Myasthenia Gravis - Symptoms affecting the mysthenic patient

Wow. So I was reading up on Cervical Disc Disease and somehow came across some information about a disease called Myasthenia Gravis, which, the more I read about, started to freak me out a bit, because so many symptoms sounded familiar!

Symptoms such as:

Muscle Weakness

Burning muscles

Trouble swallowing

Trouble with breathing

Trouble keeping arms over head

Walking funny

Losing one's balance or having one's limbs give out

Trouble Speaking

All of which I have. What really got me, was the description of the upper back pain when the back gets tired of supporting the neck, which is my main problem, a bizarre sort of burning pain that gets especially worse when I exert myself doing things such as dishes, folding laundry (KILLS me) or sitting at a desk using a computer (this has actually gotten worse, I'm lying in bed w/a laptop on an adjustable-arm laptop desk and it still hurts!). This "pain" has always confused me, because it's more of a burning sensation, and is also accompanied by shortness of breath (I had finally just decided to chalk it up to the pain? But the pain's not that bad as pain goes, I just get an overwhelming need to lie down to stop it.) I lie down, and if it hasn't gotten too bad, I'm okay after 15- 20 minutes or so, if it has, I sometimes require a heating pad to calm it down (which is not going well w/my spine issues lately, which totally sucks, because my back is begging for it, but it makes my spine feel like it's swelling up in an angry sort of way--newer development) and a longer period of rest. I've also had experiences where my thighs muscles burn in a similar fashion when attempting to dance, and if I don't pay attention (cuz sometimes a girl just wants to dance, dammit!) my legs will just give out.

The arm thing, has definitely been an issue for awhile. I've finally started trying to blow dry my hair again after a long hiatus because of this, but I only do it cuz it's cold, and sitting down, usually bent over with my head upside down. Forget trying to use a brush to style while drying though!

Now, especially lately, I have felt like I was walking weird, kinda like stomping around or waddling a bit. I figured this was due to my discomfort of being in public alone/social anxiety, whatever...that I was being paranoid, but I'm aside from being sure people are staring at me (which many times they are) I'm not usually paranoid.

The losing one's balance thing has become an issue the last couple of years, especially since my move. Aside from my hobby of walking into doorways and corners of walls that move into my way, I randomly (and increasingly) find myself suddenly standing on one leg trying hard to stay on it with the other flailing about as if it suddenly forgot what it was supposed to be doing, and it takes a bit to convince it, usually with some arm flailing as well, which way is down and plant it back on the floor. The other day I had it happen while standing in a doorway, hand on the doorframe, talking to my Mom & cousin, suddenly I found myself falling sort of sideways, and had to grab onto the doorframe with both hands and ended up with my back on the front of the doorframe kind of hugging it, as if someone had turned me from 9 o'clock to 6 o'clock, and feeling kind of sheepish, hoping my cousin didn't notice and trying to reposition myself to a more normal stance as quickly as possible. It's so bizarre when I really think about it, because it kind of seems like vertigo, but I don't feel like the world is turning, it's more like my body has just lost touch with it's sense of equilibrium. I 'm conscious of very firmly willing my balance to return, forcefully, I suppose, as one is wont to do when struggling against gravity I suppose. Man, I wonder what I look like, because I feel like a freak when this happens. I much prefer walking into doorframes and corners. As long as the don't provoke a loss of balance, which they sometimes do.

Now the swallowing stuff, well, I seem to have a higher than normal tendency to choke on water at times, and this weird thing where I seem to have to hold water in my mouth before swallowing it, as if I have to coordinate my muscles, get them ready or something. Sometimes I forget and just hold the water in my mouth until I realize it! (Not for long periods of time at all, but one time I somehow managed to smack myself in the face and accidentally forced the water out of my cheeks. I've started trying to pay more attention to this, because that's when I realized if I did this around people I'd probably look like a huge idiot, cheeks all puffed-up with water!) Seriously. This stuff isn't normal, right?

The speaking hasn't been as bad lately, at least not in English, though I do occasionally spout some gibberish, but I'm having a helluva lot trouble with Spanish, to the point where it's become really annoying to me. At a point where my Spanish vocabulary has expanded tenfold, and I should be finding it easier than ever to converse in it, I seem to be finding it more difficult to make the correct sounds, rather than easier. I find it especially hard to combine languages, simple things like rolling my R's in Spanish names and making sounds distinct to Spanish pronunciation have become noticeably difficult, I've even commented to my Mom that my tongue isn't moving right & seems to get all tangled up. I know how it's supposed to sound, but I can't get it to come out right, even after several tries. Not to mention that I had a friend actually laugh at my Spanish, and when I heard myself pronouncing the words it did sound pretty mashed up and I couldn't understand why because I'd sounded just fine a few months back...years back even.

The other biggies that I didn't list above, are eye muscle problems (which are a key symptom of the disease, but not always) which I don't think I have, and problems with the Thymus gland...which I have been wanting to get tested, because an alternative healer, who also told me my cat was sick before she was, and that my endometriosis was back (this woman had never met me before, and I gave her no details of any medical problems, we barely spoke before she treated me) also told me she sensed something was up with my Thymus gland... Oh, and this can also (though rarely they claim) cause Dysautonomia) and be brought on by a viral infection.

So here's the link:

Myasthenia Gravis - Symptoms affecting the mysthenic patient

I have to add though, that although the thought of having something more treatable than just CFS is wonderful, I'm a little freaked out. (The idea of having to take steroids or immune suppressants is not something I want to contemplate.) I will have to dig up those lab results again and see if they tested for those particular autoimmunities, and will definitely mention this to my Neuro when I see her again.

Wish me luck...although I'm not sure what that would be in this case!