Living with Myasthenia Gravis is an online patient support community that is powered by BensFriends.org, a network of patient support communities for rare diseases. Our mission at Ben’s Friends is to ensure that patients living with rare diseases or chronic illnesses, as well as their caregivers, family, and friends, have a safe and supportive place to connect with others like them.
Myasthenia gravis (pronounced my-us-THEE-nee-uh GRAY-vis) comes from the Greek and Latin words meaning “grave muscular weakness.” The most common form of Myasthenia Gravis is a chronic autoimmune neuromuscular disorder that is characterized by fluctuating weakness of the voluntary muscle groups.
Myasthenia gravis causes weakness in the skeletal muscles (the muscles that connect to your bones and contract to allow body movement in the arms and legs, and allow for breathing).
The hallmark of myasthenia gravis is muscle weakness that worsens after periods of activity and improves after periods of rest. Certain muscles are often (but not always) involved in the disorder such as those that control eye and eyelid movement, facial expressions, chewing, talking and swallowing.
There’s no cure for myasthenia gravis, but treatment can help relieve signs and symptoms, such as weakness of arm or leg muscles, double vision, drooping eyelids, and difficulties with speech, chewing, swallowing and breathing.
Visit Living with Myasthenia Gravis Patient Community.
This site is a virtual community intended to be a safe place for patients and family members as young as age 12, to visit for information, discussion, venting and mutual support. Members come from many backgrounds. Some have a strong religious faith, and others no faith; some are children and others adults, rich and poor, graduate educated or taught by life. Our common denominators are that we share a life journey, and we try to help each other.
How is Ben’s Friends Different from Social Media and Other Support Sites?
Our mission at Ben’s Friends is to ensure that patients living with rare diseases or chronic illnesses, as well as their caregivers, family, and friends, have a safe and supportive place to connect with others like them.
We’re interested in you as a person, and in your struggles as a rare disease patient. But we don’t want to know your name or where you live. We won’t even allow you to use your real name when you register for one of our communities. Because when it comes to medical things, anonymity is important in our googly universe. Your information is never shared, and your activity never tracked by adware.
When Ben’s Friends asks for the country and region you live in, that’s in case your fellow members can recommend local resources and help, and so everyone knows what kind of medical system there is where you live. That’s important when it comes to giving and getting support. Because we are all about support, and we’re all in this together..
Ben’s Friends: Safe and Supportive.
And anonymous to keep it that way.
Why create an account?
Posts on the different Ben’s Friends communities can be read by anyone on the internet. You can browse through the different topics and find most of the information you’re looking for but there are many things you won’t be able to do unless you create an account. These include:
Making your own posts. Although you’re able to find useful information just by reading other members’ posts, you might still have a lot of questions in your mind. Either you want to start a new topic to talk about them in detail or you want to reply to a comment on a thread. These won’t be possible unless you create a new user account.
Viewing other members’ profiles. Member profiles include information about the country or region they are from, whether they are a patient or a caregiver, and details about their disease and treatments. Maybe you came across an interesting post and you want to learn more about the member. Or maybe you’re looking for members who are from the same country as you. Having a user account allows you to see other member profiles and find information that may be relevant.
Sending private messages. Aside from being able to post publicly and commenting on a thread, having a user account also allows you to send private messages both to other members and moderators. In case you want to discuss a topic only with a specific person, this is possible by sending private messages when you have created your account.
Click here to create an account and join.
Feature Article
4 Things You Can Do to Help a Friend with Myasthenia Gravis
While there is still no cure for myasthenia gravis, patients may benefit from the treatment options available to relieve the symptoms. These range from medications like steroids and immunosuppressants, intravenous therapy, and surgery. The effect of each treatment may differ from patient to patient.
Needless to say, Myasthenia Gravis can also affect a patient’s social life and it would be really good if they have people who care for them aside from their immediate family.
Learn more on what you can do to help a friend or a loved one living with myasthenia gravis.
Latest Discussion
- Looking for a chat roomby sclaus2 on October 22, 2024
I joined this group because I thought it was going to be a live group chat environment. Is there something like that on here or was I mistaken. 2 posts – 2 participants Read full topic
- Looking For Your Stories!by ModSupport on January 9, 2024
@trust_level_0 Dear Myasthenia Gravis Support Member, For over 10 years, the Ben’s Friends online rare patient communities, run & moderated by rare patients themselves, have been a source of support for many of us, living with rare diseases. But it’s not enough. We would like more people to […]
- What could it be like living with Myasthenia Gravis?by BFAdmin on October 10, 2023
As written by Sascha Gallardo June 14, 2023 Imagine getting up in the morning… …You hit the shower. But while washing your hair, you have to put down your arms every few seconds and rest. The same goes when washing your body. Soap, lather, rest. Soap, lather, rest. After taking a shower, you […]
- 📢 Calling mothers of children with rare diseases of all agesby ModSupport on August 12, 2023
Ben’s Friends has launched a new community for moms raising children with rare diseases and chronic conditions and we are inviting you to join Warrior Moms Living with Rare Disease Warrior Moms Living with Rare Disease Warrior Moms fighting rare diseases […]
- Spotlight on Our Moderatorsby BFAdmin on March 30, 2023
Ben Munoz – October 31, 2019 When we recently asked our moderators what they love about their role, we got a variety of reactions. Not surprising: each of our “mods” does their job in their own way! Some are very active in the conversation, and others take a more hands-off approach, […]
