Monday, September 20, 2010

Myasthenia Gravis Disease

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Recently I was diagnosed with a rare disease called Myasthenia Gravis. Without going into a lot of personal details, let me just say that it will turn your life up side down very quickly. This disease falls under the MD umbrella of muscular diseases. Below I have tried to describe this disease as easy as I can so that people get the general idea of what it involves. If you have been diagnosed with this disease or know someone that has, I would suggest that they look at some of the very important links relating to this very dibilitating disease.


What is myasthenia gravis?

Myasthenia gravis is a chronic autoimmune neuromuscular disease characterized by varying degrees of weakness of the skeletal (voluntary) muscles of the body. The name myasthenia gravis, which is Latin and Greek in origin, literally means "grave muscle weakness." With current therapies, however, most cases of myasthenia gravis are not as "grave" as the name implies. In fact, most individuals with myasthenia gravis have a normal life expectancy.

The hallmark of myasthenia gravis is muscle weakness that increases during periods of activity and improves after periods of rest. Certain muscles such as those that control eye and eyelid movement, facial expression, chewing, talking, and swallowing are often, but not always, involved in the disorder. The muscles that control breathing and neck and limb movements may also be affected.

What causes Myasthenia Gravis?

Myasthenia gravis is caused by a defect in the transmission of nerve impulses to muscles. It occurs when normal communication between the nerve and muscle is interrupted at the neuromuscular junction—the place where nerve cells connect with the muscles they control. Normally when impulses travel down the nerve, the nerve endings release a neurotransmitter substance called acetylcholine. Acetylcholine travels from the neuromuscular junction and binds to acetylcholine receptors which are activated and generate a muscle contraction.

In myasthenia gravis, antibodies block, alter, or destroy the receptors for acetylcholine at the neuromuscular junction, which prevents the muscle contraction from occurring. These antibodies are produced by the body's own immune system. Myasthenia gravis is an autoimmune disease because the immune system—which normally protects the body from foreign organisms—mistakenly attacks itself.

There are many government groups, self help support groups and agencies to help with this disease such as The Myasthenia Gravis Foundation of America or the Mayo Clinic or MDA as well as a support group that covers many diseases called MDJunction.

This post may not be of interest to you unless you have been diagnosed with this disease or know someone that has, but please follow through on to the links if you have a need for more information about this.


Wednesday, September 15, 2010

Medical Problems

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Greetings,
Due to current medical conditions and presently in
Hamot Medical Center in Erie for treatment, I will not be posting to much for the next couple weeks. I look forward to getting back to adding more to this blog in the near future so please stop back on a daily basis to see what is added. Hope to see you soon.