Health Blurbs

Myasthenia gravis is an autoimmune disorder that interferes with nerve signal transmission to your muscles. Essentially, your own immune system produce antibodies that block these signals.

Myasthenia gravis causes muscle weakness and fatigue when affected muscles are active. And muscle strength usually returns after a rest period.

Myasthenia gravis frequently causes problems with muscles in your head region.  As a result, you may experience difficulty with:

• talking
• chewing
• breathing
• swallowing
• eye movement
• neck movement
• facial expressions

The muscles that control your arms and legs may be impaired as well.

Myasthenia gravis can come on suddenly.  The first symptom many experience involve eye movements.  Its range of symptoms may involve:

• dyspnea
• hypotonia
• trouble talking
• hard time swallowing
• blurred, double vision
• ptosis ~ droopy eyelids
• facial expression change
• walking problems ~ unstable, waddling
• arms, hands, fingers, legs, neck weakness

Some drugs can worsen, or even trigger, these myasthenia gravis caused symptoms.

A couple of circumstances that might aggravate your myasthenia gravis weak muscle symptoms include:

• fever
• stress
• fatigue
• infection
• extreme heat
• medications ~ beta blockers, calcium channel blockers, quinine, some antibiotics

The major health concern of this disease is myasthenic crisis.  This occurs if the muscles that control breathing become too weak, causing respiratory failure.  This is an emergency situation, requiring ventilation assistance.

If you have myasthenia gravis, then you are at a higher risk of having these other conditions in concert:

• lupus
• rheumatoid arthritis
• thyrotoxicosis ~ hyperthyroidism, hypothyroidism

There is no cure for myasthenia gravis, but treatment can help relieve weak muscle symptoms. Medications used to treat this disorder are:

• immunosuppressants ~ alter your immune system
• cholinesterase inhibitors ~ improve muscle contraction &muscle strength
• corticosteroids, such a prednisone ~ limit antibody production by inhibiting your immune system

There are additional treatments available, like plasmapheresis, for the more severe cases.

Since muscle weakness caused by myasthenia gravis worsens with repetitive use, you may find your chewing and swallowing muscles give out before a meals end.  You may need to adjust your food consumption routine by:

• avoiding sticky foods
• take your time eating
• resting between bites
• eat more frequent, smaller meals

Because your muscle weakness is due to repeated use, pacing your tasks coupled with rest periods helps you get whatever job done.

Sometimes, myasthenia gravis goes into weak muscle remission.  It takes a health degrading pause for awhile, or maybe forever.

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