A Myasthenia Gravis Diagnosis After the Age of 55

I learned little about myasthenia gravis (MG) when I went through nursing school, graduating in 1972. However, one of the main things I remember about myasthenia was that the onset for women was generally before the age of 35.

Now, I know this is a rare disease. Few people, including medical professionals, know much, if anything about MG. However, all these years later I still remember most of what I learned about the disease in class at that time ... which wasn’t much.

Although there were drugs proven to be successful in treating myasthenia back then, the disease was more often known to be fatal. I remember thinking, "I hope I never get this!" Though I didn’t dwell on this, I never forgot how "bad" the disease was.

The thought faded away

Over the years, I would rarely think about it. Once I reached the ripe old age of somewhere in the neighborhood of 35 to 40 years old, I considered myself "safe" from "getting it". That’s when the thought of it just kind of faded away from my mind.

I had a job as a nurse and all was well. The years moved on, I met and married my husband, we had our 4 children and reared them to adulthood. They started having families of their own and still no sign of myasthenia. Then in December 2006, my health took a turn. But still, MG was far from my mind.

Something was different

That December, I became very ill with a sinus infection. Though I didn’t have many of those, I had enough to know what it felt like. I don’t know when myasthenia reared its ugly head, but this infection was different.

This time I needed help breathing and was put on an inhaler. It helped me a lot, but still, my condition worsened. I thought it was all because of Tennessee weather and allergies (in winter, when most outdoor allergies are non-existent).

We had traveled from north of Denver, where we lived at the time, to Tennessee to spend Christmas with our children. I usually drove most of the way, or at least helped with the driving both ways, but this time, I slept most of the way home. It was an 18-hour, 1200-mile road trip!

Was it allergies?

After about 2 weeks of being ill and at home, I finally returned to the doctor and was treated with antibiotics again, this time for pneumonia. After another couple of weeks, I was finally over it.

I really didn’t have much of an issue again until we returned to Tennessee, moving back there in May 2007. I had a few episodes of breathing issues, but again, I thought it to be allergies – and it could have been.

I guess I’ll never know for sure, but I always had minor issues after that Christmas illness. And of course, my eyelids had been puffy that whole year. The puffiness had worsened, so if one or both were drooping, who would know? I sure didn’t!

A precursor of what was coming

Yes, I was experiencing new things and symptoms, but they were so subtle and so minor. I never gave a second thought to anything other than, "it must be Tennessee!"

I think the year 2007 was a precursor of what was to come the end of the next year. Little did I know I was in for a ride.