Lhermitte's sign is a brief, stabbing, electric-shock-like sensation that runs from the back of the head down the spine, brought on by bending the neck forward. Medications, including anticonvulsants, may be used to prevent the pain, or a soft collar may be used to limit neck flexion.


I was reading about multiple sclerosis and found the name for the new symptom that I am having. I find this strange and yet comforting. This is what I was battling the day I took my car into the body shop. This is why I threw up that morning because the pain was so bad. The pain had a name.

I have had it off and on lately...though nothing like I did that day. Now it has a name.

I do not know if you can understand how important that name can be for me. Often, with MS, the symptoms are strange or, especially with pain, rather difficult to describe. When I first started having girth pain (often feeling as if someone is squeezing my leg/knee), I saw two orthopedists and a rumatoidologist and none of them either helped me or explained what was happening. In fact, all three treated me as if it were in my head. Then, a short while after fruitlessly spending two months in doctor visits trying to get answers, I was flipping the pages of the National MS Society magazine and discovered an article on pain. The words practically leapt off the page. I wasn't crazy. The pain had a name.

This new pain has a name.