Myasthenia Gravis - My mother in law has been diagnosed with this. Can anyone shed any light please?

Question

Does anyone have more info on this? Pref. layman terms so I can discuss it and explain it to my parents-in-law?
Thanks

Answer 1

Myasthenia gravis (MG) is the most common primary disorder of neuromuscular transmission. The usual cause is an acquired immunological abnormality, but some cases result from genetic abnormalities at the neuromuscular junction. Much has been learned about the pathophysiology and immunopathology of myasthenia gravis during the past 20 years. What was once a relatively obscure condition of interest primarily to neurologists is now the best characterized and understood autoimmune disease. A wide range of potentially effective treatments are available, many of which have implications for the treatment of other autoimmune disorders.

http://www.myasthenia.org/information/summary.htm

Answer 2

Myasthenia gravis is a condition in which your body makes antibodies against a receptor that's necessary for your muscles to contract.
A little bit of background: Every time you move, an electrical signal travels down a nerve to the proper muscle, and at the point where the nerve touches (actually, it doesn't quite touch, but that's not important right now) the muscle, a small quantity of a chemical is released and binds to receptors on the muscle, starting a reaction inside the cell that leads to the muscle contracting.
In myasthenia, this normal signalling is disrupted by antibodies that bind to the receptor and block this messenger chemical from binding, thus preventing the muscle from "finding out" that it's supposed to contract.
The practical upshot of this is that people feel very weak, and it usually gets worse as the day goes on. There are treatments for this, most of them involve trying to get as much of the signalling chemical to the receptors as possible, and they can be very effective, but they are usually not 100% - people feel much better with them, but they usually don't get back to feeling as well as they did before they had any sign of the disease.
Talk to a neurologist about this, they are usually the specialists who treat this disease.

Answer 3

My father-in-law was recently diagnosed with this disorder after he could not speak or swallow for several days.

The Myasthenia.org website has a succint summary: Myasthenia gravis: Most often, an acquired disorder that results in fatigable muscle weakness, made worse by activity and improved with rest. It results from an autoimmune attack against the nerve-muscle junction. Other forms of the illness are caused by architectural changes of the nerve-muscle junction.

Another website lays it out in layman's terms (http://rarediseases.about.com/cs/myastheniagravis/a/071901.htm):

What is it?
Myasthenia gravis is an autoimmune neuromuscular disorder. Usually, the body's immune system makes antibodies to attack germs that invade the body. "Autoimmune" means that a person's immune system malfunctions and it creates antibodies that attack the person's own cells. In myasthenia gravis, the antibodies interfere with the transmission of nerve signals to the muscles. In other words, the muscles don't receive the signal from the nerves to move. [This explains why my father in law's throat and tongue muscles made it impossible to swallow and speak until he had sufficient rest and time for the muscles to operate somewhat normally again.]
Who gets it?
Myasthenia gravis is not inherited, and it is not contagious. It is not clear why someone would develop the disorder, although some researchers believe it could be from a genetic problem. In the United States, about 14 out of every 100,000 people develop myasthenia gravis, although researchers believe the numbers are probably higher since the disorder is often not diagnosed correctly.

For women, the disorder usually starts in their 20s and 30s; for men, usually after age 50.
What are the symptoms?
Often a person will go to his doctor complaining of specific muscle weakness and not overall tiredness or fatigue. The muscles most commonly affected are:

drooping eyelids (first symptom in 2/3 of all patients)
mouth weakness, leading to trouble chewing, swallowing, or talking (first symptom in 1/6 of patients)
arm or leg weakness (less common as a first symptom)
One clue is that the weakness varies throughout the day, generally being mild when the person wakes up but getting worse as the day goes on, especially if the person is using the affected muscles a lot. This weakness is different than, for example, the tiredness someone might feel in his legs after standing or working all day. "Weakness" means not being able to move, or only barely being able to move, a particular muscle.
Other factors that make the muscle weakness worse are being emotionally upset, being sick (especially viral respiratory infections), thyroid problems, increased body temperature, the menstrual cycle, and pregnancy.

How is it diagnosed?
If a person has symptoms that suggest he might have myasthenia gravis, there are tests that can be done to confirm it. The most specific test is to check the blood for the presence of the abnormal antibodies of the disorder. Another reliable test is the edrophonium chloride (Tensilon) test. This chemical is injected into a vein, and if muscle strength improves after it is given, it is strong support for the diagnosis. However, sometimes these tests are negative or not clear in someone who seems as if he has myasthenia gravis.

What is the treatment?
Common treatments for myasthenia gravis include:

medications such as Mestinon (pyridostigmine bromide) and Prostigmin (neostigmine bromide)
corticosteroid medications such as prednisone
medications that suppress the immune system, such as Imuran (azathioprine) and cyclosporine
removal of the thymus gland (thymectomy), the main gland in the immune system
plasma exchange (plasmapheresis), in which the person's blood plasma containing the abnormal antibodies is removed and fresh plasma is put back
What's the long-term picture?
People with myasthenia gravis can in most cases lead full lives. Sometimes the muscle weakness resolves to the point of not being a problem (spontaneous remission). For some people, the weakness is only in the eyelids. For others, the weakness progresses to a point and stays at that level. Rarely, and usually in the first two years of the disorder, the weakness might extend to the muscles that control breathing, and the person will have to be hospitalized. There is no cure for myasthenia gravis, but the treatments are usually effective in minimizing its problems.

Researchers looking at a cure for the disorder are focusing on correct the problem in the immune system that creates the abnormal antibodies. Researchers are also examining the whole chain of events in the body that occurs with the release of the antibodies, to see if they can interrupt the process along the way and stop antibodies from causing problems.

Information for this article [the article on the wensite] was taken from:
- Howard, J. F. (1997). Myasthenia gravis - A summary. Myasthenia Gravis Foundation of America.
- MDA Publications. Facts About Myasthenia Gravis.
- Myasthenia Gravis Foundation of America, Inc. Facts About Autoimmune Myasthenia Gravis for Patients & Families. (Requires Adobe Acrobat reader.)

Answer 4

www.healthline.com

Basically it is a neurological disorder which causes muscle weakness. No cure. Not terminal. Can be helped by planning any activities so that rest periods can be scheduled.

Get her to take Yakult twice a day. No joke.

Answer 5

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myasthenia_gravis

take five minutes to read over this page it is set out as simply as possible and has links to other sites (although these are bit more medically structured) and should tell you all you need to know about this from how develops diagnosis treatment and prognosis