myastan.gravis/thymus remov./cidp too?

I have no knowledge on this subject, but it is sure worth checking into and looking up on the net. Thanks for sharing.

Dawn,

Wouldnt that be just a little toooo easy? But to answer honestly, I would have to say that people like Ds. Hughes – UK, Perry – US, Merkies – Holland, et al, who do trials and research and focus on this daily, would [I]probably[/I] have had those same thoughts and given the go ahead approval by now. Just a thought……:)

Dawn,
Way back when they thought I had myasthenia gravis I did some research… although I was way out of it in the hospital I do remember getting a CT scan to see if my thymus was enlarged – which it wasn’t. Here is what Wikipedia says about a thymectomy…

[I]A thymectomy is an operation to remove the thymus gland. It usually results in remission of myasthenia gravis with the help of medication including steroids. However, this remission may not be permanent.

A thymectomy is mainly carried out in an adult. This is because the thymus loses most of its functional capacity after adolescence, but does retain a small portion of its function during adulthood. This is shown in the decreasing size of the thymus with increasing age after adolescence.

The role of the thymus prior to adolescence is to educate T-cells to a specific response where they then populate the lymphoid organs, for storage until needed. Removal of the thymus as an adult has little immediate effect on the immune system as its role has been completed.[/I]

I also remember reading a report of two people who had both CIDP and myasthenia gravis but they have two different mechanisms of attacking the immune system. Myasthenia gravis interferes with the transmission of chemicals between the neuromuscular junctions whereas our favorite acronym attacks the nerve itself, or at least the lining of it. I’ll do some more reading today if my eyes will behave and see if I can come up with a logical explanation of why the thymus is never mentioned in CIDP or GBS – in fact I’ve never seen it mentioned for anything EXCEPT myasthenia gravis.

Good though, good post, you got me thinking already and I haven’t even had coffee!

Julie