G73: Disorders of myoneural junction and muscle in diseases classified elsewhere

G73.1: Lambert-Eaton syndrome

Nerves are a sort of wiring in the body. Nerves conduct information. The nerves use electrical impulses to do this. Nerves are important, for instance, in enabling you to sense contacts and temperatures, and to move your muscles. For information to get from the nerves to the muscles, nerve cells generate certain signals. These signals are absorbed by the muscle cells.

With this disorder, the body's own immune system prevents the nerve cells from discharging enough signal substances. The immune system normally protects the body against pathogens and foreign substances. With some disorders, however, parts of the immune system target the body's own tissue or cells.

When nerves fail to properly pass on information to muscles, the muscles get tired more quickly. As a result, some parts of the body will have less strength than usual. The disorder may also affect nerves that control certain bodily functions. You can then have digestion problems, for example.

In your case, the muscle weakness is linked to another disorder. This type of muscle weakness can occur with cancer, for example.