Tyler, tell your Aunt and Uncle that they need to find another babysitter - MG is nothing to mess around with, especially since you are so young. They NEED to understand that!!!! Just remind them that if you get worse because you aren't getting treatment that you might not be available to babysit in the future, because you might be in the hospital, suffering an MG crisis.....

Dermatitis Herpetiformis doesn't generally hurt, but the lesions can be kind of painful once the pustule has burst. Go ahead and ask the dermatologist to test for it, while they are at it. I will tell you that if you have DH, most antibiotics won't help AT ALL. Lotions won't help get rid of the lesions, either (although it may help the itching), because the cause of the rash is an internal reaction to gluten (it isn't a true allergy, but it helps to think of it that way....). The only "cure" in that case is eliminating gluten from the diet.

If you do have DH, there is a medication (Dapsone) that is sometimes prescribed. It is a specialized antibiotic, but the side effects are similar to the symptoms of MG, and long-term use can adversely affect your red blood cells and hemoglobin. Chances are that you don't want to take this particular medication, as it will probably make your MG worse.

I know that it can seem hard to go on a GF diet, but trust me, it isn't nearly as hard as most people - doctors included - make it out to be. If you are in North Carolina, you are in luck - Whole Foods Market has their very own GF bakery in Durham, and there is an excellent Celiac Disease Center at Duke University (they even have a GF restaurant on site!). The Mellow Mushroom restaurants in Raleigh, Durham, and Burlington rolled out their GF pizza crusts in April - I was in the area visiting my Grandmother at the end of April, and was thrilled to find that their GF pizza was very yummy! Raleigh has a large GIG (Gluten Intolerance Group) chapter, and they will be more than happy to help you learn how to navigate a GF lifestyle.

If you are close to Raleigh/Durham, you might want to contact the CD Center there for recommendations for dermatologists who know how to test for DH. In any event, if you aren't already on a GF diet, I would HIGHLY recommend it. I have been on a GF diet for the past 2 years, and I just got my MG diagnosis a couple of months ago. My neurologist thinks that my being on that GF diet may have helped to make my MG symptoms much milder than they would have been otherwise.