MS Hug

[Deb61]

Can the MS hug cause death?  When I saw the Oprah show with Montel Williams, Dr. Oz mentioned that the leading causes of death in MS were suicide (which sounds very likely) and the MS hug were the leading causes of death.  Is this true?  If not can you die from MS?  I will certainly pay more attention to those chest pains if this is the case.  Not worried, just would like to know to make sure I get myself the proper care . . .

Don't throw rotten tomatoes if you all have discussed this topic earlier . . . I've looked around on the forum and didn't find anything.

Deb

[HVAC]

I have been having diaphragm spasms for years and I bounce back. They hurt a lot and they are scary but no fear of death.

I use liquid valium and Zanaflex.

Alex

[CheyTag]

How long did it last?

[Lulu54]

your use of the English language was great! I am so glad to see you recognize this was an old conversation but even happier to read that you found it helpful.

So many of the MS symptoms are crazy difficult to explain to others and can't be tests by doctors- they have to take our word to it.....  hence the often used suggestion of anxiety.  jeeez!!

One suggestion - I don't know if it is up there in this thread - is try to expand your chest when you breath so it moves right and left, and not up and down.  Stretching those ligaments and muscles a little bit at a time might give you a touch of relief.

good luck with the doctor and I hope we see you around more ,  Laura

[LisaIsabelle]

Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU!!!

I've been experiencing what I think is this infamous MS Hug since a few days and I thought I was going to die or go crazy.

First, a bit of info about myself : 37yo female, diagnosed in 2007. I usually have cognitive problems (memory, orientation) and my hands aren't as strong as they should be, I lost dexterity and strenght but that's about it. I consider myself VERY lucky.

From what I see tho, I started a crisis with new symptoms a few days ago and it was triggered by acid reflux. What started with burning under the sternum and burping (I have no doubt it was heartburn as it went away with proper medication after 2 days) ended like heart-attack symptoms in a matter of 12h : heavy pressure in the ribcage (left side), on the sternum and along the collarbone (left as well). I also had sharp pain in the left arm, kinda electric shocks. I ended at the ER, plugged all over for my heart to be properly checked... everything turned out fine. I got an Xray and blood tests as well... I was sent back home with the usual ''it's stress'' comment even if I mentioned my MS.

*long sigh*

Four days later the heartburn is gone (hopefully for good) but I still have a very sharp pain on the left ribcage (under my armpit and along the side of my breast.... it also goes down my back at night when I'm tired) that won't go away, pressure on the left side of my chest, and my left arm feels numb. I also have episode of pressure on the sternum and I have a hard time to breath when it happens (thankfully it comes and goes and is less and less severe... a few days ago it was HORRIBLE). My throat feels tight but that could be from the heartburn. I also have parasthesia on both arms, shoulders and back that come and goes.

At first I was convinced all these weird feelings where from some sort of anxiety like the ER doctor said, but thanks to your comments I will call my neurologist next week and set up an appointment. I don't why I didn't think all these symptoms could be MS, but as I said above, I usually have cognitive problems and I'm not used for my body to overreact and experience such pain. *knocks on wood*

This thread was VERY helpful even if it's a few years old. I wish you all feel better by now!




P.S. Sorry if my english is weird at time, it's my 2nd language :)

[tonib711]

I get pressure on both sides of my neck when the pressure starts in the middle of my chest.  I have told this to 5 different doctors, and they all sent me to have neck ultrasounds, but have found nothing in my neck.  I have lesions on the brain but they do not see any lesions on my spine, and I read that the MS hug is due to spinal lesions.  I also read that it is very hard to see a small lesion on the spine.  I have several lesions on my brain.  MS is suspected, but no confirmation yet.  

[nana68]

I had respiratory failure two years ago...I am in the process of being diagnosed with ms...I wonder if it was ms then or if it was like they say status asthmaticus...funny but my chest xray was clear at the time of admission for status a. I am so confused about all of this the neuro says I have space but not time...I have 4 periventricular lesions that are 3mm and two occipital horn lesions that are a centimeter. I have mirror pattern o bands(serum and spinal fluid). I was paralyzed from the status a as they called it but wonder if it was ms all along.

