an experiment.....I rarely drank diet coke to begin with, ...read about diet coke,splenda after the first "diet coke" hug,bought a can of diet coke after not having it for months(above said hug)and whamo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Worst hug ever! I still get the hug,but not nearly as bad as when I was using those artificial sweetners.

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          #5
          Ok so can I ask a related question? Yesterday, I experienced a tightness around my chest area and found it very difficult to get a deep breath. It was more uncomfortable than painful but there was some pain and I noticed that as time ticked by, my shoulders and neck started to hurt but I assume that was the muscles tensing up in response to the chest discomfort. Is that the famous MS hug I keep hearing about? it is gone this morning, but yesterday was awful.
          Hope for the best, prepare for the worst and that way you have all your bases covered.

          Comment

            #6
            foxz71, it could be. My hug starts at the bra line and then spreads up and down as it worsens. But I am almost 100% sure I have a spinal lesion right at my bra line where the pain starts. But MS Hug definitely can feel like squeezing, so you can't get a good breath. The shoulders and neck could be just your own tension at not being able to breathe easily.

            MS hug is actually the muscles between your ribs spasming out of control. Most of us feel it in our ribcage mostly.
            Proud Mom of three kids!
            dx'd 1996

            Comment

              #7
              You want to be sure that if you have any type of chest pain, that you get it checked out immediately. Not everything is related to MS, and sometimes heart attacks can start out with the same type of symptoms. Even if the pain goes away, sometimes with heart attacks, it can be a warning sign of worse things to come.

              I know my pain isn't a heart attack, because I've had it checked out by my doctor before in the past, which included an EKG and a CT scan to be sure it wasn't related to anything else. The verdict was that it was muscle spasms. But if the pain was different than what I normal experience, I would definitely have it checked out again.

              Better safe than sorry!
              Joy is not the absence of suffering. It is the presence of God.
              Cut aspartame from my diet in 2012 and my symptoms have slowly disappeared. Interesting!
              Alpha Lipoic Acid (200 mg) + Acetyl L-carnitine (1,000 mg) = No more fatigue for me!

              Comment

                #8
                Thanks to everyone for replying with your advice and knowledge! I am seeing my Neurologist this coming Monday and I wrote down all the meds that were mentioned so that I can ask her about them. I had taken a "systemic" pain medicine a while back that worked SO well, but it made me gain 25 pounds before I realized it was the meds causing weight gain. Everything I've tried since has not done much. I just got done with a relapse treatment (mega doses of Solu-Medrol and Prednisone) so I feel like I should be totally pain free and cured for a while, but that's far from how it turned out. This MS "hug" will NOT let go....hopefully my doctor will have another medicine to throw at me *sigh*. my poor kindeys/liver.

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