My Life with Myasthenia Gravis by Brittany Duncan

Halloween ~ Age 2 (face drooped constantly)

When I was four months old my eye began to droop and at first my eye Dr. thought it was just a lazy eye. Then when I was about a year old it began to get worse. I traveled to Children's Hospital in Little Rock and Dr. Michael Brodsky diagnosed me with having MG and a 3rd Nerve Palsy in my left eye. My head was beginning to make drastic turns side ways in order to compensate for my loss of eyesight in the left eye. Also I began showing signs of weakness in other areas. I would choke on different types of food, the left side of my face had a "stroke" look sometimes, I had severe double vision, and my muscles were just becoming weaker overall. My eyeball also began to "wander" a lot causing major vision problems.

When I was two years old it was determined that I needed to go to see a Dr. that was connected to MDA. So this began my journey with the Drs. at the LSU Clinic in Shreveport, La. I saw Dr. Gwendolyn Hogan at LSU and she agreed with the diagnosis. I began to be sick with every little cold and respiratory problem, and with these would come very high fevers. With the fevers, my body would become so weak that I had a hard time dealing with it. When I was five my eyesight in my left eye was about gone. Dr. Brodsky had me wear a patch for about a year and then he performed surgery. He clipped the lower muscle in my left eye. I managed to come through this surgery with not much weakness. Later the next year the eyeball in my right eye began to wander, so it was determined that I need surgery on that eye too. During this surgery muscles in the top and bottom of my right eye were cut. My greatest problems with this surgery were that it took a lot longer for me to wake up and then later when given the Tylenol 3, I had an allergic reaction to the codeine. This period of time took a lot longer for me to gain my strength from. Through out the last few years, I have done well. The heat is a huge problem for me causing an extreme amount of weakness. I have learned to overcome the "monster" as I grew up calling it. I have learned to enjoy activities and events that I can do inside during the summer months. As I have grown up, I have learned what I should do and maybe what I should not do. When my throat gets a tight and tired feeling, I try to eat and drink things that less strenuous on this area. I have learned to compensate for my vision by sitting closer to front of the classroom. And most of all take my medication, Mestinon.

There are still days when I have to dig deep within myself to get up and go, but I have made a commitment to myself to fight this disease with everything I have. I do find it hard because some people do not understand that I look normal except my eye droops a lot. People tend to not understand when I am tired that I need to rest for a few minutes in order to get the body ready to go again, kinda like recharging my batteries. I have a wonderful neuromuscular specialist ~ Dr. Robert Schwendimann at LSU in Shreveport, La. He has been a wonderful source of comfort and understanding for me and is also one of my heroes in life.

Christmas ~ Age four ~ notice extreme droop in left eye area

I do feel that the Lord has blessed me. I was given a "special gift" with the "monster" that lives inside of me. I have been able to meet so many people and have a completely different outlook on life from other kids my age. I have chosen to commit my life to helping others who are less fortunate than me. Special children are very important in my life and I am determined to help them show the world that they are just the same as everyone else, they have just been given another hurdle to jump over.

When I graduate from high school, I plan to become a neuromuscular specialist and work with children in this field. I also hope to do research to help find as many answers as we can to the many different dilemmas brought on by neuromuscular disease.