Has anyone else experienced a girdle-like feeling in the upper torso. I’m a female and the best way to describe this is it feels similar to the uncomfortableness of a tight bra band. I googled this and found that people with MS describe a similar symptom referred to as the MS hug. I’ve been diagnosed with PD for over 10 years and have been on Sinemet for 9 years so I don’t think my diagnosis is in question. EM
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Hi Iris. I have just read this and it rang a bell with me. It was in the early years after diagnosis. I couldn’t stand to wear any of my bras. As you describe they felt too tight and I couldn’t breath, despite them being well fitting (and expensive) and previously comfortable. I have never heard anybody mention this before! Also I couldn’t stand the feel of some of my clothes on my skin/body. In addition to new bras (a size bigger, soft and no wires) I bought new organic cotton or soft jersey loose fitting t-shirts, tunics and dresses which I found comfortable and easy to put on. I hasten to add, all under the ‘concerned’ eyes of my husband and male neurologist as I was on a dopamine agonist and this was labelled ‘shopping and spending’. Yes, spending my own money on clothing I now needed because of this accursed disease.
Hello
My husband has been complaining of this although seems to be more when he is at work, getting in and out of a van, he says that it’s a tightness around his ribs and middle. He has had this past few months. He is 53yrs not on any medication yet, diagnosed on and off about a year now.
Thank you Poppet and GinaS for replying. I have also spent a fortune trying to find a bra that I can wear but then I started noticing that I was having this constricting feeling at night without one on. GinaS, it sounds like this is no longer a problem for you. Strange!
Hi Iris,
Just noticed your post as I have been researching exactly the same symptom. It feels like a tight band at the base of my rib cage, top of the diaphragm. Is there a muscle there that could be affected by the Parkinson’s? At first I blamed it on a too tight bra but it’s lower than the bra line, more noticeable in the evening when I’m sitting watching tv but also when lying on my back in bed.
I also got the MS hug Google answer. I was diagnosed in December 2021 and am on co-careldopa three times a day which is alleviating motor symptoms. I don’t think there’s any doubt about my diagnosis either. Reassuring to know that others are experiencing this.