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...
So I put the ice on my eye & it went right up but a few minutes later it went shut again. How often should I put the ice on my eye?
My eye specialist was the first to diagnose my MG when I went in with double vision and a drooping eyelid. He did the icepack on both eyes test for my drooping eyelid and double vision and said it was about 80% accurate to diagnose MG.
The eye-ologist pointed me to the MG neurologist and setup the achr antibody test (+) so by the time I saw the neuro, I was already diagnosed with MG.
Here is a discussion of the ice pack test for MG. It says the test works good, is cheap, easy and probably has about the same effect as mestinon does--keeps the messenger chemicals around a little longer. It would be somewhat like giving a person some Mestinon to see if it helped them--actually another quite good and simple test.
From a link on the web listed at the bottom.
The ice pack test is cheap, safe, and very quick to perform as it can be carried out at the bedside in approximately 35 minutes.
According to a recent study pertaining to myathenic diplopia, the sensitivity of this test was 76.9% (CI 49.2%92.5%) for the 5-minute application and the specificity was 98.3% (CI 90.3%99.9%) with no false-positives reported.2
The diagnosis of the less obvious pure ocular form of the disorder can be greatly improved with the ice pack test as there are often no other features other than a ptosis. The test consists of the application of ice to the eyes for 25 minutes, ensuring that the ice is covered to prevent ice burns.
If positive, the patient no longer has the characteristic ptosis of MG; in most clinical cases it is reasonable to leave the ice pack for only two minutes as the test is often positive by this point.
When leaving the ice pack in situ for over two minutes, the test becomes increasingly uncomfortable for the subject and the reduction of muscle fibre temperature below 22C will reduce the contractile force of the muscle itself and create potential false-negatives.
The results of the test can be deemed positive with an improvement of the patient's diplopia or a raise of 2 mm of the palpebral fissure following the removal of the ice pack.
The physiological theory behind the test is very simple; it is thought that by cooling the tissues, and more specifically the skeletal muscle fibres, the activity of the acetylcholinesterases are inhibited
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2984327/
Good Luck
Russ
Thanks again
Have a good day