Quote:
Originally Posted by Annie59
They forget we are human and this is a rare disease that in some respects is in its infancy with testing. When I read that the musk was developed as recently as it was I knew that there is much to be learned yet on this disease and why is my doc so rigid.
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Right. The process by which the nerves communicate with the muscles is unbelievably complicated. They've found three antibodies--MuSK, AChR and the LEMS one--so far. They all attack different parts of the process, right? Actually I'm not sure about that. But it wouldn't be surprising if there are other antibodies they just haven't discovered yet, right?
My doctor says that if the plasmapheresis (if I have it--that's not decided yet) makes a radical difference, that's good evidence that my disease is autoimmune. Then it can be treated with immunosuppressants. That makes a lot of sense to me. There are also congenital myasthenic symptoms (lack of acetylcholine, lack of receptor cells) that cause the same symptoms of MG, but since the cause isn't antibodies, immunosuppressants wouldn't help.
Believe me, if my test comes back positive, and I finally get a diagnosis, I will share the happy news with all of you. With lots of exclamation points.
Abby