Despite mounting evidence that I have progressively-worsening MG with Class III weakness, I still don't have a diagnosis, let alone a treatment. I can't do much activity, so I read whenever my ocular symptoms allow. I have been refused a diagnostic dose of pyridostigmine to see whether it reduces my muscle weakness. Prednisolone really helps, but I'm not allowed it any more, because four courses didn't cure my "mystery" illness!
I came across the articles linked below, among others, about a food supplement called huperzine A. Proper scientific studies have found that it is a strong AChE-inhibitor (like pyridostigmine) and is safe at single doses up to about 1mg. So I bought some capsules from Amazon and have been experimenting with them for the last month or so.
Guess what? Within about 40 minutes of taking 0.9mg, not only can I raise my arms over my head, I can do it with 2L bottles of water in each hand! The benefit lasts between 3 and 4 hours before fading. Smaller doses provide proportionately-smaller benefits.
sciencedirect.com/topics/me...
pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articl...
As I've posted previously, in addition to corticosteroids, I have identified several compounds that allow my upper arms to rise above the horizontal for a spell. They are:
A single 900mg dose of aspirin;
A single 400mg dose of caffeine;
A single 1mg dose of inhaled salbutamol (10 puffs in 5 minutes);
A single 0.9mg dose of huperzine A extract.
I am not suggesting anyone uses these as a treatment. I've been forced to experiment because my doctors are content to right-off my quality of life. I will be presenting all the evidence to a fresh neurologist next week.
Ophthalmologist laughed and shrugged his shoulders
misdiagnosis 🤷♀️