Erika, I have not thought I'd had "the hug" but what you describe I've had, the squeezing around the rib cage which makes it hard to breathe. I have just called it spasticity. I guess I call all muscle contractions spasticity. I have had this in the rib cage only from drug reactions. Flu shot, Lyrica given after Shingles, some antibiotics will give me this constriction around the rib cage and difficulty breathing because my muscles seem rigid.
Taking Lyrica was THE worst one...I only took one pill and gave it up as a lost cause, even though it was fantastic help for the pain of post-Shingles neuropathy. I had the Shingles in one leg from hip to foot. I had the same experience with Elavil many years ago...at that time I had much pain, and the doctor gave me the Elavil off label for pain, and it worked very well, but within about 40 minutes I was semi-paralyzed, unable to talk above a whisper, could move only enough to ask for help. I believe that could have been the hug too but, again, I call it severe spasticity.

Would it be better to call it bulbar paralysis? I don't know the difference between those two things. By paralysis I don't mean complete paralysis.