My daughter ended up getting diagnosed with MG after receiving azithromycin for strep throat last Spring. We believe she probably had MG before the antibiotics now but she had a massive exacerbation from them. If you google "myasthenia gravis exacerbation and azithromycin" you will see plenty of hits.

Antibiotics are difficult with MG anyway and you may be fine but you need to be very cautious because it could exacerbate your MG in a serious way too.

It is on the drugs to avoid list (due to causing possible exacerbations) on some sites but not on others....

Hi Christo. Sorry about the stomach infection!Just be a little careful with the Azithromycin. It is one of the antibiotics that can cause problems in MG. I have actually been on it before and although it didnt completely knock me out, I still think it worsened my symptoms. Maybe ask your doc to consider a different antibiotic. Not everyone will be affected by the same drug but it is potentially one of them that can worsen symptoms. Goodluck Christo and get better soon! Ange

Thanks for feedback, I am very concerned about this as I dont want to end up in Crisis with this, Have been hace and dont want a repeat thats for sure. The thing is, like you say, on some sites it is mentioned as to be avoided, and does not even appear on other lists.

Art chick, did it put your daughter in Resp. Crisis ? or how did it affect her. I hear people saying one needs to be careful, but I am still not sure what this means.

Hey Christo. Perhaps warning you to be careful is a silly thing to say hey. Sorry!

In my case the azithro didn't cause crisis just flared my symptoms a bit. Other antibiotics like the quinolones and Ketek have caused crisis for me but just thought you should know that you could potentially have problems with azithromycin. Some aren't affected by it at all. Perhaps if the infection will respond to a different antib, it is best avoided? The infection will also flare your symptoms though so it's a difficult one.

Ange

Cristo, you are doing so well and looking so. good, see if the doctor won't put you on another antibiotic. We are limited in what we can take, but members of that family seem to cause more problems than others, especially that one. You could ask for a culture. Since medication is risky, I would at least want to be sure the bug was susceptible to it. b.

Well, her symptoms of MG got worse and worse until she ended up in the hospital for a night of observation. At that time, she was undiagnosed. All her symptoms increased: so her double vision, ptosis, weakness, fatigue, etc were all induced. They were ruling out a brain tumor then because she was having silent migraines with olfactory auras with the double vision which were also undiagnosed so she had to get an MRI and they were not jumping at MG until later.

She does have respiratory symptoms as part of her MG, as do I but she got through it with a little oxygen after pulmonary function testing and without treatment. As time went on and she rested and she got farther away from the last dose of the antibiotic, she got better though and she came through it. Her diaphragmatic function is a huge issue and was the key to diagnosing her.

You really can not say how one person is going to be affected on a medication....sometimes it is absolutely a non-issue (esp. if you are stable right now). If there is something that you could take that is NOT on an avoid list, you might want to choose that instead though.

debra

I agree with bweeds Christo. See if you can get on another one. I was prescribed that when my doctor didn't know what I had. I stopped taking it after a little over a week and my speech got terrible. I hadn't hit bottom of how bad my MG got at that point, but I can certainly say it was at the very least exacerbating my MG at the time. I had to stop taking it, not to mention, I knew it was taking it for no reason. Unbelievable sometimes that docs just give you drugs. In fact, I remember him saying he didn't think I had a sinus infection, but he prescribed it anyway. What the?

If I didn't have so much faith in myself, I would have gotten a new primary doctor(pcp) already. I have this one trained to pretty much do as I ask in regards to tests etc. I can email him anytime and see him on short notice. For now, I am ok with having a "yes sir" pcp. He didn't diagnose me of MG(i did), but at least he acknowledged it to say that it might be the case and got me tested.

Glad you are all here, for Christo!
(Glad Christo is here - for all of us!)
What a wealth of knowledge, on this support page.

Well. If it makes anyone feel better? I just fired my PCP today.
I guess - that would be - me!
(That feels better.)

Thanks for all the responses, the good news is that I am on day two of the Antibiotic, nad it looks like it is working, and I cant say that I have experienced any side effects.
So one never really knows, that I think is the most frustrating thing about MG, is that it is alway different and so many variables. Thanks again for all the input

Regards
Christo

Glad it's working for you. I had the h pylori stomach bacteria and had to be on 2 antibiotics, one being questionable for MG..
My neuro said that sometimes we have to take certain antibiotics and just have to treat the exacerbation if it occurs so I am to always check with her before beginning any antibiotic treatment so that she is aware.

Hope the treatment clears up your ailment:)
~sherry

Yaaay Christo,
Always good news when we get away with something that's supposed to cause trouble. Hope the rest of the course goes as smoothly. b.

Glad you are feeling better....Best wishes always.