If you are having breathing problems in general, labored breathing will be the first sign. Secondly, chest pain might present itself. When I start breathing heavily, chest pain normally joins in for me personally. I personally gave up doing yard work years ago. But if I were to start doing it, I would do it until my breathing became labored, and would go back inside where it is cool and drink plenty of fluids.

If you are generalizing, you will notice your arms, or legs getting tired from the work. Mowing the lawn for instance, I remember my legs gave out from all the walking, and I fell in the yard. So if you find you are walking slower, stop and take a break.

If you feel you are going into crisis, I would recommend getting inside, and calling 911, or a trusted friend/family member who has seen you this way. Try your best to relax, and take slow deep breaths if your capable of it. I know me personally I can't, as I breathe really shallow, but try not to panic. Panic will only make the breathing worse, and you can pass out. I hope this helps you bear, and please, be careful out there. :)

Bear,
It is different for everyone. Just realize you often will not get a warning..you just hit the wall. With the breathing concerns, the heat and your remoteness, if you are not sure how your body will respond I would caution you from doing any yard work.

Bruce

OK that was fun took me me two hours not bad for a old guy. Thank you for the responses I will watch and see how things proceed I have an appointment the 24th of this month with a new Neuro guess I will see what he says is going on. I am tired but a storm is coming and I am resting. Hope you all are doing well today.

I can't speak to the yard work but it recently took me 6 hours to vacuum and wash the floors in my home, whereas before MG it took maybe an hour at most. I was forced to take numerous breaks but luckily no breathing issues....this time. No more trying to get everything done in one day for me.

I agree with Tesinato & Bruce. Please use caution with any exertion. There is no forcing MG's hand.

Larissa

Thank you Larissa, nice name! I know not to go at it to hard my wife watches me pretty close anymore believe it or not she actually wants to keep me around.

Good to hear the yard work went okay. Just watch for any symtoms and make a note of how you did. Hopefully your MG has not generalized.

Take care and have a good evening.

Bruce

Bear,
I am an active gardener-not today-tapering and the first week is rough. I use the single breath count method (Links Group). My normal on a good day is just under 40. Usually when I am doing a lot of outdoor work it will fall to around 30 or just below. Then I stop, rest and if it recovers well, I may continue, if not, I call it. Stop in the shade and drink and rest frequently in this hot weather. Efficiency is not the goal and repetitive work is hard on us, so I pull some weeds, carry them to the compost, prune some branches, carry them to the compost, pull some weeds, dig holes for plants, etc. I do not plan to do all weeding all pruning, all planting at one time. Saves on repetitive motion injury as well. If you mow the lawn, mix it up with resting and other yard work, or do it over several days. Better to plant native trees shrubs and flowers so not so much grass and you can stop and watch the wildlife. b.

After my crisis I could do nothing. Then I was glad doing the dishes. Then I was able to change 1 bed. Then cook a meal. Then I would be up for 1 hour and rest for an hour. Now I am down on the couch for ! day and active for 7.
My how things change.
Treatment helps.
Ann

Hi Bear! Yup - it's an individual thing.
I eventually had to give up: the yard-work, lawn-mowing, house-painting, you name it. Even had to give up my own carpentry (a job I did for good pay, all my life). I now hire it all done, adjusting the household budget along the way (sold 2 cars).
I collapsed on 2 carpentry jobs, working in the summer heat. Hitting a wall, serious & deadly. in a timeframe - of no more than 1 hour (cue the EMT sirens).
There's that ''wall'', that Bruce mentioned.
(At the time, however? I was not correctly diagnosed, and was not receiving correct medical treatment.)

As my MG generalized - and stayed there? And as secondary autoimmune conditions came along? I declined to a point - where I could only handle 20-minutes of very-mild physical labor. A day.

With a correct diagnosis - and also with correct medical treatment? I choose to spend those 20-minutes a day? Doing a slow walk, 10-minutes each time. My Neuro says: that's the best exercise for me too, helping to prevent muscle atrophy.

MG'ers who recover better than me, with much better physical abilities? (also - under good medical treatment.)
They seem to be of all ages, with all manner of differing symptoms.
There are younger MG'ers - who are doing very poorly.
There are older MG'ers - who are doing very well.

The ''Snowflake'' disease!
- Ross

Thanks Ross for sharing that, I do wonder how things are going to turn out. I am trying to watch things going on with my body but didn't know it could come on that fast. I guess what ever is going to happen will just take its course. I do some carpentry around the house but that is all I work in engineering. I have bulit somethings on my own around the house in the past now seems mowing the yard I have to make some scedule on how to. Thank you all for sharing, knowledge is always good and hearing what you all have been through will help me adopt to what may or may not happen in the future. I see a new Neuro soon maybe I can get better help through him who knows. I have found out around here in order to see a specialized neuro you have to wait 2 to 4 months that is a long time when you don't feel well. I hope you all a good day.

annkemp I'm always impressed by what I see on a positive attitude on your part and I can see a little bit of how it works by reading your post here. It seems as if, while you were recovering, you used each incremental improvement as evidence to yourself that things were getting better, which might have improved your mood and help you get to the next step.