relationship between CMV infection and myasthenia gravis

    
      Re: relationship between CMV infection and myasthenia gravis
    


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Posted by CCF Neuro Md *!* on December 01, 1997 at 20:52:29:

In Reply to: relationship between CMV infection and myasthenia gravis posted by kimberly on November 30, 1997 at 18:58:27:

: this is for anyone out there who might can help me. I have had a lot of health problems due to CMV infection. Two years ago I spent seven days in the hospital because of CMV. Since then, it has been reactivated five times. What I mean is, my cmv blood titer or levels,(what ever you call it) has been over 3.57 or more. I can hardly make it through a normal days work. Three months ago I started having problems with my left eye closing. It happens several times a day. I have also had cluster headaches on the left side (only). My doctor knew about the headaches and the extreme fatigue I have been having. He just thought it was the cmv. I didn't tell him about my eye lid closing. I didn't think it was a big deal. Well my sister and her husband did. He's a neurosurgeon. She called my doctor and they in turn called me back, demanding I come to see them right then. I did , and had an MRI done. It came back fine. They were looking for Bell's Palsy or Multiple Sclerosis. He never said anything about myasthenia gravis. maybe he is thinking more about the cmv and not looking for myasthenia gravis. Do you think there is any link between the cmv and myasthenia? Please let me know your opinion of this. THANK YOU!!  Kim C.
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Dear Kimberly,
There is no reported link between CMV and myasthenia gravis and I found no report in the medical literature over the past 16 years using the Medline search engine (which references 3600 medical journals worldwide), the only reported coincidental occurrences were people who developed CMV as a consequence of  aggressive suppression of the immune system to control myasthenia.
There is however on possibility which comes to mind from your story, eyelid drooping has been frequently reported with cluster headaches, occurring in a transient fashion on the same side as the headaches, this phenomenon is known as Horner