Hello all,

1. My wife was recently diagnosed with level IIb Myasthenia Gravis. She is on prednisone for the first month and then steroid sparing immunosuppressant drugs like azapriothine will be introduced. I have read many claims that long term use of immunosuppressants like azathioprine have serious long term effects like skin cancer, lymnphomas and other malignancies i.e. increased risk thereof. My question is how real are these risks i.e. I have seen many incidences of organ transplant patients on azathioprine connected to skin cancers but have seen no real accounts of people with MG developing these side-effects. Does anyone here know of people who have experienced these side-effects when taking azathioprine long term. What dose and for how long mus the dose be taken to cause these side-effects.

2. Also I see many web sites recommending alternate day prednisone as a treatment. Can alternate day prednisone be administered long term without side effects or will the side-effects associated with prednisone also be observed with alternate day doses. As you can see I would like to chose the best treatment for my wife whilst also trying to avoid the nasty side-effects.

Any advice or relaying of experiences will be much appreciated...