Autoimmune Disorder: Myasthenia Gravis

Introduction

Myasthenia Gravis is a chronic autoimmune disorder that weakens the muscles. The name MG comes from the Latin words meaning grave muscle weakness. In 1672, Thomas Willis was the first to describe a patient with myasthenia gravis. There were periodic case descriptions over the years in 1900 regarding this disease. The disease remained a mystery, until 1960 when Simpson suggested that myasthenia gravis was caused by antibodies against the acetylcholine (ACh) receptor. Patrick and Lindstorm both proved that myasthenia gravis is autoimmune in origin by testing rabbits that were immunized with Torpedo ACh receptors became myasthenic. Today, myasthenia gravis is one the most thoroughly understood neurological disorders. This has lead to an overall understanding of the disease such as the cause associated, risk factors, complications, incidences, organ systems affected, signs and symptoms, diagnosis, and treatments, which enormously improve the length and quality of life for these individuals.

Homeostatic Imbalance

This chronic autoimmune disease is characterized by varying degrees of weakness of the skeletal muscles. The weakness increases during periods of activity and improves after rest. Normally the muscles that control the eye and eyelid movement, facial expressions, chewing, talking, and, swallowing are affected first.

Causes

Myasthenia gravis is a disorder of neuromuscular transmission. In order to understand what causes myasthenia gravis, we must first describe what creates normal neuromuscular transmission. Neuromuscular transmission is where the nerve cells connect with the muscles. In a healthy individual there is an impulse from the nerve to the nerve endings releasing a neurotransmitter, ACh. This neurotran...

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..., exposure to any kind of infection such as colds and influenza should be avoided.

Cure

There is no cure for myasthenia gravis, but treatment can help relieve signs and symptoms. There are many studies being conducted with myasthenia patients with different drugs, either alone or in combination with existing drug therapies, to see if they are effective. Other studies include the long-term benefit of thymectomy over medical therapy alone for patients that do not have tumors.

Prognosis

The patients’ symptoms and signs usually stabilize or improve after three years. The prognosis of myasthenia gravis has improved drastically with the introduction of treatments with the majority of patients becoming symptom free if they are adequately treated. However, most patients do have to remain on tablets for life as the symptoms generally return if they stop the medication