Myasthenia Gravis Treatment Drugs
Medications that improve symptoms of myasthenia gravis work by allowing more acetylcholine to accumulate in the neuromuscular junction.
Myasthenia gravis treatment drugs. The first medicine used for myasthenia gravis is usually a tablet called pyridostigmine which helps electrical signals travel between the nerves and muscles. Their efficacy may not have been scientifically tested to the same degree as the drugs listed in the table above. You and your doctor should work together to determine the best treatment for you. The antibiotics most likely to worsen myasthenia are usually given in hospital by injection for very serious infections.
Drugs for malaria are also sometimes used to treat rtheumatic problems. How is myasthenia gravis mg treated. Use cautiously if no alternative treatment available. Alternative treatments for myasthenia gravis.
General none of these drugs is absolutely contra indicated in myasthenia. If diagnosed promptly some patients may be cured of mg by removal of the thymus gland or aggressive immunosuppressant therapy the effectiveness of treating mg depends on many factors such as the severity of the disease the duration of the disease the patient s age and the patient s overall health. As a long term treatment for mg thymectomy has been performed successfully and with low morbidity in children 59. Subclinical myasthenia gravis becomes manifest after drug treatment post operative respiratory depression myasthenia gravis becomes chronically present known myasthenia becomes more severe anti achr antibodies often present drugs with clear effects on myasthenia.
A standard treatment for mg but may cause transient worsening within the first two weeks. It can reduce muscle weakness but the effect only lasts a few hours so you ll need to take it several times a day. These include azathioprine imuran mycophenylate mofetil cellcept tacrolimus prograf methotrexate cyclosporine sandimmune neoral and cyclophosphamide cytoxan neosar. If one of these medications helps a person who has myasthenia its use can eliminate the need for prednisone or allow a lowering of its dose.
Your doctor may check your neurological health by testing. The one exceptional drug that must be avoided in myasthenias is the ketolide antibiotic telithromycin ketek which has caused deaths. Aminoglycoside antibiotics e g gentamycin neomycin tobramycin used for gram negative bacterial infections. There are many possible treatments for myasthenia gravis.
Monitor carefully for this possibility.