Myasthenia gravis score improved 38 percent with just 800 IU of vitamin D daily – Dec 2012

Vitamin D deficiency in patients with myasthenia gravis and improvement of fatigue after supplementation of vitamin D3: a pilot study.

Eur J Neurol. 2012 Dec;19(12):1554-60. doi: 10.1111/j.1468-1331.2012.03773.x.
Askmark H, Haggård L, Nygren I, Punga AR.
Department of Neurology, Uppsala University Hospital, Institute of Neuroscience, Uppsala, Sweden.

BACKGROUND: Myasthenia gravis (MG) is a chronic autoimmune neuromuscular disorder. Vitamin D has important roles both in the autoimmune response and in skeletal muscles. We determined the levels of 25-hydroxy vitamin D [25(OH)D] in patients with MG and in healthy subjects to determine whether vitamin D deficiency is present in MG and whether vitamin D supplementation has beneficial effects on fatigue.

METHODS: Plasma levels of 25(OH)D were analyzed in 33 patients with MG (22 males; mean age, 58 years) and in 50 healthy age- and sex-matched blood donors, without vitamin D3 medication. MG composite (MGC) score assessed fatigue. Thirteen patients with MG without previous vitamin D3 supplementation were started on vitamin D3 supplementation (cholecalciferol) 800 IU/day, with a follow-up examination after 2.5-10 months (mean, 6 months).

RESULTS: Patients with MG without pre-existing vitamin D3 supplementation (N = 16) had a mean MGC of 4.5 and lower plasma 25(OH)D levels (mean, 51 ± 19 nM) than healthy controls (69 ± 21 nM) (P = 0.017). Seventeen patients had pre-existing vitamin D3 supplementation, because of corticosteroid treatment, and their mean 25(OH)D was 79 ± 22 nM and mean MGC was 5.5. In the 13 patients who received cholecalciferol, 25(OH)D was overall increased at follow-up with 22% (P = 0.033) and MGC score improved by 38% (P = 0.05).

CONCLUSIONS: Plasma 25(OH)D levels are significantly lower in patients with MG compared with healthy controls. As vitamin D has beneficial effects on the autoimmune response and on fatigue score in patients with MG, we suggest monitoring this parameter in patients with MG and supplementation with vitamin D3 when 25(OH)D levels are low.

© 2012 The Author(s) European Journal of Neurology © 2012 EFNS.

PMID: 22672742

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Comments by VitaminDWiki

1. Such a small dose for such a great improvement!
2. Wonder how much improvement there would have been with higher doses of vitamin D
3. Seems similar to Multiple Sclerosis
4. Wonder how many other vitamin D deficiency diseases are associated with MG
   Osteoporosis prevention in myasthenia gravis 2001

From WikiPedia

• The prevalence in US is estimated at 1 in 5,000
• The drugs used to control MG either diminish in effectiveness over time (acetylcholinesterase inhibitors) or cause severe side effects of their own (immunosuppressants).

Some Famous people with MG

Sir Lawrence Olivier, Aristotle Onassis, Karl Malden, Phil Silvers (Sgt Bilko), "Sleepy" (© Disney) one of the Seven Dwarfs,

See also VitaminDWiki

• All items with Myasthenia gravis in VitaminDWiki 120 as of Jan 2019
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• Review of Autoimmune diseases, solar radiation and vitamin D – Schwalfenberg 2012
• Solar, vitamin D, and autoimmunity – Dec 2011
• Sarcopenia (muscle loss) fought by Vitamin D, exercise and protein - many studies MG is a loss of muscle control
• Loss of muscle strength –sarcopenia – one of the suspects is vitamin D – Aug 2012
• Video by Dr. Coimbra – 95 percent of auto-immune cured with vitamin D in high doses - April 2014 meantions MG
• Myasthenia Gravis remission with 100,000 IU vitamin D daily – one person Jan 2016

Short url = http://is.gd/MGVITD