VERY serious mononucleosis in 1969, when I was but a lad. Hospitalized, unable to walk for a week. Spleen the size of a basketball according to the doctor.
Mono?
Could be.
Then again, knowing that doesn't really seem to help me now. (* sigh *)

Hi Mathew , this is an amazing topic and hence the 64 ,000 ,00 question What are the causes?

I have read all the posts and I agree with snow belt that this is one strong group and I've only been around for a week and wish I found this years ago , never to late I guess.

I started working as an electrician in nyc in 1984 and have been exposed to many work site conditions that were in my mind devastating to me. Being around high voltage , transformers , high tension and the field it generates in my mind played a role. Working down in the subway system with steel dust , asbestos etc had given me pneumonia multiple times.

When I was just 30 I had mg symptoms and didn't know at the time and played it off as " working to many hours " .

Looking back now , there were many times I put money and my job a head of safety thinking I was young and nothing would happen to me, I was wrong . Im not saying that my job was entirely responsible for the onset go mg but played a role.

I never had mono however at the age of 20 I was and still am suffering from cluster headaches aka the "suicide headache" . My neuro does not think that there is an mg relationship however I do as its got everything to do with blood , vessels and stress.

Great topic Mathew , keep the faith and never give up.

Hives Are The Worst. I Had The Fever & Vomiting , Ugh.

I like what BC Canada said Not to be so hard on ourselves, sometimes thing happen. I recently started grief counseling and that goes along with what we are working on. I'm always hard on myself and feel that I somehow caused mg and malignant thymoma. I went to photography school and have spent a lot of time in darkrooms. A lot of my friends are professional photographers in my age group(in the old and magical days of film). None of them have mg ( or any major illness) Over the last 4 years I've found all kind of things to blame myself for. Why did I choose to live near an airport? Have a veggie garden every year in soil that may have fuel residue from the planes? Swim everyday for 10 years in a pool with chlorine? Drink too much coffee, skip too many meals, eat processed food, fresh fish from the Atlantic Ocean high in mercury? on and on and on.
Then I think of my 4 great uncles. They all spent 50 years working with asbestos. Three lived to be over 100 years old. One died of lung cancer at 57.

I think Bea is right. It will be along time before they figure this out.

Judith

My two cents. I never had any MG symptoms until I had a sinus infection so bad that I thought I had an abscessed tooth. I went through the pain for many days before going to the ER because I couldn't afford insurance and they put me on prednisone, antibiotic, and pain killers. After a month or so, MG type symptoms started. i also was bitten by fire ants pretty badly on my arm while on these meds, so who knows, maybe this was the cause. A young man in his twenties that is the friend of a co worker was just diagnosed with MG shortly after getting a flu shot.

I have not had any of those illnesses. Mine came on very quickly about 5 years ago. It is not serious, but I do struggle with fatique and eye problems. I have a husband, kids and grandkids and trying to get them to understand is very difficult. My Neuro said sometimes it just happens. I don't quite understand that.

How about this?

A predisposition to Auto Immune disease passed from parents and/or mother (due to stress, preconception) to child, combined with a not very good diet, which could include GMO's & MSG and/or just basic malnutrition causing neurotoxin damage...

"it seems plausible to conclude that the major defect after the neurotoxin damage may reside in the loss of neurotransmitter systems normally innervating and regulating the activity of the peptidergic neurons."

MSG causes damage:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/6145582

Throw in Varicella zoster virus, aka Chicken Pox or ANY other herpes virus or a combination of herpes viruses:

"Herpes simplex viruses types 1 and 2 (HSV1 and HSV2) and varicella-zoster virus (VZV) establish latent infection in dorsal root ganglia for the entire life of the host. From this reservoir they can reactivate to cause human morbidity and mortality. Although the viruses vary in the clinical disorders they cause and in their molecular structure, they share several features that affect the course of infection of the human nervous system. HSV1 is the causative agent of encephalitis, corneal blindness, and several disorders of the peripheral nervous system"

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17945155

MG is in the peripheral nervous system.

So,

We have a bad day and get MG

Truth is, there is no known reason we get MG and honestly it is more likely to be some combination of reasons based on environmental/exposure principals. My explanation seems plausible.

TJ