Apart from drug induced identifiable triggers, the myasthenic weakness I have is now extremely mild
and restricted mainly to the arms which have previously had the longest and most severe myasthenic involvement.

A normal person would also say some days their arms are weaker than other days.

So if without any ongoing exercise routine, one day you can lift your arms 8 times and they
suddenly turn to concrete - and another day its 15 - and then the next week its 6 lifts.

Is this also a non-myasthenic normal variation?

(Worst was a couple of years ago where arms were pretty much dead even before lifting them at all.
Best was in the summer - 35 lifts with Mestinon where feeling of falling concrete disappeared completely)

Thanks in advance,


Anacrusis

Before I had MG, I could lift my arms a lot more than 15 times a day. I would say that what you have seems like myasthenic weakness that varies in intensity.

Thanks....15 is the most for me in the last few years (and just recent)

I donīt actually remember but I know I must surely have been able to do more before -
I did river raft the Grand Canyon
I suppose strength doesnīt fluctuate that much in normal people -
I just did not feel like discussing this with any over zealous healthy normals today

I never had problems lifting my arms before and it did not vary. I was very strong and always on the go, I could move and lift heavy boxes, did a lot around the house, moved tons of stuff. I could lift children and carry them around. It really never varied! This is MG stuff.

Hey Thanks Tracy9! That sentence did ring a bell!

I do now remember holding and rocking my 4 kilo baby for 3 solid hours one night when he had colic about 5 years ago.

Yet a few years later I would struggle to hold my own coffee cup up to my face.....And a milkshake? - Forget it!

The minute you accept one normal another normal eagerly comes and takes over....

Have a nice day


Anacrusis

Good point about carrying babies. When my 24 year old daughter was a baby, I carried her all the time. She was a fat baby too. 25 pounds at 9 months. She screamed if I ever put her down, so it was easier just to carry her on my left him and with my left arm while using my right hand to do stuff around the house. The spoiled little brat. When I was at work, she was perfectly content to play on the floor while my husband did all sorts of stuff.

Iīm sorry but I still think that is awfully sweet!!!!

Yes I also realize that if Iīd had to hold mine again on another occasion then the previous effort of muscles would have had minimal impact on the next effort using the same muscles......

I used to do storage auctions when I was younger. I'd load everything myself. I'd also sell things at the swap meet and had no problem loading and unloading things and setting up and tearing down. While I was in college, I worked for a temp agency from time to time and one of the jobs was to pull logs into a pile, and the man that put me to work was shocked that I could such heavy work. Now I can't even lift a box without paying the price. It seems like many of us were, once upon a time, very active - physically.

Yes, I have a very large house and I was always organizing and moving around large heavy boxes of Christmas decorations, totes full of clothes, Halloween decorations, all kinds of stuff. Now I can't lift a gallon of milk or a bottle of laundry detergent. I also can't tell how heavy things are without asking someone else because my strength varies so much day to day. And by varies I mean really lame to just somewhat lame!

My post is about arms that feel almost back to normal.

When a few years ago I searched, I never came across examples from real people and thought I was going nuts.
So I just thought I would add my list of worst myasthenic moments involving the arms from previous years.
If these examples helped just one single person even in a small way it would be worth writing the list.
I now know others have similar and some have even worse. These are not categorized in any muscle group order.

Unable to/unable to continue to:

1. Open jars
2. Wash hair without arms resting
3. Hold childīs hand
4. Finish sharpening a pencil
5. Turn a key
6. Type more than one sentence
7. Put on stretchy sock
8. Finish strumming short song on guitar
9. Finish a round of applause
10. Grasp and hold out bed sheets
11. Open a packet of chips etc
12. Turn more than 3 pages of a newspaper
13. Hold up an umbrella in the rain
14. Hold a telephone to my ear
15. Finish writing a sentence
16. Use a screw driver
17. Squeeze toothpaste
18. Shake someoneīs hand with normal grip
19. Thread a needle
20. Pull small weeds
21. Wrap presents
22. Pour coffee from a thermos for guests
23. Lift weight of own arms
24. Carry objects without dropping them
25. Pass things across the table
26. Hold the steering wheel of the car for long
27. Stir the cake mix
28. Empty dishwasher
29. Cut or peel vegetables
30. Hold a door open for person coming behind
31. Brush teeth without loosing strength & speed
32. Put on make up without elbows pressed into stomach
33. Squeeze water out of a cloth


I guess that covers a fatigable arm somewhat

Anacrusis