Bad genetics is the cause -- or should I have said Bad genetics are the cause of MG. Is genetics singular or are genetics plural? Still worrying about my 8th grade English teacher looking over my sentences! probably should have said
Flawed Genetics cause MG and saved the worry ;-)

As your handy former English teacher, I can offer you the assurance that "genetics" is singular. :)

It is always so fun to be able to blame our parents.
hahaha

Genetics is the study of genes, genetic variation, etc... our genetic inheritance, our genotype makes us susceptible.

BTW, Russ, TY for your many posts of this ilk. I consider them invaluable sources of info about this troubling disease... Very glad, indeed, that you are so vigilant and keep us up to date on your findings... Please don't stop!! HG007

Your post reminds me of an interesting large family post-dinner conversation many years ago---what is the difference between something being genetic or something being hereditary.

As for MG being caused by "genetics", I would think that the incidence among family members (siblings) would be higher if this were true??

Lisa

Dr. Drachman does say that autoimmune diseases like MG are more often found in certain families and even MG is more likely found in some families than others. That is normally what we think of as inherited susceptibility to a disease. Ane the inheritance is at the genetic level.

However, there are other problems that can cause gene changes including viruses (that is what a virus does, hijacks a cell and changes it's mission). So there is some wobble room about whether we directly inherited genes that cause MG or whether we have genes that are susceptible to being altered too easily and the result is MG. In either case, at the root, according to the talk (at least as I understood it) is genes are at fault--and those do come from our parents.

If i have succeeded in confusing you even more now, I am sure it iis a congenital trait ;-)

Thank you for the post very interesting. Genes cannot be good or bad they just are and you don't pick your parents.

Your last post made much more sense because it is not either or but both - we all have a susceptibility (from our genetic makeup) for certain ailments but it also needs a trigger. My GP told me this over 40 years ago and it made sense to me then and far more sense to me now. Those triggers are either pathogens (virus etc) or environment.

And maybe sometimes mind or spirit?

We are only just beginning to understand how this stuff works and a lot more to find out.

Best wishes

The triggers are more likely parts of our natural development than what we do. Women tend to get this as they move into adulthood. Men tend to get it as they move into old age (past 65). Other than avoiding aging and the normal maturation process, we really can't avoid these triggers.

What I am trying to get at here, is the cause of MG is not really something we can do much about -- our lifestyle is not the trigger as I see it, nor will lifestyle changes cure it. And, Dr. Drachman seems to have come around to this same idea.

Blaming the victim is the usual response to illness -- what did the person do to get the disease. This comes from the religious point of view where God is punishing us and from the MD and health purveyor point of view where they insist lifestyle is the root of most of our problems. It is also the way we gain a little hope -- I don't eat gluten and John does and he got MG so I won't get it is the feeble logic we try to use.

IT IS NOT OUR FAULT any more than it was Elinor's fault that she got cancer and had MG as a side effect. S...t Happens is the phrase that comes to mind.

It's not my fault I got MG Russ

I thought that maybe the reason for my MG was that I was possibly exposed to agent orange, sarin gas, and other nerve agents when I was in the military. I was at Ft. McClellan before the government closed it and Pelham range because it was being used as a toxic chemical dump by the U.S. Army and the Monsantos chemical corporation. Monsantos is the creator of the infamous agent orange. The town of Anniston AL, sued them and won because so many people were poisoned. Only problem is, all the soldiers were forgotten. It's not set in stone that this caused my MG, but there sure are a lot of soldiers who got real sick that were at Ft. McClellan, ranging from MS to autoimmune diseases to cancer. Makes me think.
And Monsantos, dig a little on them and you will be a bit shocked by what you will find. They are the leaders on the agricultural front of the entire world. Making everything from fertilizer to insecticides, to genetically altering grains and plants. I am not trying to sound like a conspiracy theorist, but it sure does make one wonder about what it does to peoples health.
In July of 2013, I was benching 380 pounds, 2 weeks later, I couldn't hold my own head up. I haven't got a clue what the triggers were. My parents were healthy, my siblings, and family were healthy. No autoimmune diseases, cancers, illnesses, things of that nature. I'm the one with the bad genes?

I have thought that this was the case. I recently discovered that my father's cousin also has MG. It was so odd, we were having a get together after 30 years since last seeing each other and I mentioned I had an autoimmune condition and she asked what kind and when I said MG she said me too.How bizarre, that the first person that I have actually met with MG is actually related. Her case is very mild, takes no drugs at all, the only thing required was prescription glasses. She started to think her Dr may have just got it wrong as she has no symptoms like those we know of. It kind of gave her comfort to know there was a genetic link, as it did me, and as it turned out we have very similar health experiences. The good news is my Dad's cousin is in her 80s, looks and feels fabulous.

My trigger was my first and only (and last) flu shot (dead virus) given 36 hours before my first symptom (ptosis). I am convinced that my immune system reacted to the flu shot which then woke up the MG. After a positive achr test, My thymus was shown as enlarged 10 days later on a CT scan, so I believe the MG was already cooking. The million dollar question is whether it ever would have presented itself had I not had the flu shot.

A trans sternal thymectomy 7 weeks later showed a quite enlarged thymus. I've been pretty much symptom and medication free since two weeks after the surgery 3 1/2 yrs ago. Lucky and blessed, but I know it could come back - but this time I'm a wee bit more knowledgeable about the disease than I was at first diagnosis.