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Originally Posted by flhardy
Hi all, I am glad to find this forum. My daughter was diagnosed with MG in April per EMG. I have been unable to find valuable information on young children with MG.
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Welcome to the group. You found a great place for information and support.
The MG Manual has a section on Juvenile MG.
The onset of immune-mediated MG before age 20 is referred to as juvenile MG (Andrews PI, 2002). The pathophysiology is the same as in adults. Twenty percent of children with juvenile MG and almost 50% of those with onset before puberty are seronegative (see Seronegative Myasthenia Gravis, later in this chapter). Many children who are initially seronegative later develop AChR-antibodies (Anlar B, 2005). The female:male ratio in children is 3:1, compared to almost 1:1 in adult-onset MG. Thymomas are rare in this age group, but the few that we have seen were malignant.
Myasthenia Gravis: A Manual for the Health Care Provider (PDF) - page 23
The MG Manual is free. You can download and view it off-line, and you can print it for easier reference. Search the document for "children" and "juvenile". There is information on children and MG sprinkled thought the manual.
So sorry you and your daughter has to deal with this, particularly at such a young age. Some of the others will respond soon with more details about MG and children, and with information on thymectomies. I believe that the young have the best chance of a thymectomy producing positive results, although it can take months for improvement.
BTW did you doctors tell you that heat adversely affects MG patients? It makes the symptoms more severe. Try and keep your daughter as cool as possible.
Take care,
-Mark-