This type article declaring a thymus revelation is published every few years. We've known the thymus is saving our lives — it's where the t in t-Cells derives from for years. There are very old studies of removing it from older humans and statistically seeing a decline in health. Most doctors will not remove it without a decent cause in older patients (intractable infection, for example). In those cases it's not that…
I wish I could say my dad's thymus is saving his life, quite the opposite. He was discharged from the ICU/hospital yesterday after he nearly died from a "myasthenic crisis"—an event that most people with Myasthenia Gravis (MG) will experience. From what I understand, his thymus produces antibodies that destroys receptors connecting the nerves and muscles. He can't keep his head up, eyelids up, can't swallow and durin…
As her symptoms increased—-speech delay, difficulty swallowing, eye misalignment, all stemming from fatigue-induced nerve conduction delays which can culminate in respiratory failure—-myasthenic crisis, they opted for thymectomy (open surgery). She was probably 50 and while the recovery was lengthy, it drastically improved her symptoms and the amount of activity she could do before arose symptoms appeared. No more prism glasses or multi-second speech delays, or weekly plasmapheresis visits. If she spent too much time being active or driving on a sunny day (squinting), she’d feel the ocular fatigue first and know she had to rest or take a prednisone. Now her eyes are failing for other reasons but the thymectomy bought her 25 years and counting.
I’m glad your father survived his crisis. It sounds like you’re doing all of the conservative treatments (which is good; steroid noncompliance is a risk factor for crisis).
There are new medications that directly reduce or deactivate AChR antibodies. Non-invasive video-assisted thoracoscopic thymectomy is more viable today too (and thymectomy has been shown to decrease the frequency and severity of crises even where the thymus was considered normal). Plasmapheresis remains generally effective, if time consuming.
MG sucks. From one son to another, I hope you can get a few more good decades with your parent too.
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