Hi, Adam. I'm a little confused. I hope other members read the following and chime in.

Myasthenia gravis is and autoimmune disease. That means it's caused by the immune system mistakenly attacking some healthy part of the body. In MG, muscle weakness is caused by the immune system attacking the neuromuscular junctions.

There are other things that can cause myasthenic symptoms--that is, they can cause symptoms of muscle weakness, but without the involvement of the immune system (for example certain drugs, or certain toxic substances). These might cause "myasthenia" (muscle weakness) but not "myasthenia gravis" (autoimmune muscle weakness).

So I'm not sure what your sister discovered. If she's talking about drugs that cause muscles weakness (but not a malfunction of the immune system), then it would make sense for the symptoms to go away when you stop taking the drug.

But you said you had bloodwork that your doctor thinks means myasthenia gravis. The only blood test I know of that indicates myasthenia gravis is a test for the antibodies that the immune system is directing against the neuromuscular junction. This is called the AChR antibody test (it stands for Acetylchoine Receptor). If your AChR test was positive, you have myasthenia gravis. MG can certainly be made worse by particular drugs, but it's not likely to go away completely when you stop taking them.

The symptoms you describe seem to be focused on the bulbar muscle-group. That should help your neurologist figure out what's going on.


I hope this isn't just confusing you more. I'm trying to help you figure out what to ask the neurologist. Please don't hesitate to ask questions here. We all want to help.

One more thing: MG is unpredictable. It can plateau for a long time and then suddenly tank. If it gets suddenly worse, and you have trouble breathing or find you can't swallow, go to the ER or call 911. These are medical emergencies. Have a card with an explanation written on it in case you can't talk. There are very effective emergency treatments for a myasthenic crisis.

Abby