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.

Thank you for your input. I am still waiting to get the results from my follow-up chest x ray, but I feel pretty sure that this "Hug" is what is going on. The only confusion I have is that this intense crushing feeling is only around my right rib; the left side feels completely normal. Has anyone ever experienced this on just one side of their body?

Hi Ralph! Welcome to NT!

Like both Lady's (Lady Express and Lady), I get the hug too, only I don't call it a hug at all. I dubbed it the MS Vice Grip. It is pretty much a daily thing for me but to varying degrees. Catching a good deep breath can be difficult and I have found that putting my arms over my head helps.

In addition to what Lady said, I also show evidence of nerve damage in the rib cage area when they do a neurological exam. Some areas on my left side are hypersensitive to a pin prick and other areas I don't feel anything. My reflexes vary from have no reflex in my stomach to being hyperreflexic. This varies as well but during a spinal lesion flare, it can be full on. Neurontin helps quite a bit.

I will keep you in my prayers as you go through all of this and hope the chest X-ray comes back negative.

BTW - Mine is on the left side.