Myasthenia Gravis News Community › Forums › Additional Resources › Have you ever been to an MG Conference? › Reply To: Have you ever been to an MG Conference?
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MemberI attended the MGFA Conference for the second year virtually last week for free as a patient. I prefer virtual attendance because I take Cellcept (immune suppressant) and avoid large gatherings. This year, I walked away with a few useful bits of info that I will discuss with my neurologist at the next appointment. One takeaway was the sheer number of new developments in MG treatment on the horizon. Another stand-out tidbit I learned is that it takes a long time for some immune suppressants like Cellcept to become effective and conversely, to wean off it. If one is reducing a Cellcept dose, it needs to be done very slowly, like reducing by 500 mg in a year, to remain stable. Which explains when my neurologist said a couple of years ago that I could try going off it to see if I was in complete remission, he said at the time there are no guidelines for weaning off Cellcept,but I could try cutting the dose in half (1000mg less per day). Unfortunately, MG symptoms like hand weakness and double vision started to return after a month on the lower dose so I went back to 2000mg per day. I experience a lot of breakthrough infections from what appears to be too much immune suppression and my neurologist suggested again that we try to reduce the Cellcept dose. I now know that I need to discuss with him how to slowly reduce the dose from 2000 mg per day to 1500 mg per day over the next year to see if that will make a difference in the number and frequency of infections I get. So attending the conference has given me a lot of hope.