7 lessons from my MG remission
Last updated Oct. 1, 2025, by Jodi Enders
This Aug. 1 marked five years since my first myasthenia gravis (MG) crisis and diagnosis. It’s not exactly something I celebrate, but it is an anniversary that has made me pause and reflect.
Remission has taught me more than I ever expected. Not just about managing a chronic illness and my health, but about identity, growth, resilience, and how to keep showing up with intention when things don’t go as planned — and even when they do.
Here are seven lessons I’ve learned from living with MG and reaching remission.
1. Put effort into relationships
With MG, flare-ups, crises, or even surgery can sometimes happen without warning, making it essential to have people you can lean on.
MG has taught me the importance of fostering strong, caring relationships, not just with family and friends, but also with neighbors, coworkers, and people in the community. These connections bring mutual care, understanding, and encouragement that make the challenges of MG easier to navigate.
Building and sustaining a dependable support system has been one of the most meaningful changes in my life since MG. And it’s one that I’m grateful for.
2. Continue to pay attention to MG
When symptoms ease, it’s tempting to forget about MG entirely.
We, of course, want to hope that the worst is forever behind us. But remission, sadly, doesn’t mean you’re cured. It means you’ve reached a more stable place, which still requires awareness.
I’ve learned to view remission as a maintenance phase: a time to monitor shifts, adjust my lifestyle and routines, and keep learning.
Staying active in your own care, such as asking questions and monitoring health changes, is still crucial during remission.
3. Don’t let regret consume you
It’s easy to look back on the early, overwhelming days of diagnosis and wonder if you could have done something differently. Maybe you didn’t speak up. Maybe your treatment started off rough. Perhaps you weren’t in a mental state to absorb what was happening.
Regret is common, but living with MG means learning, adjusting, and letting go. Whatever your experience, use that knowledge to help move forward, not to beat yourself up.
4. Take time to reassess your health
During active MG flares, it’s easy for everything — time, energy, finances, and focus — to revolve around managing them. But once you reach remission, you might finally have the opportunity to consider the rest of your health.
Remission can be a good time to track symptoms more extensively and figure out which issues are truly MG-related and which might point to something else. Fewer blood tests or appointments, for instance, may give you the chance to explore other concerns. You may want to run labs, evaluate how certain foods, supplements, or even caffeine affect you, and gain clarity about your body as a whole, not just in relation to your MG.
5. Adapt but hold on to who you are
Being diagnosed with MG during college forced me to rethink my career and how I define success. That kind of identity change is tough, especially when it is sudden and involuntary. But it’s also an opportunity.
There are ways to completely change what you do and what you bring to life without losing your sense of self. MG can force you to make drastic lifestyle adjustments, but it doesn’t erase who you are. It just reshapes how you show up.
6. Build an MG-friendly life
Remission allows you to do more than just get through the day. It can be the perfect time to make your life more MG-friendly, in case symptoms return.
Refine your routines, reevaluate your goals, and rework your lifestyle to support your well-being.
By planning now, you’ll be better prepared later. Because the fewer symptoms you have, the more clearly you can focus on your life, not just your body.
7. Share your MG experience
At first, MG was too overwhelming to talk or think about outside of appointments and dealing with my own challenges and experiences.
Acceptance is constantly changing, up and down, back and forth, in a circle, going clockwise and counterclockwise.
However, I found purpose in advocacy and connecting with the community over time. Sharing your story can help others feel seen and less isolated, and help them to gain confidence to self-advocate.
MG is rare and often misunderstood, which is why your voice matters. Whether introverted or outspoken, you have something valuable to offer — your experiences — to anyone walking a similar road.
Remission hasn’t been a return to so-called normalcy. It’s been a chance to reflect, reset, and rebuild. MG still shows up in small ways, but I’ve learned to respond with knowledge, community, and care.
No one’s path is the same, but the lessons we share can make the MG journey a little easier for the next person.
Myasthenia Gravis News is strictly a news and information website about the disease. It does not provide medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. This content is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition. Never disregard professional medical advice or delay in seeking it because of something you have read on this website.
