Sternum injury & MG?
 

Has anyone come across a connection between a severe sternum injury and subsequent MG? A couple years ago I was in a huge car accident, and amog other injuries, had a "comminuted fracture" (which means not a single break, but a fracture in the form of a crushed or crumbled area) of my sternum, right where the seatbelt crossed your upper chest. There were no real internal injuries, at least according to the CT scans.

But shortly after the accident, I noticed that at certain semi-reclined angles, and laying flat, my breathing was affected, and since then it has just gotten worse. Also, breathing when laughing or coughing was affected, still, if I laugh hard, I suddenly find I can't breathe at all--everything just sort of stops working, until I consciously stop the laughing, stop trying to breathe, just deliberately hold still for a bit until things recover and work again. My shortness of breath is now pretty much constant, almost anything I do gets me huffing and puffing. (like sitting upright, like standing up, like talking while standing...). Some days are worse than others. (Don't worry, if it ever goes from concerning to alarming, I will call 911. But it has been going on so long now, I know that I just sit back and consciously breathe deeper to get things back to right.

My eyes are so screwed up at this point, I really cannot search the internet anymore. I check email, and a few sites significant to me, like here, but after 5-10 minutes the headaches start, so I have to quit. So I'm hoping someone here may have run across this question, and can tell me some info?

In a few days I finally get to my appointment at Yale, so they can decide if it really is MG or whatever else it could be (local doctors are useless, my AChR was negative, and the EMG run by a local ws negative, therefore they say it is not MG, and will not pursue further testing. Nor will they pursue whatever the heck it is, if not MG. Have waited 7 weeks for this appointment, and it is 4 months since the day that, on top of all the breathing and other eye things, I woke up one day with one eyelid just dropping closed all on its own). But I can't say I have much faith in ANY doctors at this point, and I would like to know for myself if there could be any connection.

Has anyone got any info on whether a traumatic sternum fracture can affect the thymus or MG? As another factor, I make keloid scars, inside and out, like crazy. It's two and a half years since the accident, and I am still making more scar tissue in my shoulder where a collarbone fracture has led to scar-tissue caused thoracic outlet syndrome.

Has anyone checked you for any aortic issues? Have you had any nuclear cardiac scans? Some people can get tears in their aorta after accidents.

It's always a guessing game to figure out why someone gets MG. I think it might be more important to figure out exactly what is going on.

Again, if you can get an evaluation by a pulmonologist, I would highly recommend that - before your appt. at Yale.

Some of what you describe sounds like it could be urgent. Don't wait to get help if you get worse.

I hope you get answer soon.

Annie

I have a list of CT scans and MRI's and ultrasounds since the accident that is several pages long. really.

went to a pulmonologist last summer. Managed to do all their tests, tho it took many tries for one or two before I could do it "right". All the report to the doctor shows is your best run. So he did not see 6 or 8 failed runs, nor did he care when I told him. Since I CAN breathe right, there is no concern or reason to look into why I DON'T all the time. Also sent me for a sleep study to rule out apnea. The slowed/shallow breathing did show up, w/ corresponding decrease in O2 level, but not into the really bad zone, as I wake up when O2 goes down. I wake up a lot. And my sleep quality is crap. But since there's no apnea, there's nothing they want to treat. or investigate. or anything. Oh yeah, we saw that. Don' know what it is. Goodbye.

Have a cardiologist too, now. Neurologist. Physiatrist. Endocrinologist. Vascular. Back doctor. Knee doctor. Hand doctor. Regular doctor. Two ophthalmologists. And probably a few others I've forgotten here. The ophthalmologists are good. The rest just keep sending me in circles, not their problem, what does Dr. Somebodyelse say? Dr. Somebodyelse says what do YOU say?

This is NOT a good area to have anything unusual, let alone complicated, in. I have had to even give these docs the internet sites to tell them what tests they should run, at times. They can't search "vertebrobasilar insufficiency testing" for themselves. And now my eyes have totally crapped out on me. What I see right now as I type this is what it looks like if your eyes are full of tears and you're looking through water. And doubled. So this is my good time of day, later it will be worse. You get used to "reading between the lines" and interpreting the blurry little things you know are letters. I typed my way through college, so I don't have to look when I write, but I just cannot read anymore.

I figure Yale is my last shot here. If they won't try to figure this whole mess out, then it's time to just accept sitting on the couch homebound, watching my life and my family go on without me. Only I can't even see it, anymore.