My Bitter & Best Friend: MG - a Column by Sarah Bendiff

Caregiving was a vocation I always thought I was made for. But I never imagined that one day I would be the person needing care. Throughout this unexpected journey of living with a chronic disease, I’ve come to understand that caregiving can be…

After living with myasthenia gravis (MG) for 18 years, everything about it seems intuitive and simple to me. I know how my body reacts, and I’ve learned how to live with it. Yet, when I visit online MG forums and support groups, I see people who have just received…

In less than 30 days, I’ll be getting married and moving in with my future husband, the love of my life, who has lived through every stage of myasthenia gravis (MG) with me, from my diagnosis in 2018 to the grieving journey I am still going through today. But…

I have been told that I’ve changed since my diagnosis of myasthenia gravis (MG). For a long time, I said I hadn’t, that I was still the same person I had always been. But lately, I’ve been wondering if they were right. I used to be cheerful and carefree,…

I recently heard myself saying that going on vacation was simply not an option for me. I was craving some rest, though, and saying it made me sad to realize that I wasn’t dismissing the idea because of my job or family arrangements, but because of living with myasthenia…

I’m writing this week’s column using voice-to-text because I simply overworked my body to the point where it doesn’t want to respond anymore, which feels like the perfect place to start. Living with myasthenia gravis (MG) is challenging, but it has also been empowering in ways I never…

I blame a whole lot of things on myasthenia gravis (MG), even things that are not actually considered symptoms. My body says otherwise, however. Although I still believe some of the issues I experience might belong to a secret illness that has not been discovered yet, certain feelings and…

Three years after my diagnosis with myasthenia gravis (MG), I made the decision to stop introducing it at the same moment I introduced myself to someone new. It was one of the best decisions I made, until I realized recently that I’d simply postponed sharing that information until my…

I’ve always felt that being a woman put me at a disadvantage. I don’t dislike being a woman, but I have never really fit into the box society has created for me. I am happier being an independent entrepreneur than imagining myself as a stay-at-home wife. I want a career,…

Walking has probably been one of my biggest griefs since myasthenia gravis (MG) entered my life. I still remember times when my legs were so numb and exhausted that I simply couldn’t take another step. Walking had always been a way I cleared my head. I could wander around,…