This Isn't the Notorious MS Hug, Is It?!

A few weeks ago, I woke up in intense pain that started in my armpits and included pretty much my whole torso from armpit level to just below my ribs, all the way around. It was awful, and I was writhing in pain, moaning with every gasping breath. I took pain meds, but they took forever to kick in. My husband took me to the ER, where they did an EKG (despite my assurance that it wasn't my heart) and a chest x-ray to make sure my heart wasn't enlarged (again, despite my assurances that my heart was healthy).

By the time I saw the ER doc, my pain meds were kicking in and my pain levels fell to manageable levels. I got sent home and told to follow up with my regular doc, which I did. After that, I started having these *other* episodes, which started in my upper right abdominal quadrant, radiated up my sternum and around my right side to my back. For awhile I thought those were just milder versions of the initial episode, and when they were diagnosed as caused by gallstones, I thought that explained it all. I've got an appointment to see a surgeon next week, and I figured this was one problem that *wouldn't* linger in limboland!

But then I had another episode like the very first one yesterday. This time, it happened in late afternoon, out of no where I felt this incredibly intense pain into my armpits and surrounding my torso again. I couldn't get a deep breath, and when I tried to get to my pain meds, I couldn't lift my arm above shoulder height. Luckily my husband got home right when I was contemplating calling 911. He got me my pain meds, but what really helped was two large icepacks, one across my chest and the other on my upper back.

After both those weird episodes, I feel like I have sore muscles, and I wondered if what was happening was some kind of intense muscle spasms? And then I wondered if what I was experiencing was anything like the notorious MS hug? Or am I simply having two different types of gallbladder attacks?

My brain MRIs have been essentially normal, and I've been in limboland for just over three years now. As y'all know, it's almost impossible to rule MS out entirely, but the consensus among my docs has been that it's unlikely. But they also don't have any idea what it is I *do* have, and my parasthesias (am I using that correctly?) have increased and worsened during my stay in limboland. I've never had the c-spine and t-spine MRIs to look for lesions there ...

Thanks so much for any feedback or advice you can give me!!!

[jensequitur]

The MS hug has two different presentations.  One is paresthesia, where the sufferer feels a banding sensation around the torso.   The other is muscle spasms, where the intercostal muscles between the ribs go into spasm, just like a side stitch.  

I would definitely ask for t-spine and c-spine MRIs - the MS hug is because of damage to the spine.

[essdipity]

Well, the gallstones issue seems to be still on the table, so let's not forget that. Can you get some pain meds from your PCP till you see the surgeon? You do need to get to the bottom of this, and that involves eliminating all other possibilities.

As to the infamous hug, I think the jury's still out on that. Some claim that it's all paresthesias, while others insist it is actual spasms. The reason this is important is that the treatment is different. Nerve pain meds for one, muscle relaxants for the other. Don't know if you have any MS meds, but if it's not gallstones, you might try a bit of experimentation.

If your pain starts at your armpits and it's from MS, it seems to me that a cervical MRI is in order. I think, but I don't know, that CNS nerve issues don't travel upwards, meaning I don't think a thoracic lesion could cause pain above the thoracic spine.

If I have this wrong, someone please correct me. This is something I've wondered about for a good while.

Meanwhile, Momma, I send best wishes that this pain leaves pronto.

ess

[SickMomma_PDX]

Thanks you guys!

Yes, the gallstones are definitely still on the table, and I guess I won't know for sure until I get the gallbladder removed and recover ... and see if I'm still having these other episodes.

I think this is probably the impetus I needed to follow through with the names of local neurologists my PCP gave me after my original neuro blew me off last summer.

And I'm going to follow the advice you both gave and request that I have the spinal MRIs done just to make sure there isn't something going on there that they've missed because they haven't looked there. :-/

Thanks so much for the feedback!!

[SickMomma_PDX]

Oh, and yes, I do have pain meds (and I'm using them)! Thank goodness that my PCP has faith in me that I won't abuse my narcotic pain meds and that I try hard to take them as rarely as possible. I'm really lucky in that; I know a lot of people with painful conditions whose doctors treat them like crack addicts. :-(