Myasthenia Gravis

Myasthenia Gravis is a disease that you don't hear about often. It is a disease of the autoimmune system, and called a neuromuscular disease. The name is both Latin and also Greek. The meaning is having muscle weakness of a grave nature.

This is a disease that goes up and down. There are periods of attacks, and periods of remission. The muscles involved in the disorder are chewing, speaking, and swallowing. It also affects the facial epxressions and muscles that control your eyes. It is also possible that the disease may affect the breathing and all limbs.

The cause of Myasthenia Gravis is from nerve impulses to muscles that do not communicate as they should. There is an interruption between these two natural impulses. A substance called acetylcholine is a substance of a neurotransmitter type that all of us need to have. But with this medical disorder, the antibodies you have will block, negatively change, or cause destruction. This prevents the natural functions from occuring.

The Thymus Gland Role

We all have what is called a thymus gland that is part of our immune system. The gland is large in small babies, and increases in size until the teenage years are reached. Then after this point, it is replaced with fat as you age.

Adults with Myasthenia Gravis have an abnormality in the thymus gland. There are cells in clumps that indicate something known as lymphoid hyperplasia. Lymphoid Hyperplasia is a medical problem that is part of the spleen and lymph nodes during the period of time when the immune response is being active. Tumors of the thymus gland are not uncommon in people wuth MG.

Symptomatology

The onset of this disease can be very sudden. It starts mainly with:

Rapid eyelid movement

Swallowing problems

Trouble speaking

Disturbed vision field

Unsteady walking

People that get MG are more common in adult women, and older men that are past the age of 60.

Neonatal MG can occur because the developing child might receive antibodies from the female affected with MG. These problems are not lasting ones for the baby though, and will usually go away shortly after birth around 2 months or so.

The disease is not contagious or inherited.

Diagnosis of Myasthenia Gravis

Diagnosing MG is for the doctor to review all medical history. They will look for rapid eye movements and see about your muscle weaknesses.

Blood tests are good at detecting immune molecules or acetylcholine antibodies. If you have MG, there would be an abnormal level of these antibodies.

The edrophonium test is another test that will administer edrophonium chloride. If you have MG, this drug will relieve the symptoms you are having of the eye muscles and weakness.

A fiber electromyography test is another diagnostic tool for doctors. In this test, muscle fibers are activated by impulses that are electrical. This test picks up on how well or not, the fibers respond. If the response is poor, it is another indicator of MG present.

Treatment

There are drug therapies that will help to control muscle weakness experienced from this disease. Also a Thymectomy can help as this removes the thymus gland.

A blood exchange may be done where abnormal antibodies are removed, and then a high dose of immune globulin given intravenously will help to restore the immune system, providing the body with antibodies which are now normal.

Treatment options are all dependent on your neurologist and the extent of your MG.

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