Hi Joan,

Sorry to hear that you have this deficiency to contend with too...

There was actually a time, a few months before I got the slurred/nasal speech, when I was having trouble breathing...I just couldn't get a deep breath, and would have to lean forward to get a full breath...This was episodic, but I generally felt like I couldn't breathe well...I kept going for xrays thinking that I had emphysema from smoking...I figured that if I had emphysema, I must have that Alpha-1 deficiency because of my age, but I never got around to asking the doc. if he could test me...He said that my lungs looked and sounded fine, so it might be asthma...He gave me puffers which kinda helped...

I now realize that it was prolly the MG, but I still wonder if I might have the begining stages of emphysema from smoking, just because I get so short of breath from doing barely anything, the smoking, and my hands are always swollen, especially if I 'exert' myself (which isn't really exertion at all )...

Thanks for sharing this!

What are the symptoms you experience that are from emphysema?

P.S. I'm happy to hear that the infusions are helping!