Quote:
Originally Posted by michguy88
Okay, so I know for a fact that you can not get diagnosed on the net...so I am not looking for that. But I did want to talk to some folks online who are dealing with MG and get their opinions.
Heres whats going on...I'll try to keep it brief.
Male
Age: 24
I have been worried about MG for a little over a year now. My main symptoms include major shortness of breath (hard to inhale) and feelings like a can't swallow (though I havent actually choked/aspirated on anything).
My shortness of breath will come on randomly throughout the day, and is completely independent of what I am doing. It does sometimes seem to be worse when I exercising, but it is just as likely to hit me when I am watching TV or driving.
I seen a lung doctor last year who did a PFT and MIP/MEP test. The FVC was in the 70% area my RV was above 100% which made me worried about a restrictive disease...but doc was unconcerned. My TLC was normal. My MIP was -96 and MEP was 102.
They diagnosed me as having 'vocal chord dysfunction', but no lung issues. I also have seen a neurologist who did an emg of my legs, and said I have a peripherial neuropathy, but no disease course behind it.
Because of my age, the doctors refuse to do any more tests, because they assume it is all in anxiety related.
I do have a pulse ox and peak flow meter, and even when I am at my 'worst' my OxSat is at 99% and on my peakflow meter I average anywhere from 600-700 (the same as when I feel fine).
My main question, is if this was MG, would my pulse ox and peakflow meter numbers drop for sure if it was respiratory muscles? If it was just my diaphragm that as affected, would that affect my peak flow numbers?
I have read too many stories of folks who were ignored as having anxiety, and they end of having MG or something else similiar.
Whats the juries opinion?
Thank for your time!!
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I can't say if you have MG or not, or what causes your problem. I agree with you that the diagnosis of "anxiety" is being used too often. (It is quite normal for a person who is not doing well and has no answers to his problem, to be somewhat anxious, but this does not mean that he is suffering from "anxiety" nor that this explains his symptoms).
That being said.
All you respiratory tests are within the normal range.
If you have respiratory muscle weakness you MIP/MEP should be decreased.
Your peak flow should also be effected.
It is possible that all those measurements were done when you were doing well. But, you mention that your peak flow doesn't change when you are not doing well. If you have significant involvement of your respiratory muscles (to the extent that you have noticeable breathing difficulties at rest) you can not create the force required to blow the air out of your lungs fast. (This is simple physics: it doesn't matter if flow is decreased because of increased resistance of the airways or because of decreased force in moving it-the result will be the same).
One thing that you can do, is check the peak flow a few times in a row.
Normally it would not go down significantly.