I have the MS hug. I have gastro issues that are being handled with meds from another country, but the hug remains. I went to the neuro today and we talked about the benzo drugs. He said Xanax is short term, and best used for like a panic/anxiety thing. it last about 4 hours. quick, easy. Said if I keep waking in the middle of the night with the hug, ativan would be a better choice, since all benzo's offer a muscle relaxer effect and tend to help that hug. Since I report hugs during the day but are much worse at night the Ativan has about an 8 hour half life. He wanted me to try Klonopin which has about a 4 DAY half life. Stable and steady and hangs around.

What are your thoughts on this? Do you prefer one over the other? do you like the way one reacts more than another? Better relief with one vs the other? Im so confused! I want the hug to go away, but stuff with a 4 day half life is wild! I know I know, just stop whining and take my pill..

I have never tried klonopin so I can't comment on that for the hug or anything else. This has been my experience.

Neurontin - Helps me quite a bit. It takes care of the nerve pain in my ribs. I am fortunate that this works for me as long as I don't increase my dosage. (I'm at 900 mg a day).

Baclofen - Gave it a week trial. Did nothing for the hug and made me hungover and grumpy and irritable.

Valium - Is great if you don't mind being knocked out for a few days. Even at 1/4 dose I sleep a lot. Whether I had pain or not I have no clue and it really didn't matter. But, I'm a light weight so things effect me easier.

Ativan - Works good for the hug and decreases the spasms. It doesn't get rid of all of it but takes the edge off of the pain. It also keeps you calm during the pain. The good thing is that you can still function on a small dose and yes, it lasts a while. If I take it at night I seems to last me well in to the next day.

Xanax - Did nothing for the pain and I was still well aware of it when I took Xanax. I've only had 2 in my entire life so I don't know if I'd be the best to answer that one. However, like I mentioned, I was still well aware of the pain/discomfort when I took it.

Some other things that help me . . . Ice. I put ice on quite often. It helps the nerve pain as well as the muscles and inflammation caused by the intercostals constantly going in to spasm.

Epsom salt baths - These really help me a lot and recently I started using magnesium cream. (I found some recipes on line and there is one on NT). It really helps a lot. I apply it a few times a day to the rib cage area.

Pressure - For me, applying slight pressure to the area seems to help. My hug is on the left side. I sleep on that side and it just feels so much better. If I switch to the right side, I can feel the pull on the muscles. I have heard of others putting pressure on the area and/or wearing a girdle. And, I have also heard that for others putting pressure on it makes it worse.

Bras - Go braless if you need to. I only wear one if I leave the house. They just hit right where one of the nerves goes through the ribs. There are many times when I have been out that I have had to loosen my bra.

SalonPas - These are great too and I have used them many times on the hug. They really do work on breakthrough pain as well as other muscular type pain. DD19 loves them.

TENS Unit - This is a tricky one. My TENS unit works great most of the time. BUT, if the area is nervy OMGoodness!!!! The pain will take your breath away. If you have one, start out slowly before upping the "amps" so that you know whether some of the pain is muscular or nerve.

In the meantime, I hope you feel better. The hug is my constant daily companion. Some days are better than others but it is always there. And, the nerve damage extends in to my stomach causing spasms in my stomach too. It is not fun to deal with but once you find something that works for you, you will feel so much better and much more in control of the pain.

That is one of my issues. I have had a double mastectomy so I NEED my bra to hold in my fake boobies when I go out. it just looks bizaare to see someone with a flat chest. I get stared at.

I am loving the suggestions keep them coming

Can you try a different bra? I read some where that a woman got a bra with a thicker band and it helped her with her hug. I think that was on about.ms.com but I'm not too sure. For me, it seems the thicker band would hurt more as the area it "constricts" is greater.

Also, sometimes heat helps too. I alternate sometimes between the heat and ice. Sometimes the heat just makes it worse. Most of the time, I just use ice.

Additionally, as you know, I have been getting massages. These work if the massage therapist does just a gentle massage. My MT has been able to get the swelling down and most of the muscles loosened. The intercostals are still spastic but it has helped me so much. She dropped her rate for me, I don't know why. She said that she got in to massage therapy to help people and not necessarily make money. So she charges me $20 for a 1/2 hour gentle massage. My PCP, who also has MS, recommended that I start getting these done on a regular basis as the area was so sore and so swollen. It really does help. It took about a month or so before the swelling and muscle spasms went down. She would come once a week. I am now doing better and she comes every other week. By the 2nd week I am so ready for her to come.

I will say though that she came the other day and did a deeper massage in the area. I could tell she was going deeper and was sore that evening. So, I don't think a deep tissue massage would be good. Just a gentle one.

I love Ativan...it centers me and helps me tremendously with my off balance problems.
I only take a dose of .05 (super low) but can take it up to 3 x a day. My only complaint about it is it seems to take a long time to kick in. When I have my anxious, dizzy times; I can pop one and go drive about 1.5-2 hrs later and feel most normal.

Was just given Klonopin to try at 20 mg. Took a half a one and it knocked me on my *****! I was out like a light and felt a bit hungover the next day.
However; taking 1/4 of the pill does help with the pains.
I think Klonopin is one of those drugs you have to get used to. It has some really great qualities for some people with pain that keeps them up at night.
Its worth a try.
You can always tell a doc you don't like it and move on to something else.

when I needed faster releif I stuck my pills under my tongue. they absorb super fast and work faster.

Cant wait to try this pill later. I dont want to take it now or I will be asleep in my soup.

Dej - I have done the sublingual trick too. It usually works within 10 minutes for me. It's a faster way to deal with pain induced anxiety as well as the pain itself.

Klonopin actually comes in wafers in the USA for dissolving in the mouth. Lucky! I asked for the wafers here thinking if I'm on this medication for the burning mouth syndrome, dissolving mouth wafer makes sense, but the wafers aren't available in Canada!

I decided to wait till Sunday night to try it, since I have so many things to do this weekend, and simply cant afford the hangover, spoonless affect. I will let you know in a day or two how it works for me.

btw, I found many differences between Canada meds and USA meds. isnt it strange that the same company that makes this stuff only sells this in USA and that in CAnada and or not at all in UK.

If you do sublingual.... use a smaller dose. Under the tongue bypasses the first metabolism by the liver, and hence you will get much more drug in your blood steam using under the tongue.

If you don't want that huge dose, cut back a bit with your dosing.
If you use your regular dose, be careful.