[mamad61]

Oh my gosh! I can't believe I am reading this. I have been having this huglike experience for years. The pain drops me  to  my knees. No doctors can ever explain it. I my gall bladder out years ago, still happening. I have been having leg pain and strange buzzing, tingling, electric sensations in my legs and feet for a while now. The pain in my feet and legs at night is sometimes unbearable. I have fibromyalgia, sarcoidosis, migraines, ibs, GERD, you name it. They have called it autoimmune disease unspecified. I am seeing a neurologist next week. What do I say, I want to be checked for MS? Not one doctor has ever mentioned any of this to me? Needless to say, this may help explain the horrible attacks I get under my breasts that doubles me over and takes my breath away. I haven't been able to wear a regular bra in years.  HELP!

[Deb61]

I too have gone to the doctor about them before my MS diagnosis and was told that they were esophageal spasms.  I've even gone to the emergency room because it felt like an elephant sitting on my chest.  All my vital signs were fine, so they sent me home with a referral to a psychiatrist!  

Since my MS diagnosis, I still don't have answers, but they are getting worse.  I can't breathe, they are so painful!  They last longer, too.  I can have an episode for a couple of hours.  I have no idea what they are, but the doctor assures me it isn't my heart.  I guess they are MS hugs.  Whatever it is takes the air right out of me.  

Are you seeing a neurologist?  

[MandyLynell]

Wow I just joined Medhelp specificly to ask everyone questions about my symptoms and if they coincided with MS. Wow I just posted a question explaining all of my symptoms I've been suffering from for years now(Im 27) and just came across this question. I honestly almost 100% believe I do have MS now. Since I was approx13-14 I started getting these episodes out of no where and I literally felt as if I was dying because I couldn't get a deep breath. I would take a breath and it just felt like my lungs wouldnt expand enough to get the right oxygen supply. Needless to say panic of course set in next and Im sure my gasping for air and freaking out didnt help matters much. And then within a hour or two I would be fine. My doctors gave me inhalers and even pills to help what they said was Asthma and it would be months to even years before the next episode. I never thought a thing about it. The last severe episode I got was when my daughter was a baby, I actually thought I had pneumonia or a colapsed lung something very severe. It came on as a normal cant take a deep breath and within a couple hours my chest started to tighten I was having pain around my heart(it felt like), it lasted through out the night. Every position I tried was worse than the last the pain took away my breath and the anxiety of feeling short of oxygen was a whole other nightmare in itself, but them combined was unbearable. It was scary!!! I went in at 8am to my Doctors because I really believed I was having a heart attack or low on oxygen(even though I didn't feel deprived). Something I knew was wrong. My ECG was fine, Perfect! So of course it was ruled out as GERD. NO WAY!! I have had GERD since I was 10 and it was nothing like GERD. They gave me a GI cocktail and a script for an inhaler and sent me home. i always wondered why the inhalers NEVER EVER worked. Thank you I think I know why now. I have always been the one diagnosing myself which at first was somewhat amusing but now its just tiring.

[Shayvin]

Wow, this is the first time I have heard someone describe exactly what I experience for a MS Hug and that I found out that a cold glass of water makes it go away faster. I think it "calms" the diaphram and chest or shocks it somehow. Before I would pop an ativan under my tongue as the theory is the muscles are so tight they need to be relieved. But it never really worked, had to wait it out for 15min to the second. Water, cold, within 30seconds.

[Lulu54]

Hi and welcome to the forum. You may not notice that you have posted on a very old thread and many people won't take the time to read your words. I hope you will start a new thread and introduce yourself to everyone.  

Now, for that darn  hug - we really wish there was a different name for it.  No way does it resemble those nice gentle hugs that we give to others.  We have talked about this and cursed and moaned about it, too..  I'm so sorry you are affected by it.  Hopefully someone here will be able to answer your question about Lyrica and the hug.

I hope we see you around,
lulu

[RonnieLove_317]

i agree death hold, boa constrictor hold, there has never been a hug that felt this badd to me . I wander if the fact that i have been off of my Lyrica for 6 months this could of caused this to be so bad? Im scared to do solumedrol again caused i had a difficult time on it , and it caused me to have nitemares, hot flashes, and deep dark depression... and i had chest pains behind it .

