Columns

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…

Last year, I had a port fitted. This is a small medical device placed under the skin just under the collarbone. It allows for drips to be set up without nurses having to dig around for a vein. It also frees up my hands and allows me to easily…

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…

For the past two years, pipes have been sticking out of my chest. I have had a port beneath the skin just under my collarbone. Many treatments have caused me to catch numerous infections floating around, so I have had to wear a medical mask when in public. I have experienced…

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…

It has been a while since I have written a column. So much has been happening, but at long last, I am able to sit back on the couch and not immediately pass out from absolute exhaustion. So, I thought it would be a good time to write a little…

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…