What is Myasthenia Gravis?

In Myasthenia gravis, the nerves supplying the muscles of the body get affected, thus making the muscles weak. Technically, our muscles need electric signal from our brain, which are sent via nerve ends, to work. When these electric signals reach the nerve ends, there is a release of a neuro-transmitter chemical called acetylcholine which leads to muscle contraction.

Then another chemical is released which breaks acetylcholine, leading to the muscle relaxation. In Myasthenia gravis, an autoimmune disorder occurs on its own accord, and starts attacking the body itself. When this happens, the body starts producing antibodies against these muscle receptors (acetylcholine) thus destroying them. This results in the weakening of muscle contractions.

Myasthenia Gravis Symptoms

In Myasthenia gravis, only the muscles under the voluntary control are affected, whereas those under the involuntary control (like heart or intestines) remain unharmed. Various muscles vary in the degree of weaknesses depending on the severity of the condition. In the initial stages, the muscles controlling the eyelids are affected first, causing the eyelids to droop.

This may give a tired appearance to the person. Since the muscles involving the eye movement are also hit, the person may have double-vision in sight. As the disease progresses, the facial muscles become weak giving a grimaced look to the persons face. When the jaw and gullet muscles get affected, eating and swallowing become very difficult for the person. At times, the condition may also lead to the inability in the person to speak, lift their arms, walk and even breathe.

It is usually a progressive disease, however in some cases, it might be an exception too. In such exceptional cases, the symptoms of the disease disappear as the years go by and do not return back until several years later on. It is usually seen that after rest and a night’s sleep the symptoms of weakened muscles are relieved. However, as the day progresses or any stressful job undertaken, there may be seen a visible deterioration in the muscle condition.

In women, severity of muscle weakness may be noticed at the time of their periods. Few other symptoms which may be seen in the patients suffering from Myasthenia gravis are asymmetrical ptosis (a drooping of one or both eyelids), diplopia (double vision), unstable or waddling gait, weakness in arms, hands, fingers, legs, and neck, a change in facial expression, dysphagia (difficulty in swallowing), shortness of breath and dysarthria (impaired speech, often nasal due to weakness of the pharyngeal muscles).

Who's Affected by Myasthenia Gravis?

Usually men are affected by this condition later in their lives, after the age of 50 years. I women, this condition may arise earlier, between their twenties and forties. It is also estimated, that one in every 10,000 people suffers from MG.

Myasthenia Gravis Diagnosis

Usually, neurologists test for the condition by injecting a drug which increases the level of neurotransmitters in the body, thus relieving the symptoms temporarily. If this happens the MG can be successfully diagnosed. Electrical muscle function tests, blood tests to look for the damaging antibodies, and CT scans of the chest may also be performed to confirm the disease.

Treatment Myasthenia Gravis

Myasthenia can be treated successfully by administering the patients with cholinesterase inhibitors or immunosuppressants. In other cases, surgical removal of the thymus gland, drugs to stop breakdown of the chemical neurotransmitters, steroids, and avoidance of extreme temperatures, stress, infections etc is advised.

In case of severe symptoms, a process called plasmaphiresis can be performed. In this process, the blood supply of the person is routed through a machine in order to remove the harmful antibody-containing plasma and replacing it with the antibody-free plasma.

This almost always proves to be a highly successful procedure thus resulting in the people suffering from the condition of Myasthenia gravis to lead completely normal or near-normal lives. The life-expectancy amongst people suffering from this disease, when given proper treatment, is almost normal.