My father was diagnosed with myasthenia gravis when he was in his early 60s. He had the droopy eyelids, muscle weakness, etc. One day, he had trouble breathing and collapsed. The diagnosis was MG. They tried several different drugs and dosages for about five years. Then his neurologist told him about a treatment that works on about 50% of the patients called plasmapheresis. What it entailed was this: He spent 10 days in the hospital. Every other day he was hooked up to what was similar to a dialysis machine. He would have a needle in each arm, one taking blood out that was then filtered through a machine, plasma removed, then mixed with donated plasma and a citrus substance, then reintroduced back into the body through the other arm. This process took approximately four hours each time and could only be done every other day. He had five treatments in 10 days. When my dad went into the hospital, he was wheelchair bound, only able to walk a few steps at a time, but after the treatments were finished 10 days later, he walked out of the hospital on his own two legs and was never wheelchair bound again. Unfortunately four years later he passed away from colon issues, but the treatment worked for him. I hope this information is helpful to other people.

I have been diagnosed with MG since 1991 after the birth of my daughter. My symptoms included but not limit to drooped eyelids, slurred speech and severe fatigue. It took doctor months to finally diagnose the problem. MY symptoms started as early as 1985 with the fatigue. I had the Thymectomy surgery in 1991. It helped but not a cure as hopeing. I started out taking 180mg timespan daily to taking 60mg mestinon twice daily. The Dr's have tried suggesting other meds but I have only taken the mentinon. Some days I may have to adjust my dosage due to extra activity. I still feel fatigue most days but the double vision and speech only happens every now and then. Overall I life a normal lifestyle. I have been on my job in retail management for 20+ years and has never missed time off due to MG, a blessing.

I was diagnosed w/ MG in 2005 after both of my eyelids were dropping. I also have trouble swallowing, chewing, walking and holding on to things. But it was my eyes that sent me to an eye doctor, who while they found nothing wrong with my eyes suggested that I get tested for MG. I have never gone into remission. I have been on both prednisone and Mestinon since I was diagnosed. While both of these help with most of the symptoms, they do nothing for the fatigue and they both upset my stomach. I have also had 2 courses of IVIG but that only helped for a couple of weeks. So I guess we just have to try and cope and "take it easy" as my doctor says.

I have had MG for about 10 years. First diagnosed with a dropped eyelid. Later with speech slurring. Was able to get it in remission by taking large doses of Prednisone for about 6 months. Starting with 60 mg daily for 6 weeks, decreasing to 50 mg for six weeks, etc. until I got down to 10 mg daily. I take 10 mg daily as maintenance. I had relapse in 2006 due to my negligence of doing physical hard and hot work restoring hardwood floors in a rental house I own. Speech problems reoccurred with difficulty in swallowing and some muscle weakness. I was able to get it back in remission by same treatment as previously. In 2011 it reoccurred again basically for the same reason of working and cutting several yards in hot sun and my body getting totally exhausted. Have been going through the same treatment as previously. I am now down to 10 mb. But I am having harder time getting it into remission. I am still having some problems with my speech which has always been my major problem. Never have had many problems with muscles. Do have problems going up lots of steps. My MD says I have been blessed with such a mild case of MG. I thank God every night for my blessings. I know some people really have it bad. I live a normal life and take Mestinon as needed for speech. Most time one pill a day will suffice for speech problems.

I feel like I'm so sick every day. When I have some energy I try to do normal activity like cleaning house, but then it just takes so much energy I get so tired I can feel my eyes to start to drop and my muscles get so very tired I can't even work anymore. I just don't feel normal any more. I can't wait to get the right kind of help.

I was diagnosed in 2010 with myasthenia gravis. First the doctors thought it was a stroke in 2007. I had all the signs and symptoms. Then after a while I started having a lot of tingles on all parts of my body. When I would drive, my eyes would just slowly close up. I had a tired feeling that was just unreal. Fortunately, the medications are really helping me a great deal. I must say, I have an awesome medical team of doctors and nurses.