Keep a log of your symptoms to let your Doctor or Neurologist know.

Sometimes it can be a long journey to a diagnosis and sometimes not but there are plenty of folks here who know what you are going through.

Hi, Ralph, welcome to NT!

What you are describing sounds a lot like what is called the "MS Hug" or the "Girdle Sensation". If you do a search for those terms, you'll find discussions all over the net about it.

Ralph, I have returned to this post to add that I should have mentioned that I've never heard of this lung density issue as directly related to MS. Definitely ask your neuro if these are two separate things or if he/she thinks they are related. Sorry for any confusion.

I hope you get some answers and treatment quickly, it's very uncomfortable to feel that way.

Thank you so much for your input. I had never heard of the MS Hug but now feel this very well may be what this is all about. I have a follow up with my doctor just in case to discuss the lung density thing. I've never in my life done this kind of chat room and I have to say, I can't believe how quickly I go an answer! Thanks again!

You're quite welcome, Ralph, it is perhaps NeuroTalk's great hallmark that we're all struggling with the confusion and uncertainty of difficult health concerns.

Fortunately, we also suffer with profound chattiness and love to offer any experience or knowledge that may save another from even 5 of those frustrating moments.

Look around and let us know if we can help you further, or just hang in one of our many off-topic amusement zones.

My spinal lesions are pretty big, and they cause lots of symptoms when they are active, including the hug. For me that feeling normally comes with a sense of numbness & burning too.

It may very well be the hug (everyone describes it differently), but because you have a lung issue, I think it is worthwhile being checked out by your doc at this time. Being a smoker, I decided to (get checked out; COPD testing), but all was well. It seems it was just a sensory symptom, whereby I "percieved" I was having difficulty getting a full breath . . . but really I wasn't.

Welcome to the forum, and good luck with the diagnosis process, Ralph.

Cherie

Thank you, Cherie. I appreciate your input. I went to my GP this morning and they did a follow up chest x ray just to make sure there is nothing going on in that realm. I have never been a smoker, but have a 40 year old friend who has never been a smoker either and she was recently diagnosed with lung cancer. I guess you can never be sure about these things, but I am betting that this will all be neuro related after all and I will soon start treatment for MS. Have a great day and thanks again.

Hi Ralph,
Welcome!

I like this MS site, link is below. Some stuff is old but still valuable information. I get the MS Hug everyday. I think they named it because it feels like a big old bear came up behind you, and squeezes you around the upper middle, then lets go and does it again and again.

Sometimes it is non-stop at night for me. It is painful, like your ribs are being crushed. That's how it is for me.

Other people get it around the waist, a leg or even an arm. That feel like a tight band is wrapped around the area. They call it banding, girdling (like a tight elastic band) or The HUG. Not a pleasant pain to have, but it is invisible pain to the doctor, only you feel it.

This link is to:

Invisible Symptoms: Fatigue and Pain

http://www.mult-sclerosis.org/news/J...eSymptoms.html

Copied from the site.
MS HUG
Band-like pain in torso or extremities (Jeffery, 2000)
Caused by a lesion in the spinal cord, this pain is characterized by intense pressure or squeezing in a girdle-like pattern around the torso.
May respond partially to phenytoin or gabapentin.
For resistant cases, benzodiazepines may be helpful.

I hope you don't have MS, but if you do, there are medications for a lot of the symptoms.