Annemarie, Some people with MG never have one and some are so severe that they have more than one.

It's funny, I just had a conversation with my neuro today about all this.

I'm the kind of person who learns from their "mistakes." I had a crisis in 2005. I had been feeling progressively weaker. I was being reckless and doing too much while in the hot, summer weather. I had about 4 breathing episodes where it felt like I would stop breathing on the spot. I rested and got better. Then in July, my back was so weak that it went into spasm and I couldn't walk all weekend. Only bed rest for two days helped. Then I had breathing tests on the following Monday. My MIP (maximum inspiratory pressure) kept going down with each successive try. MG gets worse upon exertion.

Then two days later, I was still real weak and my oxygen stats were hovering around 94%. They were not going up, no matter how much I rested. That sent me to Urgent Care, where the doctor did a neuro exam and later told me I could not squeeze his fingers. I thought I had been squeezing them very hard! So you can get weak so slowly that you think your muscles are normal strength when they are NOT.

When I got to the hospital (yeah, I drove), I could hardly breathe. My O2 stats were dipping into the high 70's. That is how fast you can go downhill. It can be lightening fast.

Anyway, there is a LOT you can do to prevent a crisis. You can keep your immune system as happy as possible by sleeping enough, reducing stress, eating GOOD foods, staying out of the heat and not overdoing things. Oh, and avoiding infections!!! You can take whatever meds you need to keep you that way, which is different for everyone. I know people who are "maxed" out on meds and then there's me who, so far, can handle MG with only Mestinon and common sense. The other drugs are relatively contraindicated for me for various reasons.

Don't compare your situation to others. MG is odd and is different for everyone. I hope you had a good conversation with your neuro.

Annie

If you guys can afford a Nonin Sportstat Oximeter, get one. It's really the best investment I ever made for my stupid MG.