Homeopathy Treatment for Myasthenia Gravis
Myasthenia Gravis/MG
Myasthenia gravis is an autoimmune disease that causes muscle weakness. An autoimmune disease is the one where the immune system of the body goes against. Myasthenia gravis is caused by a mistaken immune response to the nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (AChR), which are found in junctions between muscles and the nervous system. The body produces antibodies that attack these AChR receptors, preventing signals from reaching the muscles.
Myasthenia gravis (MG) affects the neuromuscular junction, interrupting the communication between nerve and muscle, and thereby causing weakness.
A disease characterized by progressive fatigue and generalized weakness of the skeletal muscles, especially those of the face, neck, arms, and legs, caused by impaired transmission of nerve impulses following an autoimmune attack on acetylcholine receptors. Increased weakness with exertion, and improvement with rest, is a characteristic feature of MG.
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Causes of MG
Nerves communicate with the muscles by releasing chemicals, called neurotransmitters, which fit precisely into receptor sites on the muscle cells. In myasthenia gravis, the immune system produces antibodies that block or destroy many of the muscles’ receptor sites for a neurotransmitter called acetylcholine. With fewer receptor sites available, your muscles receive fewer nerve signals, resulting in weakness.
Triggering factors
Some factors can make myasthenia gravis worse, including:
- Fatigue
- Illness
- Stress
- Extreme heat
- Pregnancy
- Some medications — such as beta blockers, calcium channel blockers, quinine and some antibiotics.
Signs and symptoms of MG
Muscle weakness caused by myasthenia gravis worsens as the affected muscle is used repeatedly. Symptoms of muscle weakness come and go as the symptoms improve with rest. Myasthenia gravis can affect any of the muscles that can be controlled voluntarily. The muscles that control eye and eyelid movement, facial expression, and swallowing are most often affected. The onset of the disorder may be sudden.
Ocular/Eye muscles
In more than half the people who develop myasthenia gravis, their first signs and symptoms involve eye problems, such as:
- Drooping of one or both eyelids (ptosis)
- Double vision (diplopia), which may be horizontal or vertical
- Blurred vision, which may come and go
- Gaze-evoked nystagmus (rapid, involuntary, oscillatory motion of the eyeball) and
- Cogan’s lid twitches (upper lid twitch present when patient looks straight ahead after looking down for 10-15 seconds).
Face and throat muscles
In about 15 percent of people with myasthenia gravis, the first symptoms involve face and throat muscles, which can cause difficulties with:
- Speaking. Your speech may be very soft or sound nasal, depending upon which muscles have been affected.
- Swallowing. You may choke very easily, which makes it difficult to eat, drink or take pills. In some cases, liquids you’re trying to swallow may come out of your nose.
- Chewing. The muscles used for chewing may wear out halfway through a meal, particularly if you’ve been eating something hard to chew, such as steak.
- Facial expressions. Family members may note that you’ve “lost your smile” if the muscles that control your facial expressions are affected.
Arm and leg muscles
Myasthenia gravis can cause weakness in your arms and legs, but this usually happens in conjunction with muscle weakness in other parts of your body — such as your eyes, face or throat. The disorder usually affects arms more often than legs.
Complications
Myasthenic crisis is a medical emergency that develops when muscles that control breathing become severely weakened. This condition may lead to acute respiratory failure and patients often require a respirator to assist breathing during the crisis. Other complications that may develop include choking food aspiration, and pneumonia.
Diagnosis of MG
Myasthenia gravis is not diagnosed easily. Since weakness can happen in any other disease, mild myasthenia gravis is often not diagnosed. Doctors will generally ask for a blood report to find acetylcholine receptor antibodies.
Treatment of Myasthenia Gravis
Homeopathic treatment of MG is based on immune correction. With homeopathic medicines the faulty immune system can be made to work properly, not producing antibodies that are against the body. Proper prescription of homeopathic medicines makes the immune system work more efficiently.
Myasthenia Gravis is an autoimmune disorder, which means that there is a fault with the immune system, guided by genetic tendencies and other general factors. In other words, MG is a constitutional disorder, where the whole constitution needs to be addressed. MG is a progressively deteriorating condition, calling for some measures to arrest or control the disease process. Homeopathic treatment being constitutional in nature treats the disease at a deeper level, to achieve the following:
The homeopathic medicines are selected after a full individualizing examination and case-analysis, which includes the medical history of the patient, physical and mental constitution etc. The triggering factors and the maintaining cause of the disease is also taken into consideration. This is overlooked by the allopathic practitioners.
Homeopathic medicines help in slowing down the progress of the disease and the development of complications. The treatment can help in inducing d can also assist in improving the immunity so that the patient does not face frequent relapses.
Homeopathic medicines also improve mental and physical stress (triggering factors) and alter the hereditary predisposition to the disease.
Homeopathy can also help to prevent the need for surgery if the treatment is opted for at the right time.
How homeopathy helps in MG
- Homeopathic medicines help improving the power and tone of muscles.
- Homeopathic medicines control the progress of the disease
- Homeopathic treatment balances the nervous system so that it can receive messages clearly from the endocrine system (thymus and other glands).
- Homeopathic medicines correct the immune mechanism thus treating the problem at its root.
Those who are desperately searching for a cure for MG must consider Homeopathy on priority