A Good Life with Bad Muscles - a Column by Retha De Wet

Doctors diagnosed me with myasthenia gravis at the end of my first year at university. I was symptomatic the entire year and running from specialist to specialist begging for a diagnosis. Most of that year is a blur, but one thing made the period bearable and memorable: my…

I might have been dealt an unlucky hand in terms of my general health, but I believe I was the luckiest of all when it came to assigning significant others. I am blessed beyond measure with Tom, who is caring, sweet, and understanding. People can show they care…

A diagnosis of MG inevitably leads to several adaptations in daily life. These adaptations, in turn, result in functioning that is closer to normal. They also ensure a distance is created, prompted by the difference between my peers and me. The difference easiest to hide is a changing diet.

Being diagnosed with myasthenia gravis (MG) is a heavy burden to bear. In the years following my diagnosis, my medication dosages increased and I gained weight. I find it difficult to compare the literal and figurative weight of this disease. As a woman in her 20s, the weight gain was…

Scientific literature clearly establishes that weather, particularly temperature, can influence the severity of myasthenia gravis symptoms. Cold weather is infamous for being worse for pain and hot weather results in reduced muscle strength. Living in Africa, hot weather is no scarcity. This means that I dread the coming of…

What is the first thing you do when you wake up? You might have answered, “I take a shower” or “I drink coffee.” However, the first thing everyone does when waking up is to open the eyes. It is a movement so simple that most of us take it for granted…

Sleeping is necessary to keep your body functional. Once deprived of it, you learn just how important sleep is to behave how you want to behave. Without it, you stray from your desired character. With myasthenia gravis, sleeping becomes as important as honey is to a bee. My…

Traveling can be an anxiety-provoking experience. There are so many things to remember, including those that are necessary to board the plane. I recently embarked on a trip to Europe, which is quite the distance from South Africa, and learned many valuable lessons. The first thing I learned is the…

Finding a viable treatment option for a rare disease can be a long-term, frustrating struggle. Being rare, the disease itself is often poorly understood by the medical community, making it even more difficult to treat. Myasthenia gravis is an autoimmune disease, which means the immune system attacks healthy tissue —…

If I have learned one thing from life, it is that people always pass judgment. We judge things we think we understand, and sometimes we judge things we don’t even want to understand. I judged myasthenia gravis as a disease that can easily be treated and thought it wouldn’t…