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Myasthenia Gravis — the Difficult Diagnosis

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 January 2018

Joan Sneddon
Joan Sneddon*
Affiliation:
University of Sheffield, Middlewood Hospital, Sheffield
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Summary

Twenty-six patients with proven myasthenia gravis were interviewed to assess the length of time between onset of symptoms, presentation to the general practitioner and diagnosis. In one third the initial diagnosis was psychiatric and the average time between presentation and correct diagnosis was 2.8 years for men, 1.2 years for premenopausal women and three weeks for postmenopausal women. Diagnosis could have been made much earlier if doctors had been familiar with early symptoms in this relatively rare disease. Symptoms and signs fluctuated and were at times absent, especially in the mornings.

Type
Papers
Information
The British Journal of Psychiatry , Volume 136 , Issue 1 , January 1980 , pp. 92 - 93
Copyright
Copyright © The Royal College of Psychiatrists 

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References

Fenichel, G. (1978) Clinical syndromes of myasthenia in infancy and childhood. Archives of Neurology, 35, 2, 97–103.Google Scholar
Fullerton, D. T. & Munsat, T. L. (1966) Pseudomyasthenia gravis: a conversion reaction. Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, 142, 78–86.Google Scholar
Oosterhuis, H. J. G. H. & Wilde, G. J. S. (1964) Psychiatric aspects of myasthenia gravis. Psychiatria, Neurologia, Neurochirurgia, 67, 484–96.Google Scholar
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