[anon07072023]

Have you been to a neurologist and do you have a diagnosis of MS?  Maybe they can run an MRI on you, on your spine if they haven't already.  If you have MS, then they can start disease modifying drugs, so you have less disability in the future.  

You should definitely talk to your doctor about all of this, especially if you are still having problems.

Also, this is a very old thread on this forum.  You could post a brand new question, because I don't know how many people are still watching this thread.  

-Kelly

[ohbrittany1]

Also, to add to my post, it stayed active in my throat and upper thoracic spine for 3 days.. and slowed down.. but i still have a lot of difficulty swallowing. and difficulty breathing and moving around. i'm extremely weak, especially my arms and legs (worse from my knees down)...

[ohbrittany1]

I recently had an attack, and i thought it was my thyroid acting up, but clearly after reading this article and reading up on the myclonus and myoclonic seizures i was diagnosed with last october and the low lying cerebellar tonsil as well, i'm realizing that it is MS. and the attack i had is exactly like the "MS Hug" but when i had the attack it went from my neck to waistline and then all the way up and to my throat and all the way back down to my waistline again... i'm really scared about this.. i'm doing my best to stay calm being as whenever i get really upset or anxious my throat starts to enlarge (which is where it decided to reside when it calmed down)...
Also, i have been having these same seizures (myoclonic seizures) since i was 16 years old, but they've been getting progressivly worse, and the attack "MS Hug" i had on Aug 25th, 2011 i believe, was the worst its ever been... when it calmed down i couldnt walk and i felt and looked like i had MS.. and i stuttered as well.. and i've never stuttered that severly before.. it wasnt until last october when i was hospitalized for a week and diagnosed with myoclonus and myoclonic seizures that i started stuttering a little bit and getting confusion...
anybody have these symptoms? any hope?

[jujuminx]

This is an old thread. May I suggest you start a new one with your question?  I think you will get some responses.

Julie

[MamaSpenz]

I experienced my first MS hug yesterday. I was feeling fatigued with the house cleaning (daily thing nothing unusual), when I sat down at the computer... When my phone rang I jumped up to grab it and it hit me so hard, my brain went blank, i don't even remember the full phone conversation, it felt like so much pressure around my chest my heart was going to explode out of my throat/mouth. It was excruciating, i couldn'/t breathe, or talk. When I sat down I felt disoriented almost like my brain wasn't working properly, I thought I was having a heart attack! My mother drove me to the hospital as I had both of my little girls with me alone at home. After a CT scan, EKG, cardiac enzyme tests etc. Heart issues were ruled out, I was sent home with a pain-pill prescription and the theory that it as a "MS HUG". My lungs feel raspy (chest x-ray was normal :ruled out bronchial spasms), My chest and back muscles are sore (excruciating pain in shoulder blades as well yest.) And I'm completely exhausted physically and emotionally, can anyone relate to this experience?? What is YOUR opinion? MS HUG?? Does this mean I have more lesions??? I see my neurologist monday (have to travel an hour away)...Please help- my email is ***@**** with any questions/support/comments etc! Thanks!

[jensequitur]

Mine have never been all the way around.  They were usually centered in the esophagus, and only within the last year have they started to try and go around.

Jumpinjiminy - you're quite welcome!  Try hot tea or coffee too - if I start having one, I'll take a Flexaril and have a hot cuppa joe.

[jumpinjiminy]

I have to thank you for the drink of water suggestion. I've been plagued with these very painful spasms right below my sternum off and on since early May. After reading this thread, I tried the drink of water when one would come on and 3 out of 4 times so far, it's worked.

I'm waiting to hear back to get scheduled for an upper GI and small bowel, but in the meantime, the belladonna that was prescribed isn't touching them. Nor does the baclofen or Tramadol. They're so powerful. Even though they lasted for about ten minutes at a time, my ribs were very sore in the back this morning. It hurt to take a deep breath.

In the meantime, it's good to have a way to shut these down. It's such a gripping pain.

[ArtistLike]

It's definitely not a wrap-around boa-style "hug," then.  It's only happened a few times, all more than a year ago within a few months of one another.  I'll assume it was acid reflux/GERD.  Happened every time while I was sitting up, and twice while I was eating dinner.

