Myasthenia Gravis
What is Myasthenia Gravis?
Myasthenia Gravis is a chronic neuromuscular disease that varies the skeletal muscle tiredness and weakness. The name of the disease comes from Latin (“gravis”, which means serious, grave) and Greek (“myasthenia”, the state of a body muscle with no strength) being translated as a “serious weakness of the body muscles”. The name it self is a suggestion of how grave the disease is. However, the new therapies developed make the disease to look less serious that the name shows because the life expectancy is not lessened anymore by the illness.
The particularity of Myasthenia Gravis is the weakness in the muscles that increases when doing a minimum effort and it is improved by the periods of tranquility and rest. The muscles that are very rarely affected are those of the face and eyes, like the muscles that control the swallowing, facial expression, talking, eyelid movement and chewing. Although cases with these muscles involved were reported. Other groups of muscles that may be affected are those responsible with limb movements, breathing control and neck movements.
The cause of Myasthenia Gravis is an error in the nerve impulses which is transmitted to muscles when the muscle-nerve communication is interrupted at the place of the neuromuscular connection. In a healthy body, the nerves terminations release acetylcholine, a neurotransmitter substance when they impulse passes through them. A muscle contraction is generated when these neurotransmitters, through the junction, bind to acetylcholine receptors, activating them. But when we are talking about Myasthenia Gravis, acetylcholine is altered, blocked or destroyed by the antibodies at the junction, so the muscle cannot contract anymore. Only one person of 100 has knowledge of Myasthenia Gravis.
Get an ever better understanding of Myasthenia Gravis watching this video:
Myasthenia Gravis Symptoms
Myasthenia Gravis is not contagious and cannot be directly inherited and usually, one member from the family is affected. Only the fetus may take the disease from the mother if she is infected, but it disappears after one to three months after the woman gives birth to the baby. Myasthenia Gravis can affect all the people, no matter the gender or color of the skin, but it varies from age to age. It is usually met in men over 50 and in women younger than 35.
The symptoms of Myasthenia Gravis may appear sudden and are not immediately acknowledged because in many cases the first obvious sign is an eye muscles weakening caused by acetylcholine receptors that are being blocked by the circulating antibodies. The stimulative effect that the neurotransmitter has is inhibited and the synapse blocked. The antibodies, that normally must protect the body’s immune system from outsiders (for example bacterium and microbes) fight against what they have to protect. This is why the disease is called autoimmune. Other first sings of Myasthenia Gravis may be a slurred speech and problems with swallowing. The affected muscles may be limited (for example the muscles of the eye) or may generalize, including breathing muscles. The weakening of the muscles gives the severity grade of Myasthenia Gravis. The weakness is felt in the arms, legs, fingers, hands and neck and it can extend provoking facial expression changes, dysarthria (impaired speech), shortness of breath, diplopia (double or blurred vision), ptosis (drooping of one or both eyelids), difficulty in swallowing and waddling or unstable gait.
Myasthenia Gravis Treatment
Myasthenia Gravis has no cure although it is very useful to go and see a doctor as soon as possible because the treatment received may increase your muscle strength. It may be very hard to diagnose Myasthenia Gravis because of the very subtle symptoms that are difficult to distinguish from other neurological problems, so that the patient can wait even years before finding out the real diagnoses. The specialists visited by a person who presents the symptoms are the psychiatrist, ENT doctor and the ophthalmologist. The exams to which a patient is submitted are: chest X-ray, blood tests (serology), physical examination, pathological findings, endrophonium test, spirometry (pulmonary function test) or single-fiber electromyography and repetitive nerve stimulation.
After diagnosing Myasthenia Gravis, it is usually applied a treatment based on medications in order to reduce the autoimmune process and to minimize the weakness. The acetylcholine found in the motor end plate is degraded by the natural enzyme cholinesterase. So that Mestinon (pyridostigmine) and Prostigmin (neostigmine), cholinesterase inhibitors improve muscle function.
