Scary

I love this time of year. The weather gets cooler. People start displaying their Halloween decorations. It’s soup, chili and gumbo time!

Here’s a Halloween joke for you:

A man is walking home on a dark, spooky night when he hears a tap, tap, tap behind him. He turns around but doesn’t see anything. Feeling a little nervous, he picks up the pace.

The tapping continues. Tap, tap, tap. He looks again and notices a small coffin following him down the street. Terrified, the man starts running, but the coffin speeds up too and keeps up with him. Tap, tap, tap.

He runs faster, cutting through alleys, but the coffin stays right behind him. Finally, out of breath, he reaches his house, bursts through the door and slams it shut behind him. The tapping gets louder. Tap, tap, tap.

Panicking, he grabs the first thing he sees – a bottle of cough syrup – and hurls it at the coffin.

And just like that, the coffin stops!

We’re all a little afraid of the coffin, but those of us with Myasthenia Gravis are also afraid of coughing. Severe coughing can lead to a myasthenic crisis and that’s something you want to avoid at all costs.

A myasthenic crisis is a severe complication of Myasthenia Gravis where muscle weakness prevents the diaphragm from working properly. It can lead to respiratory failure and is life-threatening unless medical care is immediately available. It can be triggered by an infection, surgery, stress, certain medications or undertreatment of MG.

The main symptom of a myasthenic crisis is respiratory distress and difficulty breathing. Other symptoms may include extreme muscle weakness, especially in the arms, legs, neck and facial muscles; difficulty swallowing or speaking; or anxiety or panic due to breathing difficulties.

Years ago, as high as 30 to 40 percent of people experiencing a myasthenic crisis ended up dying due to respiratory failure and inadequate medical intervention. Today, that number has reduced to less than 5 percent. With prompt treatment, most patients recover from a myasthenic crisis, but the condition requires ongoing management to prevent recurrence.

In 2023, my wife and I went on a cruise and I came closer to a myasthenic crisis than I had ever been before. It started with a simple cold that went down into my lungs and then progressed to the point where I became so weak, I wasn’t able to clear my airway by coughing. I would choke to the point of turning purple and about to pass out. Fortunately, the ship’s doctor got right on it and gave me breathing treatments and the medicines I needed to get through it. I will be forever grateful for her help.

I now carry an antibiotic and steroids with me when I travel and may not be able to get to a doctor right away. I follow the protocol my doctor gave me and start these medications whenever I’m traveling and a cold starts settling in my chest.

With that said, I want to caution you to check with your doctor before starting antibiotics or steroids on your own. This is the protocol my doctor has established for me, but it may not be right for everyone. Part of that protocol is that I inform him right away if I start taking the antibiotics and steroids and I follow up with a visit to him as soon as I get home.

I also want to caution you about a quick rush to take antibiotics. Frequent usage often leads to antibiotic resistance in which the antibiotic will no longer work in your system. Your doctor would then need to move you to something stronger. The danger, of course, is what happens when your doctor runs out of antibiotic options? Never start any medication on your own, including antibiotics or steroids, unless you have a standing protocol from your doctor to follow.

In any event, don’t let a coffin or a coughing chase you this Halloween. There are remedies for both. Just be cautious when you feel a cold coming on or develop difficulty breathing. Report it to your doctor immediately and he/she will prescribe the proper course of treatment for you.