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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Is this related??

unsure81
unsure81
Hi everyone - I hope you are all well :) just a quick question which I'm not sure is MG related....or just a result of my worn out body!!!

But, since my last flare up my voice now becomes weak during long conversations - which I know some of you also have - and this has resulted in me temporarily losing my voice! However, roughly every 2 weeks I also seem to get a chestiness along with this weak voice which confuses me! Usually It's thankfully mild and only lasts a day or two - my throat and chest feel strained which I usually put down to my weak voice and I usually have a slight cough with it.

I just assumed it was coincidence but the fact that it clears after a couple of days rest and recurs with my weak voice has me wondering if it's related in anyway and I thought I would ask if any of you can relate at all??

Thanks everyone :) x
deleted_user
deleted_user
Morning and hope you have good Memorial weekend...I think the hardest part of MG is knowing when we have symptoms if its related to it or not! I know how you feel..I got some bad blood work back with high levels of seratonin and they seem concerned could be tumor etc so getting all kinds of tests..is this related to MG dunno...You may just have a chest cold or do you have allergies?? Just a thought..As I said sooo hard for me anyway to distinguish whether many of my issues are MG or not..I usually call neuro or reg doc and just check it out..Soo hard and discouraging at times...Hope it gets better and maybe someone else has some other ideas....People on this site are very knowlegable and may have other ideas..Im new to site but not MG ...Good luck and hugs...
MaureenNY
MaureenNY
This is my EXACT symptom, and since i am in sales, lets just say i talk.. ALOT, therefore during rough times, which is more often than not recently, its a huge issue for me. weak voice, with a weak chest to go with it. Ive been told that this is due to the extra AIR we need when talking so it wears out both the voice muscles and the chest muscles.. who knew talking was so much work. mestonin helps but less and less as time goes on .. i am moving on to other treatments but not fast enough for me.. anyways... to answer your question, this is typical MG as far as i am concerned, but others may have a different view.

Thanks, and best wishes,

M
deleted_user
deleted_user
Hi Maureen I agree it probably in this case MG related..I havent had that but thats why our MGs are all so different right? And as I said my problem is wondering if things I have are MG related....I have so much more to learn about it even after 5 years of having it...Thats again why I love this site everyone is so informative and supportive and gives great advice...You guys are the best.....Happy Holiday
SeattleWriter
SeattleWriter
You've perfectly described what happens with me! I think it's MG-related.
Tim62
Tim62
My only disease is MG. Your voice symptoms are very similar to mine. If I over-use my voice, it stops working properly until rested. When I was first diagnosed, before starting treatment, I could only speak about ten words in a row, then my voice would stop working for a few hours. Now, after being on Imuran and Mestinon for a year, it is much improved. However, it I speak on the phone for half an hour, my voice will be hoarse after I hang up. Wishing you all the best going forward.
deleted_user
deleted_user
I agree I think it's MG related. When I talk for too long my voice gets horse or nasally (as my mom calls it). I also get a heaviness in my chest. I don't know what causes that but it comes and goes. Rest and mestinon usually take care of both.
Have a great weekend!
ThisIsLife
ThisIsLife
I agree with everyone, I get the same thing and I always assumed it was mg related, sometimes when I am in conversation I end up gasping for air because I don't pace myself, talking is a lot of work! I hope you feel better!
Cj416
Cj416
That is exactly what happens to me and its no surprise really as all our voluntary muscles can be affected by our mg . There is no doubt that after sporting events lol especially the NY Rangers that I need to calm down a bit.

I also get heavy tongue, as it gets fatigued as well . My Mom teases me and asks if I'm drinking , and i tell her its not noon yet . Seriously my tongue will tire when or around when my voice starts to go.

Anyone else experience this ?..CJ
flutebell
flutebell
I haven't lost my voice but definitely had problems with long conversations. I was dreading the beginning of each school term when there is a line-up of students out the door waiting to talk to me. By the third one I'd be having trouble with my tongue and start slurring my words. I'd say I was tripping over my tongue because I speak so quickly. Much better on mestinon and now I can even have a long Skype conversation with my kids. I always found it hard as there is more effort required to be heard.

In the summer students would call and long calls would be difficult. Now my voice mail message says "please leave your email address" so that I can answer by typing rather then talking, and also have a record of info I've given. What a lot of ways we learn to cope!
Flutebell
deleted_user
deleted_user
Before I was in remission, my voice became very weak at the end of the day or when I was speaking excessively. This happened frequently.
krbunn
krbunn
Yes, my voice does too. I made a video some time back that shows what happens. I had just finished a long video and then my voice decided to act up, so I made another video to catch my strange sounding voice. If I had kept talking, I would have lost my voice. Here is the link.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N4qK_O4Eyc4&index=20&list=PLIqmG8vCLI-gEbM7KM4czPN2POXaP-jhY

--Kerry
GreenMarie
GreenMarie
My voice became very weak and strained during my visit to the university neurology. I have long ago given up long phone calls as just undoable. I have problems sooner these days then I used to and overuse for me is no where near what is normal use for the average person.

I used to just run out of air which is different. I could not sustain voice due to lack of air. My speech therapist was alarmed as she said when you don't have your reserve volume your organs which rely on that for function suffer. I tried increasing my mestinon within agreed upon limits and it seemed to help. But it does not seem to change this voice fatigue due to muscle fatigue. The chest feeling could be from fatigue of the respiratory accessory muscles that help us breathe.

I do think your weak voice is related to your muscle weakness. Marie