The specialists will first administrate a small dose of pyridostigmine (for example, 2x30mg) that will be increased once the results appear. This medicine lives about 4 hours in the human organism so that many patients are treated with a combination of drugs such as Cyclosporine, Azathioprine, mycophenolate, prednisone and mofetil (immunosuppressive drugs), but the effects may be observed hardly after some weeks or even months. If atropine is added there could appear some adverse effects, for example diarrhea and abundant perspiration.
In the cases when Myasthenia Gravis turns into something more serious the putative antibody must be removed from the circulation with plasmapheresis or with IVIg (intravenous immunoglobulin). The benefits of these treatments last no longer than several weeks. The thymus is a gland responsible in producing the cells that are involved in the immune response and has a big importance in this disease pathology. It is situated above the heart and near the larynx. This is why, when someone has Myasthenia Gravis it is said he or she has an abnormal thymus gland (hyperplasia) which must be removed or has a thymoma (a thymus tumor more common among people who are younger than 35 years old).
The surgical process is called thymectomy and brings a notable improvement in patients’ health state (in more than 40% of the cases) because the great results are seen not only within a couple of weeks, but two to six years after the surgical intervention. The ways to remove the thymus gland are numerous. Some of them may be performed through one or both sides of the chest (transthoracic), through the bone of the breast (transsternal) or through a small incision at the neck (transcervical). Some additional Myasthenia Gravis treatments are occupational and physical therapy may be recommended to you to help you accomplish the every-day duties.
Further info on Myasthenia Gravis
As you know there are numerous resources on the internet where medical conditions such as Myasthenia Gravis are being covered in a professional way and not least we often find discussion forums of great value. That's where you'll learn from real people sharing and caring for each other. Of course it's always necessary to discuss with your doctor as well if you suspect you're suffering from Myasthenia Gravis.
If you're simply curious though it's sometimes more convenient, time saving and less costly to simply find a book or two where you can learn all details on Myashenia Gravis:
 The Mysterious Illness-Myasthenia Gravis List Price: Sale Price: $12.96 You save: $2.53 (16%)  Eligible for free shipping!Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days DescriptionThe writer suffers from a rare autoimmune condition called Myasthenia Gravis. It is a neuromuscular disease in which the body generates an immune system attack against its own skeletal muscles. 14 out of every 100,000 persons in the USA suffer from this...  |  The Official Patient's Sourcebook on Myasthenia Gravis: A Revised and Updated Directory for the Internet Age List Price: Sale Price: $28.69 You save: $0.26 (1%) Eligible for free shipping!Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days DescriptionThis sourcebook has been created for patients who have decided to make education and Internet-based research an integral part of the treatment process. Although it gives information useful to doctors, caregivers and other health professionals, it also tells patients where and how to look for information covering virtually all topics related to myasthenia gravis, from the essentials to the most advanced areas of research... |
 Living Well with Autoimmune Disease: What Your Doctor Doesn't Tell You...That You Need to Know List Price: Sale Price: $6.30 You save: $8.69 (58%) Eligible for free shipping!Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days DescriptionAutoimmune diseases affect 50 million Americans, mostly women, who frequently remain undiagnosed and untreated, or are treated ineffectively. Living Well with Autoimmune Disease helps readers pinpoint symptoms, find the right practitioner, and learn cutting-edge approaches to reduce symptoms and reverse their disease... |  Myasthenia Gravis and Related Disorders (Current Clinical Neurology) List Price: Sale Price: $80.00 You save: $79.00 (50%) Eligible for free shipping!Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days DescriptionAdvances in the study and understanding of myasthenia gravis have led to the need for the publication of this important new edition. The goal of Myasthenia Gravis and Related Disorders, Second Edition is identical to the first -- to provide the clinician and the scientist with a common resource for understanding this complex disorder... |
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Tags: abnormal thymus gland, acetylcholine receptors, body muscle, chronic neuromuscular disease, gravis, myasthenia gravis, myasthenia gravis symptoms, myasthenia gravis treatments, skeletal muscle tiredness, weakness of the body
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