I'm sure you understand what one is now huh? hehe!

I don't care for the term "MS Hug"...hugs are suppose to be fun!

Take care,
Stay sane!

For me, an MS hug is the feeling of a tight belt around my chest, under my breast area. It can last for days, and vanish over night. It's sometimes stronger then other times.

I say we should campaign to call it the "MS BELT" instead of a "HUG". I'm with you BelueMyst, a "hug" it isn't!

I've had the feeling that lasts for only 30 seconds or so, and chaulked it up as a Hug. I've also had the feeling come back, and only last for a short period of time, but come back it did, over and over again.

Look it up under conversations or "discussions" in DS multiple sclerosis and you can read all about it through the years. A lot of people have had it. I read that some people take valium (sp?) for it.

tarabunnyears, here is a link to a recent thread regarding the same topic.

http://www.dailystrength.org/c/Multiple_Sclerosis_MS/forum/11288807-ms-hug-once-again

I hope this helps! I hope you're feeling better!

I'm pretty sure it's when you tell someone you have ms. Then they give you that weird "Aww, poor kid, I'm sooo sorry.." look. Sometimes they don't know what to do next, so they impulsively and awkwardly give you an "MS hug"....Frickin' weirdos.... 8^D

I have had the HUG....I actually thought i was having a heart attack and went to the ER and they did nothing for me. I did my own research and found out that it was the HUG. I talked to my doctor and she gave me xanaflex..and it works.!
It was a tightening around the chest below the breast and mine was in my back really really bad. I know now when i start getting it, i just go get a xanaflex and breath in and out many times to relax and it eventually goes away.
hope i helped you.

Periodically I get this weird abdomen pulsation that last not even 15 seconds about 3 or 4 times then it goes away maybe that "the hug" too but everytime I think about the MS hug I think about that "quack" "Dr Oz" (dr....hmpf) talking about how the MS hug can suffocate a person! He owes us an apology! (If a few flutters can take me out, consider it "Natural Selection" doing its job)

Hey Tara...haven't been "dx" with MS...but have had every possible MS symptom mentioned, with exception of Optic Neuritis (but have multiple eye/vision problems) or the L'Hermittes sign (sp?).

I wanted to comment bc I've had tons of trouble with this symptom. I haven't had it since this past summer...but that was the worst one I've had...& like d3bears...sent me to the ER as a possible Heart Attack victim!! I'd been dealing with it for almost 2 months...but it had gotten REALLY bad during that night...& I'd been up ALL night...sick as a dog!

My brother rushed to the ER that next morning, when I told him what was going on with me...& the ER rushed me right in...as I had ALL the symptoms of a Heart Attack! I was having the hot flashes, severe nausea, dizziness, numb arms, & severe pain in the middle of my chest & back...with that familiar "tight, pressure" feeling!! (had always been either right or left-side chest, before this time).

After an EKG & several tests...they sent me home with an anti-anxiety Rx. However, like d3bears...I had found that my Zanaflex helped far better than anything I've tried! Just wanted to share...bc many don't believe that the "MS hug" can be this painful or debilitating!! Oh...& when mine hits...it usually lasts for several weeks, to several months (usually months)...although, I have gotten an occasional "MS hug" sensation here & there!

Of course...like I said...I "supposedly" don't have MS...so...guess I'm getting some type of "Fibro hug?" LOL! IDK...except I DO know that the symtoms are the very same!!
~tj

Tara, I went to the ER yesterday because Friday night and Saturday night I didn't sleep at all. Rolling around trying to ease the pain below my left breast and side then later into my back. It was a terrible feeling. Two weeks ago the same thing but at the doctors office and they gave me z-pack and steroids. Helped for awhile but came back the past weekend. This doctor said he could see pleurisy in my lower left lung but no fluid. He did about the same Biaxin 500mg & Prednisone. I'm feeling better today, except a bad headache but I can breathe without severe pain. I don't know if this was the Hug but hope you find your answer, I know it is frustrating. Especially if you need to be holding onto a job and feeling this way.

I have had 2 episodes in the past that i believe were ms hugs. one i went to an er,before suspecting i had ms, believing it was in my chest it might be serious and i was alone.
they confirmed it wasn't an important thing and sent me home.

the other time after i was dx with ms--this time the sensation was around my chest-stomach. I had to breath shallowly when they happened, only lasted for a few second but it happened frequently over a 1-2 month period.

i read this ms hug was thought to be caused by the muscles between the ribs spasming & causing that constricted feeling.

i investigated that because i thought that was what i had had on those 2 occasions in the past

nmss search for articles on the hug or girdling...

http://www.nationalmssociety.org/search-results/index.aspx?q=MS+HUG&x=0&y=0&start=0&num=20

but i also listened to a talk radio host who had recently went to the er because of chest pains..after they running her through a bunch of tests, they told her to take some tylenol for inflamation of the muscles around her rib cage....ms symptoms can always be something else..

but i think her discomfort was maintained not that transient short lived tightness discomfort i had. and i know i have ms now. i think it was the ms hug.

I've had what feels like someone squeezing me to the point of pain. It happens when I am tired or in an attack. It will also happen when a cold front is moving in. Weird I know - but my mother in law pointed that out to me. She noticed I will say it hurts right around the time a cold front is on the weather forcast.

Just don't ask Dr. Oz....that quack said the MS Hug could strangle you.... Irresponsible, money grubbing, quack.... (sorry, I still get MAD at the thought of listening to him tell that harang of lies on Oprah) Don't we have enuff to deal with without some daytime quack selling snake oil to us?