Myasthenia Gravis (Print Version)

Myasthenia gravis interferes with messages your nerves send to your muscles. Myasthenia gravis often affects muscles in your head. Common symptoms are trouble with eye and eyelid movement, facial expression and swallowing. If you have myasthenia gravis, it is important to follow your treatment plan. If you do, you can expect your life to be normal or close to it.

Myasthenia gravis is caused by a problem in the transmission of nerve signals to your muscles. Normally, nerve endings release a substance that attaches to receptors on your muscles. That tells your muscles to contract. If you have myasthenia gravis, your body's own immune system makes antibodies to block that signal.

Medicine can help improve nerve-to-muscle messages and make muscles stronger. Other medicines can keep your body from making so many abnormal antibodies. Sometimes surgery to take out the thymus gland helps.

Start Here

Myasthenia Gravis(National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke) - http://www.ninds.nih.gov/disorders/myasthenia_gravis/detail_myasthenia_gravis.htm
Also available in Spanish http://espanol.ninds.nih.gov/trastornos/las_miastenia_gravis.htm
Myasthenia Gravis(Patient Education Institute) - Requires Flash Player - http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/tutorials/myastheniagravis/htm/index.htm
Also available in Spanish http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/spanish/tutorials/myastheniagravisspanish/htm/index.htm

Overviews

JAMA Patient Page: Myasthenia Gravis(American Medical Association) - http://jama.ama-assn.org/cgi/reprint/293/15/1940.pdf
Also available in Spanish http://jama.ama-assn.org/cgi/data/293/15/1940/DC1/1
Myasthenia Gravis(National Women's Health Information Center) - http://womenshealth.gov/faq/mgravis.htm
Myasthenia Gravis(Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research) - http://www.mayoclinic.com/print/myasthenia-gravis/DS00375/DSECTION=all&METHOD=print
Myasthenia Gravis(National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke) - Short Summary - http://www.ninds.nih.gov/disorders/myasthenia_gravis/myasthenia_gravis.htm

Diagnosis/Symptoms

Electromyography and Nerve Conduction Velocities(Muscular Dystrophy Association) - http://www.mda.org/publications/Quest/q75ss.html
Myasthenia Gravis: Tests and Diagnostic Methods(Myasthenia Gravis Foundation of America) - http://www.myasthenia.org/amg_testsdiagnostics.cfm

Treatment

Thymectomy: Common Questions Patients Ask about Thymectomies(Myasthenia Gravis Foundation of America) - Links to PDF - http://www.myasthenia.org/docs/MGFA_Brochure_Thymectomy.pdf
Treatments for Myasthenia Gravis (MG)(Myasthenia Gravis Foundation of America) - http://www.myasthenia.org/amg_treatments.cfm

Nutrition

Nutrition and Myasthenia Gravis(Myasthenia Gravis Foundation of America) - Links to PDF - http://www.myasthenia.org/docs/MGFA_Brochure_Nutrition.pdf

Coping

Coping with Autoimmunity(American Autoimmune Related Diseases Association) - http://www.aarda.org/coping.php

Disease Management

Emergency Management of Myasthenia Gravis(Myasthenia Gravis Foundation of America) - Links to PDF - http://www.myasthenia.org/docs/MGFA_Brochure_EmergencyMgmt.pdf
Also available in Spanish http://www.myasthenia.org/docs/MGFA_Spanish_EmergencyMgmt.pdf
Managing Myasthenia(Muscular Dystrophy Association) - http://www.mda.org/publications/Quest/q103managing.html

Specific Conditions

Ocular Myasthenia Gravis(Myasthenia Gravis Foundation of America) - Links to PDF - http://www.myasthenia.org/docs/MGFA_Brochure_Ocular.pdf

Related Issues

Congenital Myasthenia(National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke) - Short Summary - http://www.ninds.nih.gov/disorders/congenital_myasthenia/congenital_myasthenia.htm
Employees with Myasthenia Gravis(Office of Disability Employment Policy) - http://www.jan.wvu.edu/media/MG.html
Home Injury Prevention(Myasthenia Gravis Foundation of America) - Links to PDF - http://www.myasthenia.org/docs/MGFA_Brochure_HomeInjury.pdf
Also available in Spanish http://www.myasthenia.org/docs/MGFA_Spanish_HomeInjury.pdf
Myasthenia Gravis Medication Information Card (Drugs to be Avoided or Used with Caution in Myasthenia Gravis)(Myasthenia Gravis Foundation of America) - Links to PDF - http://www.myasthenia.org/docs/MGFA_MedicalInfoCard.pdf

Tutorials

Myasthenia Gravis(Patient Education Institute) - Requires Flash Player - http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/tutorials/myastheniagravis/htm/index.htm
Also available in Spanish http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/spanish/tutorials/myastheniagravisspanish/htm/index.htm

Clinical Trials

ClinicalTrials.gov: Myasthenia Gravis(National Institutes of Health) - http://clinicaltrials.gov/search/open/condition=%22Myasthenia+Gravis%22

Journal Articles

References and abstracts from MEDLINE/PubMed (National Library of Medicine)

Article: Postthymectomy myasthenia gravis: relationship with thymoma and antiacetylcholine receptor antibody. - http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=AbstractPlus&list_uids=18721587&tool=MedlinePlus
Article: ABCB1 polymorphisms may have a minor effect on ciclosporin blood... - http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=AbstractPlus&list_uids=18717915&tool=MedlinePlus
Article: Disease-specific measure of quality of life for myasthenia gravis. - http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=AbstractPlus&list_uids=18697209&tool=MedlinePlus
Myasthenia Gravis -- see more articles - http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?cmd=search&db=pubmed&term=myasthenia+gravis[majr]+AND+humans[mh]+AND+english[la]+NOT+(letter[pt]+OR+editorial[pt])&doptcmdl=summary&cmd_current=Limits&pmfilter_EDatLimit=last+1+Year&tool=MedlinePlus

Medical Encyclopedia

Myasthenia Gravis - http://vsearch.nlm.nih.gov/vivisimo/cgi-bin/query-meta?v:project=medlineplus&binning-state=group%3d%3dMedical%20Encyclopedia&query=Myasthenia+Gravis

Directories

MGFA Chapters(Myasthenia Gravis Foundation of America) - http://www.myasthenia.org/mgfa_chapters.cfm

Organizations

American Autoimmune Related Diseases Association - http://www.aarda.org/
Muscular Dystrophy Association - http://www.mda.org/
Also available in Spanish http://www.mdaenespanol.org/
Myasthenia Gravis Foundation of America - http://www.myasthenia.org/
National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke - http://www.ninds.nih.gov/
Also available in Spanish http://espanol.ninds.nih.gov/

Children

Myasthenia Gravis(Children's Hospital Boston) - http://www.childrenshospital.org/az/Site1323/mainpageS1323P0.html

You may also be interested in these MedlinePlus related pages:

Muscle Disorders - http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/muscledisorders.html
Brain and Nerves - http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/brainandnerves.html

The primary NIH organization for research on Myasthenia Gravis is the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke - http://www.ninds.nih.gov/