Hi all! I am 32 yrs old and live in Burlington Iowa. I was struck with MG at 14 yrs old. I was unofficially diagnosed with MG at the University of Iowa Hospital. I tested positive for MG just a couple of years ago.
I have just recently also been diagnosed with Graves. I have had constant flare-ups since giving birth to my daughter almost 5 yrs ago. I am now working to naturally balance my hormones to see if this may be the cause. So far, I feel much better and am currently free of any medical issues! I'm keeping my fingers crossed.
I have never responded to mestinon and am a prednisone girl. All of my doctors want me to stay on a maintenance dose of prednisone but I refuse because I know how bad it is for you. Predisone and I have a love/hate relationship.
Besides the MG and Graves, I have a great life with a wonderful husband of 7 years, a 14 year old son and a 4 year old daughter. I am happy to have found you guys as MG seems to be rare. I have never met anyone who has shared my pain.

Hi, Christel, I have Graves and MG too (I think I already mentioned this). I came down with Graves 15 years ago after the birth of one of my children too. I think I read that during and after childbirth, your immune system goes into high gear, to protect you from infections. So childbirth is a common trigger of Graves.

Graves is caused by your immune system attacking your thyroid gland, just as MG is caused by your immune system attacking your neuromuscular junctions. It may be that unbalanced female hormones (I assume you mean estrogen and progesterone) make the symptoms worse, but I don't see how they could cause your immune system to create antibodies against your thyroid gland. So please do follow up, and get blood tests, and everything. My neurologist says that thyroid trouble can make MG symptoms much worse--having Graves and MG at the same time requires special management of both.

I have been taking thyroid suppressants on and off for the past 15 years as needed, for flare-ups. I just want to say that I have a wonderful experience with these drugs. They never caused me any side effects, and they work well, and they have put me into remission for years at a time (so I could go off the drugs). My endocrinologist thinks that my current relapse may be my last. It seems to me that since I'm on Imuran to suppress my immune system to treat the MG, that that ought to help the Graves as well, but who knows.

Anyway, welcome again. It's nice to hear from people who understand what I'm dealing with here!

Abby

Abby,

I'm not saying that hormones are the cause of MG and graves, but in my case, the continual flare-ups have to have something to do my hormone levels. I have had cycle issues ever since I gave birth. Or lack of cycle is more specific I guess. If you are interested I am currently reading a book by Dr. John Lee on premenopause and have already ordered his book on menopause. The book discusses the need for balanced estrogen and progesterone, what can happen during estrogen dominance, and how the thymus, thyroid, and adrenals all work together and need the proper balance of hormones to support normal function. I think this book is great.

Christel