Ooops! I meant to say "might be WORSE instead of worth than the drooping eyelid.

The prednisone delays the development of generalized MG, but you seem not to have had that problem. On the other hand, with your recent changes you might want to consider the risks of devloping GMG.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19377863

I think all of the treatments for MG have problems with side effects. I am a firm believer in getting a neurologist you trust and following his/her advice. If you are worried about the treatment, you should discuss that with the neurologist and explore the alternatives.

I am taking only prednisone for MG -- for the last 8 months. It put me into MG remission, so I have a moderately normal life again, after being seriously impaired. Now I am in the process of lowering the prednisone and as I lower it, the side effects decrease--so that is good!
I don't know if I will continue with only prednisone or not in the long term.

Mom, age 91, has an auto-immune disease and has taken prednisone for 30 years and is still living in her own home, independent and doing well. She had cataracts, and got type 2 diabetes along the way, probably related to the prednisone, but without it she would have been unable to function (she has polymyalgia rheumatica). She believes the prednisone made her last 30 years acceptable rather than miserable.

Everything with an incurable disease like MG a trade off.
Good Luck

I have been on prednisone for over 22 years, I have a love/hate relationship with it. But honestly side effects have recently popped up only in the last 2 years, it has kept me alive many times with the breathing problems with Mg. I agree with Russ I have been able to live a good life rather than miserable because of the drug.

Personally I do not handle Prednisone well but the stuff does work. Clears up my double vision when it gets bad but in turn affects my blood pressure and gets me wired. Some people handle the drug very well just not me. The high dosage the doctors ant to start at is the real trouble for me. Last time I was on it I got the same results with half the recommended dosage and then weened off it. Best to see how it affects you and make your judgments from there. Hopefully your doctors listen to you and how it affects you if you do try it. Best of luck to you and feel better.
Al

I came across with this article, and thought it could be informative:
http://www.gihealth.com/html/education/drugs/prednisone.html

Take care!
Marcela

Thank you for that link Marcela. I will add it to the prednisone discussion in the links group. b.

In the gihealth.com report it states, "we recomend 800mg of vit. D, more could be dangerous." I am currently taking 1000 IU + 1000 IU with my calcuim twice a day. how many mg are there in a IU? My blood tests show that I am way low on vit D.

so glad to hear you mom had a long life(or has)...I wan tot make it till 90 or more

Will, this is an excellent discussion of vitamin D. Your intake is way below the toxic range and your blood levels are low.

http://ods.od.nih.gov/factsheets/VitaminD-HealthProfessional/

made my body balloon!!!!