[pud's friend]

I've done a search but came back with no results. i apologise for asking the same old questions as you've no doubt heard many times.

I was wondering about ms hug, your experiences, how you differentiate it from other ailments and when it hits hardest.

This question arises from my experience today. I've felt like I've had someone/something tapping on my ribs all day. Just a gentle tap, a nerve twitch, a tremble...

any ideas what's going on?

[Erin524]

If it feels like a twitch, it's probably a nerve making a muscle twitch..

The Hug feels (to me) like someone is pressing really hard on one side of my ribs. Or like I ate a lot of food and the food is trying to get out thru my ribcage...or like someone is tightening a belt around my ribcage, very tightly.

I've got the twitch in the back of my ribcage, probably because I've been up with insomnia all night, and I was playing Sims3 for waaaay too long tonight without getting up and moving around.

Now I've got a headache AND someone is tapping me on the back...and I'm really tired.

[Freesia38]

Hi,

I experienced what might be 'the hug' 2 weeks ago. A tight pressure under my bra line and stabbing pains.
Only lasted 5 mins. Then the next 2 days a really mild tight-band sensation like my bra was too tight.

I used this website to read more when it happened to me:

http://ms.about.com/od/signssymptoms/a/ms_hug_pain.htm

I hope it goes away for you soon!

[Dejibo]

under my right rib cage, I feel like someone is tugging on my muscle. I feel like the muscle is trying to roll over. I can sometimes literally feel that muscle tighten up, and spasm.

I spent years thinking I had a gallbladder issue (had it removed) or having some sort of liver or intestinal issue. (ct scans, mri's and so forth reveal nothing) the only explanation was when I was dx with MS, and someone explained the "hug" to me. I thought it would affect both sides, but for me its only one sided. The MD said it was common to be one side of the other.

If I rest when I feel it coming on, and or use a heat pad, or a TENS unit, and stretch to help it, I can prevent the full on painful yanking sensation that can start if I dont head it off. It can be painful.

[barb02]

I have it on my left side (under bra line) down to my hip. It feels as if something is squeezing my rib cage and spine, but just on the left side. You can draw a line down the center of my body. This was the area where I first experience numbness when I had my first flare. Mine has never gone away; it is just worse at certain times.

[gonnamakeit]

Originally Posted by barb02

I have it on my left side (under bra line) down to my hip. It feels as if something is squeezing my rib cage and spine, but just on the left side. You can draw a line down the center of my body. This was the area where I first experience numbness when I had my first flare. Mine has never gone away; it is just worse at certain times.

Having this all the is just awful! My hug comes a few times a year, for no apparent reason, it just happens. It only lasts from 10 minutes to about an hour.


gmi

[tkrik]

Like Barb, it is a daily thing for me, just worse at times and on the left. I do not have abdominal reflexes on that side. They have been absent for a few years and I know won't be coming back. On a daily basis, I don't sit for too long as that irritates it.

The pain varies but during a flare I am flat on my back as just moving irritates it. Breathing is difficult as I am being squeezed and it is at those times that I call it the MS vise grip. Additionally, I at times have experience the feeling of a board being shoved in to my side, a burning ripping pain, and muscle spasms that can be seen. Truly, this is my most painful symptom and is constant to varying degrees.

To help with the pain, I use ice (which is good for nerve conduction) and put my arm above my head, which helps both the pain and with the breathing.

Sending you gentle, gentle cyber's.

BTW - You can always tell where I am on my rib pain level by whether or not I have a bra on. Sometimes bras seem to irritate it more and cause more banding.

[FinLady]

My experience with the hug has been a tight feeling right around my diaphram. Feels like I'm being squeezed by a boa constrictor.

For me to breathe easier, I need to sit like a queen with my arms resting on the back of a couch or oversized chair.

I get those twitchy spasms all over the place, and the chest area can be the worse. Sometimes my tummy will spasm so much it looks like a scene from Alien

Hang in there!

[sjohnson54]

Something that helps me is too squeeze a cylindrical pillow (mine has those little silicone balls inside) against my chest with my arms.

Susie

[Freesia38]

I just sit really straight and still and try to relax and breathe through it.

ok, the first time I panicked and ended up going to hospital in a ambulance thinking i was maybe having a heart attack!!
(the 2nd 'big' one wasn't as bad as the 1st one).