MS Hug without lesions on spine.

[cin68]

Hello all,
I have been diagnosed with MS, due to the lesions on my brain and the numbness of my left leg, trunk, arm and face.  There are other symptoms, really too many to bore you with.
My question is this, for over a year now I have had a strange tightening feeling under my ribs that suffocates me, or I think it is.  They got bad to the point I would throw up.  My Neurologist does not want to say that is a MS hug, but my MS specialist says it is.  Anyway, I do have a question I promise.  I had a MRI of my spine and no lesions were found.  Is it possible that I am having a MS hug without the lesions on my spine?
I was started on Baclofen and since I started taking them, I have not had a full blown MS hug.  I get the sensation, but then it quickly goes away.
Thank you for reading my long winded question.
Cin

[Rosanne4299]

Just stumbled on this page trying to find a comprehensive list of MS symptoms.  Am filipina and live in the Philippines where MS is not commonly understood.  I envy those of you who can ask questions and get answers from doctors.  I was diagnosed in 1986 here in the Philippines...MRI confirmed MS, while brain scan revealed nothing.  Have secondary progressive type.  In 1993, we moved to Indonesia where MS is unknown.  I had an "attack" after I got severe UTI...but got better when the UTI was quelled.  We went to Singapore to have a neuro there check on me.  Told him I had tight bands, told him of pins and needles never leaving me, told him of an electric current running down my leg if I moved my head at a certain angle, etc. We dod an MRI...and he said you have no lesions therefore you do not have MS.  After that, I didn't want to go see another doctor again!  But I'm glad to read what you said about MS and lesions and MRI results.  Thanks

[cin68]

Thank you Quix,
It is funny you mentioned Trigeminal Neuralgia.  For years I have been told I have TMJ, well several years ago I was woke up out of a sound sleep to the worst face and neck pain I have ever experienced.  I cried so hard and I had my husband take me to the emergency room because I literally thought my face was about to explode.  I accidently brushed the side of my face with my shirt when I was getting dressed and it hurt so bad.
When I got to the emergency room, they check my ears, did a cold sensitivity test on my teeth and could find nothing.  They gave me a heavy muscle relaxer and pain killer and it seemed to help alot.  When I was released from the emergency room they diagnosed me with Trigeminal Neuralgia and that I should see a Neurologist.  I was scared and still did not believe them, so instead I went to an ear, nose and throat doctor and he took a look at my bite and said you have TMJ.  That was it.
It has always happened on my left side.  Within the last year it is starting on the right side.  I am thinking I have a horrible ear infection and I go to my primary and he says there is nothing wrong with my ear, must be the TMJ.  Anyway, I do not think it has anything to do with all with TMJ but to do with my MS.
I have an appointment with my MS specialist on the 20th.  I think I need to tell him this stuff.  This is all new to me, but the symptoms have been there for so long but I never put them together.
I am scared now because it is progressing and fast.
Again, sorry for the long winded comment.  I just have so much to say and ask.
Thank you for being here!

Cindy

[Quixotic1]

Cin - the answer is that this is quite likely an MS HUG - your description is classic.  this is due to a spot of damage on the thoracic spine.  A lesion on the thoracic spinal cord.  Period.

So what if no "MRI spots" were seen.  Not all the spots of damage we have in MS are imaged on an MRI.  NO neuro should tell you that an MRI sees all there is.

The difference here is in the use of the word "lesion".

MS causes lesions.  All symptoms that MS causes are caused by areas of damage in the CNS.  These areas are lesions.  These are the REAL lesions.

The MRI shows the larger areas of damage as spots on the image.  These are called lesions, too, but they are not ALL that is going on in the nerves.  they are just what that machine was able to see.  I call these "MRI lesions."

When I developed Trigeminal Neuralgia which is caused by an attack on the Trigeminal Nerve which comes off the brainstem, we did a new MRI.  My neuro, who was very good, said, "Well, I don't see anything on your brainstem to acccount for the Trigeminal Neuralgia.  That's good!  Nobody needs a big lesion on their brainstem."  What he was saying that by having the pain, he knew there was damage on the nerve or brainstem.  When it didn't show up on the MRI, he also knew that it was just too small to be visualized.  Your HUG is the same way.

You might want to read the Health Page called Lesions vs Symptoms

http://www.medhelp.org/health_pages/Multiple-Sclerosis/Lesions-vs-Symptoms/show/61?cid=36

Does this help?

Quix