Myasthenia Gravis Support Group

Myasthenia gravis (MG) is a neuromuscular disease leading to fluctuating muscle weakness and fatiguability. The hallmark of myasthenia gravis is muscle weakness that increases during periods of activity and improves after periods of rest. Although myasthenia gravis may affect any voluntary muscle, muscles that control eye and eyelid movement, facial expression, and...

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Muscles & Bones
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huperzine A

judithwilson
judithwilson
Read an article about how this is used to treat muscle weakness in mg. It said it was injected. Has anyone tried this?

judith
deleted_user
deleted_user
No, but I googled it and it sounded so interesting. I'm going to look into it more and possible ask my neuro about it. Thanks for bringing this to our attention!
adamrach
adamrach
There is a lady on my facebook group of MG that uses it and has a lot of success with it, she is off her mestinon. You have to be careful though because it is like taking mestinon and if you take that and your mestinon you could overdose.
deleted_user
deleted_user
Do you know if it is leading towards remission or is it just a sub for Mestinon?
cgreens
cgreens
I messed around with HUP A because of the studies that have shown success with it. Having said that, we all are different. I let me Mestinon wear off completely, and then tried the HUP A and struggled mightily. I haven't used it since, and gave it to my friend with Epilepsy, as studies have shown it is effective for epileptics. There is a gal on our DS group that uses Hup A with success. In my opinion it is good for people with Alzheimers disease and Epileptics more than people with MG. Unless Mestinon is not effective for someone or causes major discomfort, I see no reason to use the Hup A for MG. Be careful with it in my opinion.

Best wishes,

TJ
cgreens
cgreens
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Huperzine_A


"Huperzine A has also attracted the attention of US medical science. It is currently being investigated as a possible treatment for diseases characterized by neurodegeneration particularly Alzheimer's disease.[7][8] It has been found to be an inhibitor of the enzyme acetylcholinesterase.[9] The structure of the complex of huperzine A with acetylcholinesterase has been solved by X-ray crystallography (PDB code: 1VOT; see the 3D structure).This is the same mechanism of action of pharmaceutical drugs such as galantamine and donepezil used to treat Alzheimer's disease. Huperzine A is also a NMDA receptor antagonist which protects the brain against glutamate induced damage, and it appears to increase nerve growth factor levels in rats."
deleted_user
deleted_user
I tried the Huperzine A as a pill and had absolutely no positive effects, in fact my conditions worsened slightly. However, i might have taken too much. I started with 100 mcg twice per day for three days, along with 250 mg of Choline and 500 mg Acetyl-L-Carnitine, and then upped the dose to 200 mcg twice per day, and still no result except my worsened symptoms. I stopped taking all three supplements immediately.