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...
I got diagnosed in Oct 2011. I have been on only Mestinon since then. I was taking some arthritis meds but we felt they could have been interfering with the MG so I stopped. I recently started Robinul to deal with the stomach issues that the Mestinon was causing. My general strength has increased since diagnosis but fatigue and other issues have kicked in.
I have also been having problems with balance, fine motor skills and more recently vision and mental acuity. All of that being said, I have been going through a battery of tests at Veterans Administration that will be completed with an MRI on Monday and a follow up with the neuro on Tuesday.
A couple of weeks ago I had a CT with contrast and results did not show a thymoma or an enlarged thymus. Today's nearly 4 hour battery of tests was a mental assessment (because of memory problems). Results showed an above average intelligence and capability and results lowering as MG/fatigue began to set in. I was also showing signs of lapse in concentration. The final test was a dexterity test that charted me in the 30 percentile range. I was also very tired by then.
The final theory is that as MG gets worse and fatigue sets in the mental acuity and concentration tends to go which can look like minor memory loss.
So do any of you have problems with mental acuity when MG kicks in? Not just a little fuzzy when tired but real lapses in concentration and difficulty remembering.
Kimber
I have also been having problems with balance, fine motor skills and more recently vision and mental acuity. All of that being said, I have been going through a battery of tests at Veterans Administration that will be completed with an MRI on Monday and a follow up with the neuro on Tuesday.
A couple of weeks ago I had a CT with contrast and results did not show a thymoma or an enlarged thymus. Today's nearly 4 hour battery of tests was a mental assessment (because of memory problems). Results showed an above average intelligence and capability and results lowering as MG/fatigue began to set in. I was also showing signs of lapse in concentration. The final test was a dexterity test that charted me in the 30 percentile range. I was also very tired by then.
The final theory is that as MG gets worse and fatigue sets in the mental acuity and concentration tends to go which can look like minor memory loss.
So do any of you have problems with mental acuity when MG kicks in? Not just a little fuzzy when tired but real lapses in concentration and difficulty remembering.
Kimber
Annette
Balance (or what I call disequilibrioception) gets to me still though when I am wore down. Today I went bowling and I did fine. I decided to pop a timespan...My right arm will be paying for it tomorrow :)
I read somewhere that one of the many chemicals in our brains is acetylcholine... is there possibly any connection?
http://clinicaltrials.gov/show/NCT00001977
My thought is that if they are looking at this as a serious possibility then this could affect us a well. Why would anyone assume that an impediment of acetylcholine would only affect the neuromuscular junction and not all places that acetylcholine is present?
New I get that Alzheimer's is a completely different disorder. The key ingredient is that the brain uses Acetylcholine. That would make complete sense that if we are showing more MG symptoms and having problems with the Acetylcholine that we would have trouble with Acetylcholine in the brain causing brain function problems. The Acetylcholine problems reduce the MG symptoms get better and so does brain function. At this point I am assessing that the brain uses less Acetylcholine or perhaps just uses it in a different way.
But what do I know I have been exhausted since the testing. I may be crazy! ;o)
I'm only on Mestinon. When it kicks in I can think more clearly. Since my late teens when I think I had the beginnings of MG, I've felt rather stupid and foggy headed when my body starts to give out. After all these years I'm still not certain if it's because of MG or if it's because all my energy and thought goes to dealing with MG. You know, when you concentrate very hard on one thing it's hard to focus on anything else.
I bring this up because we usually get a few other auto-immune diseases with our MG (free -- no charge!), and we may want to look into the ones that cause mental lapses. NMDA-receptor autoimmune encephalitis wasn't discovered until just a few years ago -- there are more lurking up there.
I think it is just my exhaustion behind my mental lapses. What were we talking about? ~Joe
She did correct me on the way MG works though. Supposedly the antibodies attach themselves to the muscles receptors and don't allow them to receive Acetylcholine. So there goes my attacking the Acetylcholine theory. Still... if NIMH is seeing something going on with Acetylcholine.
What do I know? I'm no neurologist. Just hunting for answers to my own problems.