Myasthenia Gravis Can I have the muscles being affected tested?
06/21/2006 12:07PM



Question:
I have had problems swallowing and slurred speach on and off for for 4yrs. I had been told that this was a physical reaction to stress. It wasn`t until 3 weeks ago that I was diagnosed with a mild case of MG (through blood work results). Is there a test that can be conducted on the muscles being affected to find out the current condition of those muscles? In order to ensure that I am receiving the proper treatment.

Answer:
It depends on the treatment. Myasthenia treatment is divided into symptomatic and immunologic. If you are appropriately treated symptomatically with Mestinon, decrement might not be seen on your repetitive nerve testing. if you have been treated immunologically with steroids or another immunosuppressant, antibody titers can be repeated and might be decreased. I think a better test is how you are doing clinically. if your swallowing and slurred speech are improved and you have less of a problem, then it sounds like you are receiving proper treatment. I put more faith in clinical results than lab values and testing.


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