Hello everyone

I have just joined your community, to hopefully learn a lot!

Approximately 15 years ago, I began suffering various aches and pains, mostly in my back, but also in my hips and shoulders. As time went on, I developed a droopy left eyelid and quite a severe squint in my left eye.

Despite numerous visits to my doctor, and seeing a lot of different doctors as I have moved area a few times over the years, none were able to give me any sort of solid diagnosis. A few different pain relief medications were tried, mostly with not a lot of success, and being the kind of person that I am, I plodded on and didn't really push anyone for answers.

Things were not helped when I managed to fall down a flight of stairs, using my bum as a brake against the wall at the bottom of the stairs.

Approximately six years ago, on Boxing Day, I had been at work on a double shift, and had been on my feet in the freezing cold for approximately 15 hours. That night, the pain I was in was so severe my other half found me at the top of the stairs crying like a baby, and in short said that enough was enough and pushed me to get back to the doctor.

The doctor that I saw sent me to a rheumatologist who prescribed Naproxen and Amitryptiline to relieve pain at night and help me sleep. Blood tests showed absolutely nothing wrong, but seronegative rheumatoid arthritis or psoriatic arthritis were mentioned as being possible/likely, mostly based on the pain and the loud 'pops' from my joints when they had been immobile for a while.

My eyes continued to give problems, and on one occasion around four years ago, I collapsed whilst at work; I got up pretty much straight away, and thought that I had simply not seen a dip in the ground and had tripped up - - the following morning, my eyes were puffed up, itchy, red and protruding. I took myself off to the local walk-in centre and was told that it was an allergic reaction of some sort, and then had my blood pressure taken which was sky high to the point I was not allowed to leave without medication.

Last year, I went for my routine eye check and new glasses, and the optician mentioned my squint and droopy eyelid. By now, my right eyelid had also developed a slight droop also. She recommended that I see an Opthalmologist, and sent a referral letter.

I saw the Opthalmologist four weeks ago, and he very quickly determined that there was nothing wrong with my eyes themselves, but he suspected that there was some sort of neurological problem, and was astounded that nobody had referred me to a neurologist given the various symptoms I have. He also sent me for an MRI which was done within the week, and showed nothing abnormal. He referred me to a neurologist as a urgent referral.

Yesterday, I had my first appointment with the neurologist and within moments he spotted the problems with my eyes; he did various checks including getting me to follow his finger with my eyes, and pushing or pulling against various muscles. When he got me to squeeze his hands, he thought that I was holding back and told me to really go for it - - trouble is, I was squeezing as hard as I could.

The upshot is that he is convinced that I have Myasthenia Gravis, to the point that he is sending a letter to my doctor ahead of the results of blood tests, telling my doctor exactly what should be prescribed and at what doses, so that he can simply call my doctor and get me started on treatment as soon as possible if the results confirm his diagnosis. He also told me to start doing some research.....

So, here I am

Sorry for the long winded post.