Here's my best guess as to how I came down with MG.

I am part of a family with a very strong genetic disposition to autoimmune diseases.

After the birth of one of my babies, and the physical stress of some painful complications, I came down with Graves disease. My understanding is that after childbirth, the immune system is naturally ramped up, in order to prevent infection--and perhaps also switching gears from the natural immunosuppressive state of pregnancy (so that the mother's body doesn't reject the baby). Because I have a genetic predisposition to autoimmune diseases, this was a dangerous time for my immune system--the perfect time for it to go wrong, what with childbirth and the physical stress of the complications.

I used thyroid suppressants to deal with my Graves disease. I knew they entailed risks. But untreated Graves disease is life-threatening--I was headed for a thyroid storm. I was also very sick, and somewhat crazy. I did not have the luxury of doing a six-month experiment with raw veganism while my heart raced and skipped, my mind went out the window, and I shook too hard to hold the baby. That would have been extremely risky, too. I weighed the risks and took the drug. I didn't want the radiation because I was nursing the baby.

There is evidence that the drugs I took can cause MG. There's evidence that the drugs I'm taking now for the MG can cause cancer and liver damage. Why do I put my body at risk for these things? Because the other option is to take different risks--such as an MG crisis--that I judge to be greater.

I may one day find that Imuran was the wrong decision, just as my thyroid-suppressant drugs might have been the wrong decision (though if I had weaned my baby, she might not be alive now. She had an undiagnosed life-threatening heart defect. Her cardiologist told me that breastfeeding her probably saved her life). But based on what I know now, it's a reasonable decision. It's making me much better. I am having regular blood tests.

The bottom line is: there are no risk-free decisions! Deciding not to take drugs, and do raw veganism, is risky, too (for people with life-threatening symptoms, it could be fatal). Some people have mild MG that is not life-threatening at the moment, and for them, the risk-weighing is different. It's why I never took Prednisone. Some people are in danger of dying tomorrow without risky drugs. For them, Prednisone is a sensible risk to take.

You could look at my story and say, "See, she took drugs for her thyroid, and look what happened--she got MG!" But the unspoken assumption is that if I hadn't, I'd be better off. That's not necessarily true. I might be dead. My daughter might be dead. I might (I believe I would) still have Graves--I might be in a mental institution, with a ruined family, or suffering from crippling osteoporosis.

I plan to keep taking Imuran even if I go into full remission, because I am afraid of getting RA, MS, lupus, or ALS.

I am delighted that raw veganism works for you, though I do worry about the risks you are taking (especially B12 deficiency). It's not reasonable to conclude that it would work for everyone. It's also not clear that raw veganism really improved your MG. Perhaps it's a coincidence. Perhaps it wasn't MG that was causing most of your symptoms (some of them, like light-headedness and tingling, aren't typical MG symptoms). Perhaps you had ocular MG plus a nutritional deficiency that the vegetables treated. You don't know.

Abby