What Is the MS Hug?

Written by Tracy Brown

Medically Reviewed by Christopher Melinosky, MD on April 14, 2022

If you have multiple sclerosis, an autoimmune disease that affects the brain and spinal cord, you might have felt a band of pain around your torso. It’s often called the “MS hug.”

What It Feels Like

Like most MS symptoms, it’s different for each person. You might feel it right under your rib cage, in your chest, or anywhere between your neck and waistline. It can be:

Burning

Dull and achy pain

Hard to breathe

Pain on one side of your body

Pressure

Sharp pain

Tickling

Tightness

Tingling or pins and needles

Vibration

It can last a few seconds to a few hours, and in rare cases, a few days. People often say it’s like wearing a girdle around the middle of your body. For that reason, you may also hear it called by a number of names, like:

Banding

Girdle-band

Girdling

MS girdle

You might feel it in your head, hands, or feet instead. People with this type of sensation feel like they’re wearing tight gloves or boots. Read more about muscle spasms and tightness with MS.

What Causes It?

MS affects the way nerves send messages. The tightness, pain, or whatever you’re feeling results from spasms in small muscles between your ribs. The doctor will call these intercostal muscles. They hold your rib cage together and help it expand when you move, bend, or breathe. If these muscles have spasms, you feel painful, tightening pressure.

The hug is a type of nerve pain. You might hear a doctor call it dysesthesia, which means a sensation that isn't normal.

If other symptoms come on quickly at the same time, the hug can also be a sign that your MS is relapsing. Call your doctor if this happens. Get more information on what dyesthesia pain feels like with MS.

What Should You Do?

If you think you’re having an MS hug, talk to your neurologist or main doctor right away. The symptoms can seem like those of a heart attack, so it’s important to make sure that’s not the case and to rule out any other causes of the pressure.

Your doctor will most likely give you an MRI to look for other things, like gallbladder problems or lung disease. MS hug can also happen to people with other rib and spinal cord conditions.

Can You Prevent It?

Yes. The hug responds to the same triggers as other MS symptoms. Keep notes and learn what sets yours off. It might show up, or get worse if you’re:

Fighting a cold, flu, or bladder infection

Fatigued

Stressed out

Too hot

Medications for MS Hug

You may not need treatment. But if you do, what your doctor gives you will depend on the cause.

If they think your symptoms signal a relapse, you might get steroids to help prevent it:

Corticotropin (Acthar, HP Acthar)

Methylprednisone

Prednisone

Your doctor may suggest over-the-counter treatments like:

Acetaminophen or ibuprofen

Pain relief cream

Or they could prescribe other medications, including:

Drugs for depression that also fight nerve pain, such as amitriptyline (Elavil) and duloxetine  (Cymbalta)

Drugs that stop convulsions and also halt nerve pain, like gabapentin (Neurontin) and          pregabalin (Lyrica)

Muscle relaxers like baclofen (Lioresal, Gablofen)

Your health care team will work with you to choose the best mix of treatments for you.

How to Manage the MS Hug

You can try these things at home:

Apply a warm compress. (Be careful: Heat might make your pain worse.)

Drink plenty of water.

Eat healthy food.

Get a massage.

Stay rested. Get at least 8 hours of sleep each night.

Use deep breathing techniques, yoga, and meditation.

Some people get relief from wearing tight clothing but may prefer loose clothing.

View a slideshow to learn more about other unusual symptoms of MS.

How Cycling Has Helped Me Stay Active

 

nonamehawaiian

It started with a numbing sensation down my left leg, then I noticed balance issues, then I noticed a little difficulty with walking. Smaller stuff kept coming, but I've always had a reason to justify what was going on with me physically.

I had to Google what MS was

When a friend told me she was diagnosed with MS, I wasn't sure what MS stood for so I Google'd 'MS.' On the first page I opened, halfway down, it said, 'Early Signs of MS.' On the list were 'balance,' 'difficulty walking,' 'numbing sensations in the hands and feet,' and 'dizziness or vertigo.' Hmm, I had 5 symptoms listed. I made an appointment with an MS specialist and found that I had MS. Upon being recommended a second opinion, I brought an old brain MRI from 4 years prior.

I had had MS for a while it seems

As it turned out, I had been living with MS since, but my MS had never presented symptoms until now. My neurologist told me I can still live a productive life and help keep my MS from progressing: 1) find an MS therapy that works, 2) manage stress, and 3) exercise. And so I did. I turned to cycling as a form of exercise, which is also my stress relief. Cycling has helped my balance and walks and has helped my fitness and physical well-being. Coupled with an MS therapy that has been working since my diagnosis, my MS has remained stable since 2012.

Remaining stable and active

Today, I am still active on the bike, and work diligently on my balance in my home gym, and have not missed a medication dose. I am still learning about my MS and how to 'bob and weave' when symptoms hit, but I remain stable and active!

“Comorbid” Conditions Appear in People with MS at Diagnosis, but May Not be Treated, Says New Study

A new study in England found that high blood pressure and diabetes were more common in people with MS at the time of their MS diagnosis than in people who don’t have MS, but fewer were on medications used to control these conditions. Identifying and addressing these types of “vascular” conditions as early as possible may improve the course of MS – see below for resources.

• Background: In scientific terms, having more than one chronic medical condition at the same time is called “comorbidity.” There is growing recognition that comorbidities may increase MS progression and detract from an individual’s general health and quality of life. One such comorbidity is high blood pressure (hypertension), which may be as much as 25% more common in people with MS compared to those who don’t have MS.
• This Study: A team of researchers from University College London and the University of Manitoba identified 12,251 people with MS and 72,572 people without MS who were matched by age and other factors in a large database that contains electronic medical records from general medical practices in England.
  
  They looked at differences between people with MS – specifically at the time of diagnosis – and those without MS, in the prevalence of type 2 diabetes and high blood pressure, and in the use of medications used to combat diabetes, high blood pressure, and high cholesterol.
• Results: Type 2 diabetes was 30% more common in people at the time of diagnosis with MS than in those without MS, but 56% fewer were using medications to treat diabetes. More people had high blood pressure at the time of their MS diagnosis, but 66% fewer were using medications to reduce blood pressure. The use of medications to reduce high cholesterol was 63% lower in people with MS.
• The Meaning: This study indicates that comorbidities are common even at the time when MS is first diagnosed, and these potentially serious health conditions may go untreated. Since having comorbidities can significantly worsen a person’s MS disease course, the authors recommend that guidelines be developed to work these considerations into the management of people with MS at diagnosis. For now, people with MS can follow available recommendations (see below) for general health screenings to detect possible comorbidities. Importantly, high blood pressure, diabetes, and high cholesterol are TREATABLE conditions, using medication and lifestyle recommendations.

Take control of comorbidities: Resources

• Here is a checklist to help you keep track of your general health and address issues that need attention.

• Learn more about healthy behaviors that help to address coexisting conditions.
• Get tips for managing MS and something else (comorbidities) from Momentum Magazine.
• Watch a webinar on “Living well with MS and other health conditions”

“Management of vascular risk in people with multiple sclerosis at the time of diagnosis in England: A population-based study,” by Drs. Raffaele Palladino, Ruth Ann Marrie, Azeem Majeed, and Jeremy Chataway, is published in the MS Journal (First published online April 7, 2023).