thanks Joanmarie,

I was in complete spontaneous remission for 15 years, and I can reassure you that positive thinking had nothing to do with it. it was mere luck. in fact I was admitted to the hospital in a pre-crisis state, and while they were debating on what should be done, I just got better from moment to moment, was discharged with no treatment, told that I have "med. student's disease" because it is "impossible" to have MG and recover like that, and was mostly overwhelmed with the whole thing. I kept on taking mestinon as "placebo" for another few months. (without it, I could have never passed my exams) and gradually required less and less, until I could stop it all together.

as to your other question, I really don't know why neurologists and neuro nurses can't comprehend the fact that normal people have normal emotional responses among which are anger, sadness, fear etc. I can reassure you that I, the physicians and nurses that work with me, and many other physicians and nurses that I know, don't think that it is abnormal for a patient to feel angry or sad or anxious from time to time. in fact I am quite concerned when a patient does not show some normal emotional responses to what is happening.

the head of my dept. would constantly say to us, during our training- you have to realize that when you tell a patient who was a completely healthy person that he/she has an illness, you are throwing a brick on their head, and you have to be very gentle and thougtful when you do that. and a relpapse of an illness is even worse then that, because it is always accompnied by a feeling of failure, and also the fear that if the disease returned once, then this could happen again.

I also, don't think that it is very beneficial to tell someone that he she is "depressed". this in itself can make a person depressed eventually, even if they are not. and even when I have patients that I think may have depression, I am very cautious in making this diagnosis and wait a while to make sure that I am not wrong, and this is not just a short reactive response that will resolve in its own. (like will happen 99% of the time).

as to "hope" I fully agree with you on that, and that is one thing you should never take away from a patient, or anyone.

and last but not least.

you say- hats off to those that put on their makeup or dress up for "work".
it reminds me that during the conference I attended recently, one of the participants came to me and said how much he admires my courage, coming there, and presenting my work . I was quite surprised when he said that, and told him that there is nothing to admire, I am just trying to use all the available technical aids and tools in order to have the best and most productive life.

and when I was asked to participate in a committee to improve patient managment, I told the head of the committee that he has to understand that I have a companion with me, require intermitent respriatory support, can't use a regular computer and mouse etc. so he said-then you don't want to participate in this committee. I said-on the contrary, I do, and that is why I am telling you all this, so that you will have realistic expactations and will be able to evaluate my work and not be distracted by those issues.

I think we really all have our abilities and dissabilties ( I mean even healthy people) and the question is how we find the way to make the most of our abilities, despite our dissabilities.

for instance, my young son was considered "hyperactive" and every teacher during the early school years thought we should give him Ritalin. I thought differently. I thought he was very active, and innovative, and that we have to find the way to help him use all this energy in a productive way, and not distrubing his teachers in class. and I refused to give him medications that have their potential side effects and long term damage, because his teachers had a hard time with him. I was fortunate that his pedicatrician was my partner in this.

well, now that he is 17, he grew up to be an amazing young man. he plays the cello, and wins prizes. he is a leader, he dances salsa, and everyone that meets him, tells me how much he is impressed by him. and although he does have some features of "hyperactivity" and needs my help everynow and then in organizing his extremely busy schedule, he is aware of it, and we discuss it together, and think of ways to overcome his shortcomings, and usually find proper solutions. also, I believe that understanding that he is not "perfect" makes him a more sensetive and understanding person, towards the dissabilities of other people (including his mom's).

alice