Myasthenia gravis, mestinon, red face / facial flushing
 

Hi All,

Just thought I'd document another odd side effect in myasthenia gravis.

I'm a medical practitioner and I've had MG for 17 years. Early on it was severe with a thymoma and thymectomy. The last 10 years or so my only real complaint is some facial weakness - otherwise I'm doing very well.

I've been on azathioprine for 14 years, and on Mestinon (pyridostigmine) since the start.

I believe Mestinon causes some facial flushing or redness. This makes sense, since as a side effect Mestinon acts on blood vessels and dilates (some of) them.

My current dose of Mestinon is 60mg three times a day. People often tell me I look "red in the face" or "flushed" or "you've been in the sun".

In the early days I was on larger doses of mestinon, up to 15 x 60mg per day. I found that the higher doses of Mestinon, combined with ALCOHOL, caused EXTREME facial redness/flushing.

The Mestinon/alcohol interaction thankfully isn't really a problem on the lower doses. Cheers!

Mestinon & facial flushing
 

I get this side effect from Mestinon, the facial flushing. Usually it is associated with emotion, any strong emotion, sometimes my eyes tear up as well, which is quite embarrassing since I don't feel like I am crying when this happens. On the lower dose of Mestinon I have been taking recently this thankfully doesn't happen very often.

Happy to hear that your severe MG has gone away. I feel like celebrating! This gives me hope! I could live with only facial weakness.

I do have times when my MG almost goes away, but all it takes is one bad move on my part (stress, chemical exposure, eating processed food, etc - usually it is stress) and the MG returns in full force.

Now if only I could find a way to live a perfect life...I do think my MG would become almost unnoticed...this is my goal...

I wish more people would share their stories of MG going away, or getting less severe so they can live a normal life.

I am frequently asked if 'I'm ok' because my face will flush bright red - even tho I feel fine. My husband was beginning to think it was a circulation (heart) issue. But your observation makes so much more sense to me. Thanks!