Welcome Pippi!
You are dealing with SO much that can/will affect your emotions and conditions. Fortunately, you have found a site that has support for all of it. There are forums for diabetes and head injuries as well as our MG group.
1st - your diabetes must be very difficult to control when you can't swallow! I presume your neuro's and docs are all communicating to make sure you are covered in all areas, even if they don't have all the answers on treatments yet. If not, you need to make sure they get that way!
2nd - your head injury is as serious as anything else you're dealing with - even if you're not noticing dizziness, headache, or other problems from it, depression is a given in a head injury when you have been knocked out. Who is following you for that injury? What kind of problems do you notice due to it?
3rd - I'm not surprised you're not recovering faster on your MG than you had expected. You'll have to be EXTRA PATIENT because the diabetes will complicate things, as well as the head injury. An assault to the brain can activate the immune system (attempting to repair the brain) which is going to worsen the MG.
Please post soon, with details for the head injury, how your diabetes control has gone with all this, and what they are doing currently for you on your MG (any restrictions on MG treatments due to the diabetes, too) if you're ok with letting us know.
My husband just had a serious head injury last year, and we still see some affects from it and I have read up alot on head injuries because of that.
Also, I understand how you feel about letting your family down. I am the major wage earner in our family and I feel the same way when I am unable to keep going because of my illness/conditions. I think men just generally feel it more deeply though.
I really would encourage you to discuss your feelings with your doctor (preferably whomever is following your head injury). The fact that you can't work now is not your fault, as I'm sure you know mentally, but emotionally it can be devastating especially with everything else going on with you.
If the depression gets a hold on you, EVERYTHING will get worse. Depression and the head injury cause chemical changes to the brain (they can see these changes on MRI's now, just so you understand it's a physical thing like any other illness) which if left untreated can result in permanent damage and depression. Look at it this way - if you had pneumonia, would you refuse antibiotics because you think you should be able to cure it without help? Of course not - depression is no different, so please get on some meds for that. If you catch it early enough, once you're through the tough times, you'll likely be able to stop taking them!
I'm such a mommy hen - please forgive me but I'm concerned very much about you because of the combination of things you are dealing with.
Hope to hear from you soon! Chin up - with proper care, you can get all of this under control. You just need the right help, and a positive outlook.
Love and good wishes too you. Hope to hear from you soon!
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Originally Posted by Pippi
Hey All. I was diagnosed August of last year with Myasthenia Gravis after going to 2 emergency rooms, 2 general practitioners, and eye doctor, and 2 Neurologist. I had droopy eyes,shortness of breath, could not swallow(Did not eat solid food for 45 days) and severe weakness/fatigue. I am a diabetic, so my Neuro has me on Mestinon and Cellcept. Progress has been very slow. In November I was climbing steps.fell backward and was knocked unconcious and airlifted to an Intensive care trauma unit. I have not been able to work since Nov. as I cannot climb stairs, still slur speac, and has a great deal of fatigue after writing/typing/walking for 10-15 minutes. I have found no support groups in East Tennessee and have not found any other males in this area with the disease. I am 58 years old and have applied to Social Security for disability benefits and have been denied once.(They keep sending me PAIN questionaires to fill out and I can't seem to get them to understand the disease, I was turned down the first time and have now appealed. When reading about the disease, I really thought I would be doing much better by now, but inability to work, being months behind on bills, etc. am under so much pressure I feel like a failure to my family and don't understand or know what to do. Found this site referenced by a support group I found on Facebook.
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