Originally Posted by seishin

An issue I've encountered frequently is speaking with doctors who realize MG causes muscle fatigue but who lack the training to conduct tests correctly or order accurate tests for an assessment. Given the proclivity for conducting pulmonary & swallow tests without the MG patient in mind (i.e. not enhancing muscle duress to stimulate fatigue to manifest the muscle failure) it's recommended that suspected seronegative MG patients have tests such as arterial blood gas or walking oximetry. With regard to muscle testing for fatigability, overwhelmingly, doctors check overall muscle strength. I'm of average strength so I usually pass. Rarely, doctors will conduct what I call the 'Blue Ball Muscle Fatigability Test'. That's where muscles are stimulated to set the fatigue into motion but not stimulated long enough to have the fatigue effect witnessed during the five-minute consult with the doctor. As is typical with blue ball testing in my case, weakness & achy pain kick in about 30-minutes after the 'fatigability test' is concluded. The true effect of blue ball testing is felt 1-2 days after tests have been conducted. In this go-around, I did the abbreviated muscle test (lasting 5-minutes rather than 30-minutes (SEE BELOW)) & one lap walking stairs slowly on Jan 30. I began feeling the delayed fatiguing effect right around the time of discharge Jan 31 in the a.m when my limbs became sandbag heavy and oxygen needed to be increased to 4 liters for relief.


She was exceptional as a nurse and as a person.
[Seishin]