The Great Big Squeeze

By Calie Wyatt

3 min read

My 5-year-old son has a stress ball-type toy that’s covered in a net. I believe it is called a net stress ball if you would like to Google it for a visual as you read. Ha! When you squeeze the toy, the squishy ball pops out of the sections of the net. It can be very soothing to squeeze the ball and see it pop out across the net. Ironically, something explicitly made to decrease stress or to enjoy squeezing reminds me of my most stressing MS symptom: the dreaded “MS hug.”

The onset of the MS hug is unpredictable

My MS hug does not seem to hit me after specific activities. I can never pinpoint when it happens. It is always random, but does seem to occur at least once or twice a month. It tends to hit me during the night. I usually begin to feel some discomfort and tightness as I lay down to go to sleep, and then the pain will awaken me later on.

What is the MS hug?

As I was lying in bed one night waiting for it to ease up so I could fall back asleep, I was wracking my brain trying to think of how I could describe it to my husband. If you’ve ever experienced it, then you know it’s not easy to explain. If you look online, it’s commonly described as a girdling or tightening around the torso. All I know is that it is undoubtedly not a hug-type sensation as the name implies. As I was lying there that night, it hit me that what I relate most to is the net stress ball my son has!

Tight squeezing around my rib cage

An MS hug to me feels like someone is squeezing me around my rib cage so tightly that my insides are squeezing out through each rib. Just like the ball being squeezed and popping out of the netting! It causes so much rib pain. It makes my entire upper back and chest feel so tight and uncomfortable, not to mention the pain that radiates around my ribs. It causes that tossing, turning, can’t stretch it out, or find comfort no matter what type of pain.

My worst MS symptoms

If any of my MS symptoms are my greatest enemy thus far, it is hands down the MS hug and extreme fatigue. It is something that I dealt with early on before my diagnosis but had not had to deal with much more until just recently. I think a lot of the reasoning behind that might be that a little over a year ago, I had a triplet pregnancy. It was tough on my body, when our tiny baby C liked to lay right up underneath my ribs, but who knows the actual cause? Either way, I despise the painful sensation.

Coping with the pain

I have suffered from back pain with my MS since diagnosis, but this type of pain is on a whole different level. I am thankful mine gives me a warning; however, it doesn’t seem to make a difference in stopping it from happening. As soon as I feel the discomfort coming on, I try to stretch out my back, especially around my ribs, but unfortunately, it doesn’t do much.

The only thing I have found to help it ease up is the prescription-strength ibuprofen or a similar pain pill. Muscle relaxors also help, but I do not enjoy how groggy they make me feel. The medication does not help right away and doesn’t take the pain away entirely. Still, it does help tamper down the intensity.

Working with my doctor and a chiropractor

It goes without saying that I highly recommend getting the okay from your doctor as I did before taking any higher strength pain medication or other prescription drugs. I have also recently started seeing a chiropractor to see if adjustments can help alleviate some of the tightness and back pain I commonly experience. I have been going for about a month so far, and I can say that it has helped space out my MS hug attacks, but they still happen.

Do you experience the MS hug?

I wish I had a magic solution for this symptom or more advice. Still, I wanted to write this knowing that most of you can probably (and unfortunately) relate. Overall, I regret to inform you all that I don’t have much advice on stopping the MS hug from happening, and the topical medications my MS specialist has given do not seem to help much. So now, I am turning it over to you guys: Do you experience the MS hug? Do you have any tips or tricks when it comes to helping pain associated with the MS hug, and when does yours tend to flare up most?

With love,

Calie

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sheila0313 Member
I have had this twice and you are right. The pain is extremely severe. I found that sitting up in my recliner and holding a heating pad around my stomach (where my pain is) relieves the pain enough to get comfortable. Mine lasted about 4 hours and then slowly disappeared. I am glad that I had read about this online before it happened or I probably would have made a trip to the ER. The pain was that bad. I turned on some meditation music and the heating pad and just rode the wave. So sorry you are experiencing this so often. Flexaril does help also.
snowcap Member
Hi, Calie, Surprised you have any time to write with year-old triplets! Congratulations! I've been having weird sensations that I've been wondering if they're the MS hug, but not quite what you describe (they've started since my last visit to my neurologist). They're always at night, when I'm lying down trying to go to sleep. Starts out just being uncomfortable almost like I ate too much, and then just feels super-tight right around my waist.... Feels like I have a too-tight belt on. It doesn't happen every night, but quite often. It keeps me awake, although lots of other pain (both nerve and muscle pain) keeps me awake as well, so it's just 1 more thing. Would love to hear if others reading this get it right around their waist, or if always at the ribs? But think I'm due next month to see my doc, so guess I'll find out then! Thanks for the post, Callie.
f5hwo4 Member
I had MS hug several years before I was diagnosed. The pain was across my chest and I felt like I was having a heart attack. I went to bed every night in pain wondering if I would be alive in the morning. I had been to my doctor and he checked out my heart and said it was fine. He said I had been drinking to much caffeine. I cut out the caffeine and still had the pain. It lasted about 3 months, when I was diagnosed and read about MS hugs a light bulb went off and I realized what I went through. I wasn't diagnosed until I was 55 but had MS symptoms since my early 20's. But they were so sporadic my doctor thought I was a hypochondriac. Potter
cybervegan Member
I've had MS since 1999 (rare reaction to Hep B vaccine). In 2008, the 'hug' started sporadically, but within months it became 24/7. Now, it's been 13 years of a vise grip but it isn't just around my ribs, it affects my diaphragm, too. I changed my diet because sugar of any kind appeared to make me flare even more, so I tried a vegetarian version of the KETO diet (difficult without meat, fish, gelatin) but I do eat pasture raised eggs&butter. When I stopped KETO for a month and added some wheat and potato, my hug flared even worse than before. UGH. So, for ME, sugar and high glycemic food that turns to sugar like wheat, potato, etc. are an obvious issue & cause serious flares. But, that's MY personal reaction. Not recommending that for anyone else, but you asked what makes me flare. I take muscle relaxers to be able to sleep at night, but I'm up with spasms (with my feet twisted into strange shapes) after it wears off & must take 1/2 a dose more to get back to sleep. Can't take any other medication for my type of MS (I also have RSD). My neuro is fine with this diet for me. I'm still walking, but have a mobility scooter for shopping, etc. Good luck!!