Myasthenia gravis and pregnancy
in Women's Health ·
Dear Eleanor, and all my fellow pregnant ladies dealing with myasthenia
Checking in for the first time, currently 37 weeks along. I’m glad someone finally decided to dive into this topic with some actual detail. At the start of my pregnancy, I scoured every forum out there looking for advice, but came up empty. I won't waste your time..
I've been battling myasthenia for 6 years now (I'm 29). Had a thymectomy 3 years ago, followed by a regimen of Mestinon, Decortin, and Imuran. We stopped the Imuran a year ago, and at the beginning of this pregnancy (November 2010), we cut out the Decortin too.
Early on, my symptoms flared up slightly, but things stabilized around the start of my fourth month—right when the morning sickness finally quit. Unfortunately, that luck didn't last. By the second trimester, things took a turn for the worse. I couldn't even walk; my husband had to help me shower and get dressed. My doctor put me back on 20 mg of Decortin for a month. After that, I spent weeks in total limbo—two good days followed by five bad ones. I refused to take the Decortin again because I don't want to risk the baby. Two weeks ago, as soon as this unbearable heatwave hit, my myasthenia became absolutely unmanageable. We restarted the 20mg Decortin. On Monday, they admitted me to the pathology ward at Petrov Hospital. They let me go home yesterday, but I'll be back in a week and staying put until the delivery.
This pregnancy hasn't exactly gone according to plan. Most medical literature says myasthenia usually improves during pregnancy, and my doctor told me the same thing. Clearly, I'm one of those rare cases where everything goes downhill instead. I won't complain too much, though. The only thing that matters is that my baby is healthy.🙂
Checking in for the first time, currently 37 weeks along. I’m glad someone finally decided to dive into this topic with some actual detail. At the start of my pregnancy, I scoured every forum out there looking for advice, but came up empty. I won't waste your time..
I've been battling myasthenia for 6 years now (I'm 29). Had a thymectomy 3 years ago, followed by a regimen of Mestinon, Decortin, and Imuran. We stopped the Imuran a year ago, and at the beginning of this pregnancy (November 2010), we cut out the Decortin too.
Early on, my symptoms flared up slightly, but things stabilized around the start of my fourth month—right when the morning sickness finally quit. Unfortunately, that luck didn't last. By the second trimester, things took a turn for the worse. I couldn't even walk; my husband had to help me shower and get dressed. My doctor put me back on 20 mg of Decortin for a month. After that, I spent weeks in total limbo—two good days followed by five bad ones. I refused to take the Decortin again because I don't want to risk the baby. Two weeks ago, as soon as this unbearable heatwave hit, my myasthenia became absolutely unmanageable. We restarted the 20mg Decortin. On Monday, they admitted me to the pathology ward at Petrov Hospital. They let me go home yesterday, but I'll be back in a week and staying put until the delivery.
This pregnancy hasn't exactly gone according to plan. Most medical literature says myasthenia usually improves during pregnancy, and my doctor told me the same thing. Clearly, I'm one of those rare cases where everything goes downhill instead. I won't complain too much, though. The only thing that matters is that my baby is healthy.🙂