Thank you, Annie! (And everyone else here, too!)

I'm of the opinion that a suppressed immune system is what causes cancer (and obesity, diabetes, arthritis, etc.) - but I'm not a doctor/researcher, so it's just an opinion. Unfortunately for people with MG, it is a "damned if you do, damned if you don't" scenario, since we have to take immunosuppressants to slow the progression of this disease.....

We do need to remember that doctors are human, just like the rest of us. And only 600 new cases of MG are diagnosed in the US each year. A doctor will only see us for about 1/2 hour every few months, so they have no way of knowing what is going on day to day, and they are usually "comparing" us to other patients in their practice who have MG.

I told my neuro that I was noticing "balance" problems, so she told me to walk down the hall. Then she told me that "balance" wasn't really an MG symptom/problem: "Those muscles aren't affected by MG."

So I had to clarify for her - what I meant was that I had noticed that it took me longer to "recover" whenever I would stand up, turn quickly, etc.; my muscles weren't responding as quickly as they used to. It wasn't that I was falling over/down, it was just that my body was taking longer to respond to my brain's signals to right myself because my muscles weren't working like they used to.

And she was recommending exercises to "strengthen" my muscles. WTF????? My muscles are VERY strong, but I have to conserve my energy - and you're telling me to EXERCISE?!?!?!?!?!?

But our doctors (and everyone else, really) don't truly understand how utterly TIRED our muscles are, and how just a little bit of exertion can sometimes wipe us out for the rest of the day (and how exercise makes us WORSE, not better). Or how we never know from day to day how much energy we are going to have. Or how frustrating it is to not be able to plan in advance any more, because we don't want to disappoint anyone.

That's why this forum is so very valuable - it lets us know that we aren't alone in what we are experiencing. I appreciate each and every one of you - you have helped me (and my family!) so much since my diagnosis!