Been to see Opthalmologist and Optometrist today as been having intermittent double vision, drooping eyelid and nystagmus. Assumed it must be MS related but consultant concerned that symptoms fit with Myasthenia Gravis so sent me for further bloods and referred me back to Neurologist asking him to check for MG. What are the flipping chances of a SECOND condition of auto-immune origin - or does my body just hate itself so badly that it wants to attack itself?!? I am really not sure what to think - I know that having one long term health condition does not exclude me from getting another, did google both conditions together and then came up with a few hits where MS and MG were associated. Am probably just thinking too much but has anyone else heard of MG in MS patients???
sorry for duplicate post - laptop playing up
Hi Helen,
Sorry, I don’t know much (anything really) about MG, but I do know that sadly, people with one auto-immune condition are slightly more likely to have others. If life was fair, you’d think having one got you lifetime exemption from the rest, but it doesn’t work that way.
It’s likely there’s some as-yet undiscovered mechanism that underpins them all. I’m not saying they’re all variations of the same illness - that would be going too far - but at a very fundamental level, there may be common factors that mean the same people are at risk.
The prevalence of other auto-immune diseases in families where someobody already has one is also higher than chance alone would predict. Suggesting that relatives share more of the mysterious “disposing factors” - even though most of these diseases are not considered hereditary.
Tina.
x