MG Diagnosis
Hey all,
I wanted to share about my dad’s journey for anyone that may be searching for an answer on this community like I was. Around 7 weeks ago my dad suddenly couldn’t swallow and his speech was slurred. He went to lunch with friends and said his food was “falling out of his mouth”. The next day my mom and dad went to the ER, they live in a rural area, so the only Neurologists were on FaceTime. After MRI’s they saw a small spot in the brain stem. The radiologist noted this to be an artifact. They “saw” several neurologists over the course of a few days on FaceTime - 1 said stroke, 1 said he didn’t think stroke and 1 said hey suspected MG. He was discharged as a stroke patient. During that time his swallowing was still very poor and speech was good and bad and then good again. 2 weeks later he choked severely on medicine and ended up in the ER at another town with a larger hospital. They repeated an MRI and the in-person neurologist still wasn’t sure what the cause was. The choking incident created worse swallowing problems, even saliva couldn’t be swallowed. We noticed the right side of his lips weren’t functioning - this is the “broken smile”. He ended up receiving a feeding tube and hasn’t had any food or water by mouth since. After discharge he began speech therapy and saw an outpatient neurologist. He said he sees strokes every day and this wasn’t a stroke. He ordered the proper blood tests for MG and all levels were high. It’s been a long road, and we know the fear of ALS and other diseases. The biggest suggestion I would give if you’re facing this with family, or yourself, is to push for the blood test ASAP. I know there are cases where antibodies are not present but the waiting is really harmful to family. I wish you all well and hopefully my dad is on the way to find some relief.