5 Facts We Want You to Know About Myasthenia Gravis

At any given time, about 60,000 Americans have myasthenia gravis, which is a chronic neuromuscular disorder that can have a large impact on your life. Since myasthenia gravis is so uncommon, there’s not a lot of common knowledge about the disease, and we want to do our part to correct that.

Our team here at Gill Neuroscience, led by board-certified neurologist Dr. Paul Gill, is experienced in helping patients with a wide range of neurological issues, including myasthenia gravis (MG), and we want to share some of what we’ve learned here.

Myasethnia gravis is an autoimmune disease

Let’s begin our discussion about MG with this important fact — it’s an autoimmune disorder. More specifically, when you have MG, antibodies from your immune system mistakenly destroy receptors at your neuromuscular junction. As a result, the nerves in your body struggle to communicate with your voluntary muscles.

Myasthenia gravis leads to muscle weakness

The name of this disease — myasthenia gravis — comes from Greek and Latin words that together mean “grave muscular weakness.” So it follows that the leading side effect of MG is muscle weakness, especially in your eyes, arms, hands, fingers, legs, and neck.

This muscle weakness can lead to:

• Drooping eyelids
• Blurry or double vision
• Limited facial expressions
• Difficulty with chewing and swallowing
• Trouble speaking

As you might imagine, since MG involves muscle weakness, fatigue is a common side effect, especially as you go through your day.

Anyone can get MG

Many diseases are unique to certain individuals or groups, but that isn’t the case with MG. This chronic autoimmune illness can affect both sexes and most ethnic groups. 

MG typically doesn’t show up until adulthood — usually under the age of 40 for women and after the age of 60 in men — and only rarely does it show up as a congenital issue.

Myasthenia gravis can lead to crises

Between 15% and 20% of people with MG will have what we refer to as a myasthenic crisis, a period in which you encounter respiratory muscle weakness and you have trouble breathing. In many cases, people need to be hospitalized during these crises.

There are treatments for myasthenia gravis

We want to end on a positive note — MG doesn’t change life expectancy, which means you can live a long and happy life despite the autoimmune illness. To help with that goal, we offer comprehensive treatment and management plans, which might include a combination of approaches, including:

• Immunosuppressants
• Surgery to remove your thymus gland, which can help reduce symptoms
• Anticholinesterase medications to slow receptor breakdown
• Complement inhibitors (a type of immunotherapy) to prevent neuromuscular junction damage

In addition to these treatments, lifestyle changes, such as exercise, can help improve your quality of life.

If you want to learn more about myasthenia gravis or you’re looking for expert treatment for this autoimmune disorder, we invite you to call our office in Houston, Texas, at 832-912-7777, or use our online request form to schedule an appointment.