I had no idea there were certain foods that were better for you. All I heard was to eat bananas and potatoes to help build potassium because of the meds.

My husband has been found to have positive gig antibodies as well as being seropositive for mg . It is not uncommon to have multiple autoimmune disease and celiac is associate with mg. Avoid gluten foods for 2 months remember not just bread but soups and tons of foods contain gluten

Well, Celiac and MG are not the same thing. You should be tested for Celiac if you are gonna avoid gluten, wheat or whatever. I personally do not know how "common" it is to have both, I do know that it is certainly possible.

As for MG, you need to avoid anything that is considered a muscle relaxant, especially Quinine like Lemons, Limes, Soda water, and tonic water. Magnesium supplement is not good, but mildly, as in fruits and vegetables is fine. Quinine can be VERY DANGEROUS for MG.

"Quinine can worsen hemoglobinuria, myasthenia gravis and optic neuritis"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quinine

Watch your fruit juices, apple is best in my opinion. Small amounts of OJ only, and no grapefruit or bitter anything(quinine). Cinnamon may bug me too, I am not certain yet. Other than that, it depends on how strong you are in regards to what you can chew etc...

Be careful, and search the web for info.

Best wishes,

TJ

Thanks for the help...I've been wondering about foods that I eat as my symptoms get worse faster than other times when I eat certain things and I haven' been able to pin point that yet. I was concerned with things like sugars, spices etc. and hadn't thought of gluten as well so I will now. I have no troubles with bananas or potatoes but do have side effects with orange juice, breads/pizza. So thanks for the help as always.

Can anybody expand on the 'avoid Gluten' topic,is this a general food type for all with MG to avoid?

No Christo. As far as I know, you do not have to avoid Gluten unless you have Celiac's Disease. Find me a doctor that says you do.

I do hear some of the uber-nutritionalists around here talking of such diets, mainly to fight candida(parasite), I believe? I am unaware of how gluten free diet will help anyone with MG. Besides, we are all different. Just an opinion, not fact as far as I know. Would love to see a "fact" on it for myself.

Tina is saying for two months, and that sounds like a candida cleanse or something to me. Certainly would not apply to anyone with Celiac's Disease as that would be permanent avoidal.

Anyone got some facts to support such claims? Everyone that I have heard from doing such things in the past around, has undergone treatment as well, so...

Hi TJ
Thanks for the info on Gluten, I cant say that I can finde any hard medical evidence on the web linking Gluten to MG myself, except in some herbal type diets etc. But like you I am also keen to know if there is any direct link that anyone knows of.

Regarding Quinine, I see that you mention this always in association with Lemon and Limes, I am a bit confussed here, as to my knowledge, I agree, we should be avoiding Quinine, but it is only natural form is from the bark of a certain tree

"Though it has been synthesized in the lab, the bark of the cinchona tree is the only known natural source of quinine."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quinine

So is there another reason that we should be avoiding lemons and limes, as it would seem that they dont contain any quinine.
Loads of questions I know, but I am trying to find out as much as possible, so that I can adjust my lifestyle etc so as to try and minimise the drugs and the symptoms at the same time
Thanks
Christo

Hi,
he deftly want to keep your potassium up you want to eat foods high in potassium such as bananas and sweet potatoes. The dietitian that my doctor sent me to told me that foods that have artificial dyes can also be harmful especially red dye. If you are taking prednisone you want to be careful as one of the side effects of prednisone is weight gain. I was also told the high-fiber diet is desired. I had a very scary experience with with what I think was MSG. I also read in one of the M GFA articles that certain plastics may also aggravate MG symptoms. So in short try to eat as healthy as possible and try to avoid foods that a lot of artificial additives.

Hi Christo, you make a good point. From the link on Quinine it states "Bitter Lemon", which is flavored water. As to the actual fruits of lemons and limes, I have nothing official on that. I do know that Quinine is present in all the other items mentioned. I do miss having a squirt of lemon or lime for flavoring(like on my fish), as that would be natural and not brought about by Quinine itself as in "lemon flavorings". Mountain Dew almost killed me....Thanks for pointing that out. I was trying to find a reason or link to perhaps why citric acid may bother us before, as it may be relevant? Which is also why I mentioned light OJ etc. I have been avoiding anything with lemon in it, but maybe I don't need to avoid lemons themselves. Thanks for clearing that up for me. Still wondering a bit about citric acid though. Please keep me updated on anything you find out, I appreciate it.

TJ

About citric acid like in orange juice and grapefruits, that it breaks down the effectivness of our medicines, or any medication. That is what I was told by my doctor.

Interesting about the citric acid. I had some freshly squeezed lemonade early last summer and within 15 min had a huge increase in symptoms. I associated it with the lemonade but maybe it was more specifically the citric acid.

I have also had huge increase of symptoms when dringking lemonade or orange juice. So I stopped. Even those crystal light lemonade packet affects me.

Hi, I just wanted to place a warning. Some of us have more than 1 health problem that dictates what we do, eat, and take. After awhile it all gets jumbled up. Also what happens to me can not be generalized to the rest of MGers.

If you are wondering about food and nutrition, I suggest you go to the Myasthenia Gravis Foundation of America and read its info . http://www.myasthenia.org/

After 14 years of MG and and a possible 3rd go around of recurrent thymomas, I still find it a great place to go to when I need new info or just a refresher.

Wow, great info the only thing I was told to avoid is quinine. I'm so glad I found this site. So much useful info. Thanks to everybody.

Gail

On that site, I could find if you have diarrhea problems due to mestinon, and/or if you are on steroids. I could use a little help with diarrhea as I take a lot of mestinon and have problems at times, not enough to bother me though. I must eat pretty well as is. Gotta watch it sometimes...But I do love me some bacon!

"If diarrhea persists, avoid
foods that aggravate this condition. Aggravating foods
include those with a high fat content, greasy foods, spicy
foods and dairy products. One exception is yogurt with
active cultures, which is actually beneficial. Avoid
otherwise healthy foods with insoluble fiber like raw
vegetables, bran, dried or unpeeled fruit, whole grains
and popcorn. Coffee, teas and chocolate containing the
stimulant caffeine will speed up the action of your
intestines, making diarrhea worse, too."

http://www.myasthenia.org/LinkClick.aspx?fileticket=SaScYKXrtLw%3d&tabid=84

On the link is plenty info for people on steroids also.

Thanks!