Diagnosis: Multiple Sclerosis

Coping with multiple sclerosis symptoms, attacks, and treatments

muscle spasms

What is the MS Hug / Girdle Pain / Girdle Pain Sensation / Squeeze ‘O’ Death?

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What is the MS Hug?
Grey’s Diagram Of The Body’s Intercostal Muscles

Lately I have had serious trouble with something frequently called the MS Hug (also known as Girdle Pain or sometimes Girdle Band Sensation). What is the MS Hug? There are a couple of theories  on what causes this. One theory is that it is just muscle spasms like all the other muscles spasms experienced by people like me. And by “muscle spasms” I mean awful unbearable crippling pain (OK it’s not this bad every single time). The more popular theory is that the spasms are caused  by lesions on the spinal cord – I’ve never had an MRI on my spinal cord so I can’t tell you if that could be a factor for me. It can be an exacerbation or a psuedoexacerbation. In my case I’m not sure. But I’m going to try to give you all the information I can about this abomination. Please remember, I work with computers and have no medical background.

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My First Year Of Multiple Sclerosis Diagnosis

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First Year Of Multiple Sclerosis
Sara’s First MRI

My first year of Multiple Sclerosis went by so quickly.

Year one of my Multiple Sclerosis diagnosis wrapped up about a month ago (I was diagnosed December 10 2008) and I’ve been reflecting on all the randomness and misinformation about the disease. As a lot of things in my life begin to come together (I’m growing up finally!) I find myself mourning the diagnosis more now than I did initially.

No one knows what causes MS and there is no cure. The idea of the cure is threefold: 1 – prevention of the disease, 2 – prevention of further progression of the disease, and 3 – reversal of disability caused by the disease. Theories are that those genetically prone to it may have it set off by exposure to a virus (probably the Epstein-Barr virus), that is is solely due to a vitamin D deficiency, and that a vascular disorder causes a backup of blood that leads to iron deposits in the brain. At any rate, the effect is that the immune system attacks the central nervous system, destroying myelin and the nerves that it protects. About 3/4 of all those diagnosed with MS are women.

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