Cholinergic Crisis

cholinergic crisis,

a pronounced muscular weakness and respiratory paralysis caused by excessive acetylcholine, often apparent in patients suffering from myasthenia gravis as a result of overmedication with anticholinesterase drugs.

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Cholinergic Crisis

An over-stimulation at a neuromuscular junction due to an excess of acetylcholine (ACh), as of a result of the inactivity (perhaps even inhibition) of acetylcholinesterase, caused by nerve gas, in patients with myasthenia gravis who have overdosed on cholinergic agents, or in surgical candidates, due to an excess of cholinesterase inhibitor given to reverse surgical muscle paralysis

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myasthenic crisis

Any of a number of clinical complexes characterized by an acute exacerbation of myasthenia gravis symptoms, which are divided into

Myasthenic crisis

Myasthenic crisis An acute ↑ in requirement for anticholinesterase therapy or refractoriness to same, diagnosed by a Tensilon test, with transient ↓ of symptoms

Cholinergic crisis An acute ↓ in the need for anticholinesterase medication, resulting in 'overmedication' with the customary doses; the Tensilon test exacerbates this form of myasthenic crisis; cholinergic crises may be either

• Muscarinic crisis Abdominal pain, diarrhea, nausea, vomiting, lacrimation, blurred vision, bronchial hypersecretion due to parasympathetic hyperresponse

• Nicotinic crisis Muscle weakness, fasciculations, cramping and dysphagia, due to overdepolarization at the neuromuscular junction.  See Tensilon test  

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