[jensequitur]

I've had esophageal spasms since 1999.  I think they're related to the lesions in my upper spinal cord.  They started out as simple throat spasms - it felt like I had a chunk of chip or something caught in my throat.  Drinking an entire glass of warm water would help relieve the spasm.  Since my diagnosis, they've continued, and now the spasm will include my torso as well as my esophagus.

That's not to say that you have lesions in your spinal cord.  When I first went to the doctor about it, they thought it was acid reflux.  For a long time whenever I had one, I would take a acid reducer and drink a glass of water.  Then I found out one day (when I ran out of acid reducer!) that all I needed was the glass of water.  

The key is when these attacks happen - are they at night, or during the day?  Are you in bed and reclining, or are you sitting up?  Did you go to bed after eating a big meal?  That sort of thing.  

[supermum_ms]

What your describing sounds more like how my mother describes her reflux problems than the MS Hug. You also can't forget because of your anxiety issues, the posibility that it was panic attacks, im asuming your heart was racing too if it was as you say "one of the scariest and most painful things I've ever experienced".

The MS Hug is a squeezing or banding feeling that goes fully or partially around your trunk area. Think of when you have your blood pressure taken at the dr's, the cuff goes around your arm and gets tighter and tighter (banding feeling) the pressure stops when the test is over but with the Hug it often starts squeezing again and can keep on repeating the cycle for hours or days or weeks. Its that type of experience but around your trunk area, what your saying isn't really the same thing and probably is more in line with reflux.

My youngest was dx with panic attacks but it turned out to be a side affect of his anxiety medication, once he went off them they stopped. At the time we didn't realise it was his meds until he went back on them, and within a couple of days the panic attack sx were all back. All i'm trying to say is that often the answer is the simplest, and not necessarily a more difficult situation or "falling squarely (most more than this) into symptoms for MS".

Cheers........JJ  

[ArtistLike]

Hmm...some of you may recognize that I've been posting a lot of long what-if rants now that I am in my second "season" (literally) of very pronounced MS-like symptoms.  I haven't been diagnosed with anything yet but anxiety and depression...but the medication doesn't help when my left leg doesn't want to work of I have double vision or vertigo...go figure.

Anyway, probably like most of you who first started thinking you might have MS, I've read everything I can find about it, and I kind of overlooked the "MS hug" because of the way it supposedly wraps around from the back to the abdominal area.  But I read one account of a "chest hug" and ended up back here again...and I recall a mystery that I never addressed and thought was probably related to acid reflux (because it occurred two of three times while I was eating).  About a year and a half ago, within a couple of months, I had three identical and really scary and painful sudden, crushing chest pains.  All felt like, I don't know, maybe a cannon ball had landed square on my chest (although I was sitting up), crushing my bones from my sternum all the way up to the bottom of my throat.  The first time it happened, I was eating out with my parents and I literally thought I was having a heart attack.  I sat perfectly still for 5-10 minutes until it felt "safe" enough to move, and then I was just shaken after another five minutes or so.  Then it happened again while I was in bed weeks later, and then about a week later while I was out eating (and drinking wine) with friends.  And never again since then.

Could this describe a "hug"?  I hope not because it was one of the scariest and most painful things I've ever experienced and I'm hoping my antacids will keep it from happening again...but it's fascinating how all these disparate "quirks" I've had since I was 25 or so are falling squarely (most more than this) into symptoms for MS.

[essdipity]

The hug is a complex sort of thing, and is experienced differently by different people. We have had lots of discussions here about whether or not it can really be a cardiac issue. When in doubt, always go to the ER. Plenty of people here have done that, with very few learning it was a heart problem, but better safe than sorry. It's also good to find out our hearts are in good shape.

I don't think the MS hug can be experienced in the neck area. Similar things can be, though. It's possible that paresthesias could produce a squeezing feeling that would be pretty awful. Either that or muscle spasms could have the same effect. A brain and cervical spine MRI would certainly be indicated under the circumstances. I don't know a lot about lupus, but it's possible that another disease process could be going on too. So again, when in doubt, get quick medical care.

The best to both of you.

ess