Edwinlgreen, Welcome to the forum! I guess congrats are in order, sort of. There's a lot to learn about MG. Because of where you live, stay the heck out of the heat and humidity! It can make MG progressively worse.

If you have any other questions, please ask! MG has a rather big learning curve, like knowing what drugs to avoid, so do read up on it. www.myasthenia.org or www.mdausa.org

Why did you go on acid blockers to begin with? How old were you? I frankly have to disagree that the benefits outweigh the risks. Recent studies are showing how dangerous those drugs can be on your overall health. Has anyone tested your B12 level?

The issue of acid reducers seems like a simple topic but it is actually quite complex.

First, we need stomach acid for many reasons. The main reason is to digest our food so that its nutrients can be properly absorbed in the small intestine. Without that happening, you can have many vitamin and mineral deficiencies.

Second, stomach acid is needed to fight off bad bacteria in our bodies. When you have any autoimmune disease, that becomes even more important. You can be prone to getting more infections without it (i.e., H Pylori).

Without enough stomach acid, several things happen:

1. Food doesn't digest properly and "dumps" into the small intestine.
2. You can have reactive hypoglycemia from the dumping, where you get hungry too soon after eating and can have "shake attacks" from blood sugar swings.
3. You can GET a hiatal hernia from not enough stomach acid due to the dumping (I have one due to that.).
4. You can have an increase in gas and bloating. If you eat a big meal, you can have abdominal pain and vomit before it dumps into the small intestine.
5. There's not a proper mix of solids and fluids in the large intestine.
6. Food can sit in the large intestine for longer.
7. Food putrefies in the large intestine, causing an increase in bad bacteria.
8. This entire process can lead to a leaky gut, which has been shown to leave a person more open for even more autoimmune problems. It might, in fact, be the CAUSE of immune problems.
8. This "rancid" environment can lead to stomach and colon cancer and adenocarcinoma anywhere else.

Those are the basics of this drug company-induced problem. Most people over the age of 40 don't have enough stomach acid. What is more often the problem is a reduced gel coating of the stomach - often from overuse of antiprostaglandin drugs - which causes stomachs to be more "sensitive." Pred also reduces the gel coating. Taking things like krill, fish, olive or flax oil (pro-prostaglandins) can help to restore that lining health.

Like any drug you take, there can be a rebound of symptoms when you withdraw from it. You should not go off of a drug without talking to your primary doctor. Ditto on going on one of these acid reducers!!!

They can affect MG too (see below articles).

Achlorhydria - No stomach acid
Hypocholorhydria - Not enough stomach acid

I realize that some of you get diarrhea or other digestive issues on Mestinon. You're the ones that might have enough stomach acid and Mestinon creates more. You need acetylcholine to make stomach acid (along with gastrin and histamine).

The "antihistamine" or "anti MG" is Benadryl. It does the opposite of Mestinon. That's why it's relatively contraindicated in MG.

The body is one big biochemical factory and if all the little cogs in it aren't working well, your entire body suffers. We are supposed to have stomach acid and the amount of people with too much is actually less than 4% (from studies).

There are so many reasons for an "upset stomach" other than the alleged too much stomach acid. It's always important to know the actual reason before you get a drug thrown at you!

So while you might think you feel fine after downing these drugs for years, the effects on your body might not be known right away.

My family has a history of both achlorhydria and colon cancer/adenocarcinoma. I had achlorhydria starting in my 20's. I believe it did way too much damage to my GI tract, though I have managed to heal the majority of it. Since taking Betaine HCL after my B12 deficiency (from achlorhydria) was diagnosed, I don't have digestive problems, my calcium, albumin and iron have normalized and I don't get infections like I used to. I still have to take B12 the rest of my life (sublingual methylcobalamin that absorbs directly into the bloodstream).

When you get to the point of a B12 deficiency, it means that your liver is on empty. It normally stores at least 6 years of B12 in the form of cyanocobalamin. It converts it into methylcobalamin in order for the body to use it. So by the time I had my deficiency, I was OUT. Nothing was getting to my tissues. You need B12 for every single cell in your body. It's the one vitamin you can't get too much of, unless you have a liver disease. Without it, however, you die. And it felt like I was dying.

So, please be a bit more respectful of your body and what it was meant to do for you. Drugs can be useful but there are many alternative therapies or plain common sense that can help you too!

Annie

http://www.intelihealth.com/IH/ihtIH...=dmtHMSContent

http://www.nymedicalnutrition.com/im...LNUTRITION.pdf

Side Effects of these drugs
Due to their cholinergic effects, some of these medications interfere with nerve function.

http://www.medcline.com/nutrient-def...x-medications/

They forgot about albumin deficiency in the above article.

http://medical-dictionary.thefreedic...linergic+Drugs

Magnesium: It is in many foods we eat. What is not good for MG is a huge dose of it. We need a certain amount of magnesium and what you get from foods will not adversely affect MG.