Dr. Mirken???
 

Has anyone heard of him? I was looking for something else and came across this webpage - at first I thought he must be another quack/snake oil seller but his CV is posted and he seemed well credentialed.

Follow link to his claim in 2005 that doctors no longer believe MG is a auto immune illness that is in an infection. what? Am I missing something here?

http://www.drmirkin.com/morehealth/G143.htm

http://www.drmirkin.com/morehealth/G143.htm

"...he died from myasthenia gravis, a potentially curable disease.."
Oh, it's even curable? (Yes, a remission is possible, but a cure?)

"...shows at last that some cases of myasthenia are caused by hepatitis C, a disease that can be cured with interferon, histamines and ribaviron..."
If at least some cases are caused by an infection, what does that even mean? What is "some". Is it enough to be a coincidence? Or is it obvious that there must be a direct link? And what about those without Hepatitis C?
Hepatitis C isn't that rare.

All those banners and anyoing stuff on the site makes me think it's not really a very good site.

I just think (but I'm no doc or scientist - yet), it's very possible that:
A) if you have an infection, especially one that will stay in your body for a while, because you don't notice it immediatly (what can happen with H C) or because the symptoms aren't that bad and docs tell you not to worry (like tonsillitis), your immunsystem gets weird. It has to work overtime, and that can't be good...add some good auto immune genes and BHAM! You have MG or SLE or something nice and friendly like that.
B) if you use MG (or any other AI) patients, it's likely they have a higher rate of infections compared to a healthy group. They visit hospitals more often, they use immuunsuppressants, prednisone and even tranfusions which all gives them extra chances to have infections.

Dr. Mirken says "doctors used to think that myasthenia gravis was an autoimmune disease." His sole reference for his implication that doctors no longer think that is this article:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9952242

It is a report of one patient who developed MG after contracting hepatitis C.

In other words, the article suggests that infections can trigger autoimmune diseases (which we already knew). It doesn't suggest that autoimmune diseases are really nothing but infections.

There's no excuse for this sort of carelessness. I'm appalled.

Abby

Thanks. I googled/binged him and seems his main claim to fame is that he publicly rendered a health opinion (he has 6 weeks to live!) based on a picture in the national enquirer of a man from behind which was alleged to be Steve Jobs. After seeing that, and above insight I think I will not read/consider anything he says as having any legitimate basis in fact or rationale thought.

The link to the ncib article further reinforces my belief that having guillain barre syndrome in 1984 IS related to MG but neuro's say no other than perhaps to extent having guillain barre syndrome may be indicator I am predisposed to auto immune diosorders? Which then makes me wonder why if that is so, once someone has a serious auto immune disorder like that (quadriplegic for months) they wouldnt be told that?

Steph, I have no doubt that there are causes for MG but these claims are simply BS.

Like Abby, I'm appalled too.

Hep C is bad enough to have on its own.

I do like how you keep thinking, though. ;) Bringing up anything, no matter how it might turn out, shows you to be a very creative mind and good problem solver. Who knows what connections might be made by digging around.

Annie