Good question... No idea here.

(do you ever post, and then think, man, that was a worthless comment? Sorry!).

I don't think your post is worthless. Just the fact that you took the time to post means a lot.

Linda,
Mestinon is used for the symptomatic treatment of MG. It usually lasts around 3-4 hours. Don't know what dose you are on and how often you take it, but it will wear off in that time frame. If you would like more detailed information go to:
www.myasthenia.org
From there go to Living with MG and click on Informational Materials. Down on the left side is a complete list of information on treatments, etc. for MG. Good luck! Hope this helps.

It only works for a few hours because your kidneys are excreting it in your urine so it is no longer in the blood to do any good. It doesn't make any difference how many times you use your muscles since the amount used is a tiny fraction of what goes out through the kidneys..

I have a questain along this line. What happens to the Antibodies that attack the receptors, do they keep building up and stay in the body or some how get gone? Also when I tested positive for MG what were they looking for in my blood sample. Thinks Will

Will, I think they can detect the antibodies themselves. My neuro sent my blood test to Mayo directly, saying that he didn't think anyone else could be counted on to to the test right.

The antibodies that have actually attacked the acetlycholine receptors end up getting eaten by our macropharges. They are sort of trashcan cells that get rid of unwanted junk.
Antibodies that dont end up sticking to the receptors can build up in the blood which is why some people have higher levels than others and indeed why the disease gets worst over time in some people.

I am just full of questions.
"In MG, there can be as much as an 80% reduction in the number of these receptor sites. The reduction in the number of receptor sites is caused by an antibody that destroys or blocks the receptor site." Quote from Myasthenia. org

Do the destroyed and blocked receptor sites repair themselves at all or they just gone?
Is this why after having symtoms for years that are not noticed, I got symptoms that I could not ignore?

The whole receptor population is in dynamic equilibirum all of the time. Old ones slowely decay and new ones grow. This is normal in healthy people. What happens in myasthenia depends on what type of antibody you produce.

In AChR positive MG old receptors are degraded by the immune system faster than normal and regrowth cant keep up so that the overal availability of receptors goes down until a new equilibrium position is reached.

It is a bit different in MusK positive MG since the receptors are not attacked by the antibodies. However the number still goes down since the antibodies slow the rate of their production and a new equilibrium position is reached.

In both cases you end up with fewer receptors although the mechanism of getting there is different.

The reason why symptoms get more apparant can be that you have started producing more antibodies. Producing autoantibodies in very common in everbody. However they do not normally cause a problem becase we have three different systems to contol them (by we i mean us and every verterbrate from the jawed fish and up). When you get an autoimmune disease it means that all three systems have broken down at the same time. When this happens there is nothing to stop the cells involved in antibody production increasing and so you get more antibodies and more symptoms.

Gwyn,
When I get stupid and walk to the mail box, about 1/2 mile in 100+ temp. I am not destroying more receptors, I am creating more antibodies? Then I have 2,3 or more days of bad symptoms to allow the antibodies to go away?
I don't mean to be a pain, but I read a lot and at my age, and type of MG I don't get a warm fuzzy feeling about where I am going to be. I feel that my best plan is to learn how to live with this. My best hope is with treatment I can get back most of my life. But I have to prepare that at the least they can stop the advance of my condition
Thaks Will

Will

Very informative all, thank you!

Hey Will!
Cut out that 1/2-mile hike in 100 F!
You're making me look bad.
It's barely 50 F here.
And there are days - I don't even wanna go: 10-feet to my mailbox!
- Ross

Will,

Excersize does not really have much effect on either the receptor population or antibody production in the short term if ever. It takes many days and even months to produce a significant change in either. Its just like it takes a long time to regrow new bone after a fracture or heal a major cut. Cell growth takes time.

I really dont know why nerve conduction goes on excersize. When I still had some symptoms, when I excersized my legs in the gym I would get very hoarse. My legs were not affected at all by the excersize but my larynx and throat were. I have always thought this weired.

It may be becase the whole body gets warmed up during excersize and it is well established that nerve conduction is then less effective (for example a negative result on nerve conduction studdies can be turned into a positive result if the muscle is warmed). But if this were the answer you would expect it to get back to normal on cooling down but this is not what happens in many cases.

I'll read up and see if anything comes to light.

Gwyn

I'm with Ross,

Good stuff! No questions are bad ones when it comes to this stuff, and much can be misunderstood.

I don't know if I have much to add here, but I am glad to see the group continuing to be active and informative.