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Cancer, chemotherapy drugs and generalized MG
My wife was diagnosed with ocular MG in 2017. This was corrected in less than six months with prescriptions for mycophenolate, prednisone and mestinon. She has continued on mycophenolate, 1500mg, daily and has had no noticeable symptoms, either ocular or generalized since then.
However, May 2023 she was diagnosed with a very aggressive breast cancer. She did chemotherapy, surgery and radiation treatments and in May 2024 the PET scan and lymph nodes showed no cancer cells. During treatment period she had no MG symptoms although she did have serious intestinal problems from the chemo drugs.
In August 2024 she had her gall bladder removed and the biopsy found one cancer cell. She then experienced starting in November several spinal compression fractures which were corrected with hypoplasty surgery. In March a spinal biopsy found that the breast cancer had metastasized in the spinal bones.
She began a series of chemotherapy drugs with the goals of stopping the spread of the cancer and allowing for a somewhat normal daily life. The chemo drugs have changed over the months trying to find the right drug to meet the goals. The drugs have proven to slow the progression of the cancer but have left her extremely weak and with little energy. In addition, she has recently experienced significant lung and breathing issues. She was hospitalized for seven days trying to find the cause of both the extreme weakness and the growing lung issues.
One of the first issues the doctors raised was her MG. We had completely discounted this as her original diagnosis was only ocular MG and she had never had any generalized symptoms. In addition most of the chemo drugs included side effects of lung issues similar to what she was experiencing. We have now begun to consider MG as a possible primary cause or significant contributor to the muscle weakness and lung/breathing issues. She was diagnosed from the hospital and is on Prednisone, 40mg, for seven days to see if this helps.
The situation is still open and we were wondering if anyone else may have experienced chemotherapy drugs causing or contributing to generalized MG symptoms.
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3 Replies
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Sorry to hear what your wife is going through. Please inform yourself about MG. Ocular can progress into other forms of MG. I’m not a dr but I would guess if they didn’t take her MG into account some of her treatments may have worsened her MG. Praying for her.
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Hi Rocky. I’m sorry to hear about your wife’s serious health challenges. As someone else posted, it’s very common for other forms of MG to convert into gMG over time. I asked your question to Grok and it says that some chemo drugs can worsen MG symptoms, even to the point of causing a myasthenic crisis.
I would assume that the fatigue she’s experiencing could come from gMG or from the chemo, but the issues with her breathing sure sound like gMG. Hopefully your wife’s neurologist and oncologist can get together and come up with a game plan that can attack both issues, but in a way that doesn’t interfere with the other’s medication.
Your wife and you will be in my prayers.
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That’s an incredibly difficult and complex journey, and it’s understandable to question every possible cause right now.
You’re doing the right thing by keeping MG in the conversation and allowing her team to reassess it alongside her cancer care. We’re thinking of you both as you navigate next steps. -Jodi, Patient Advocate
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