Myasthenia?

[sonya625]

My mum is 60 years of age and for the last 1 month has been experiencing weakness of eyes irregular heart beat, heaviness of head and dizziness and general weakness.
We have done an angiography and ruled  out any cardio symptoms. Also did an MRI of her head and that was clear . Can she still have Myasthenia? Pl help

[carrietong]

My mon has MG since fall 2008 and was diagnosed a couple months ago in Feb 2009, although she has been taking the medicine (Mositone 4 times a day) but she sleeps all day except for eating time, her eyelids dripped and totally covering her eyes, also her neck muscle is very weak cannot support and lift her head up, she was hospitalized for a month, she is now home for a month but we don’t see any progress from her recovering. Any ideas of how long the recovering period will be? Doctors at the hospital said it will take six months before the medicine really work. We are so worry if she ever can be back even close to her normal life. Please reply to me, I would really appreciate that.

[DrNoopurMD]

Hi,

Thanks for posting.
Your mother’s symptoms can be due to anemia, excessive fatigue and over stress since cardiovascular and neurological exam is normal. However myasthenia is a possibility since it has very subtle symptoms.
Myasthenia gravis is an autoimmune disease which is characterized by increased fatigability of muscles along with drooping of eyelid and double vision.
It can be diagnosed by blood test to detect autoantibodies against acetyl choline receptors and by edrophonium test. You can discuss these diagnostic tests with your mother’s treating doctor.
Hoppe this helps!