(A Simple Guide to Medical Conditions) by Kenneth Kee (Author)
What is Muscle Dystrophy Disease?
Muscular dystrophy (MD) disease is a medical group of more than 30 inherited disorders that cause muscle weakness and muscle loss which get worse over time.
Some Muscular dystrophy disease can happen in infancy or childhood.
Other Muscular dystrophy diseases do not occur until 40 years of age or later.
There is a difference in the various muscular dystrophies diseases in the people they involve and the symptoms of the disease.
All types of Muscular dystrophy will be worse as the muscles of the person weaken.
Many people with Muscular dystrophy finally have less ability to walk.
There is no curative treatment for muscular dystrophy.
What are the causes of muscular dystrophy?
Muscular dystrophies, or MD, are a medical group of inherited conditions.
This means they are inherited through families.
They may occur in childhood or adulthood.
There are many different types of muscular dystrophy.
They are:
1. Becker muscular dystrophy
2. Duchenne muscular dystrophy
3. Emery-Dreifuss muscular dystrophy
4. Facio-scapulohumeral muscular dystrophy
5. Limb-girdle muscular dystrophy
6. Oculopharyngeal muscular dystrophy
Muscular dystrophy (MD) is a genetic disease that slowly weakens the body's muscles.
Duchenne muscular dystrophy is a sex-linked genetic disease where a boy born to a carrier mother has a 50 % chance of having Duchenne dystrophy while his sisters will have a 50 per cent chance of being a carrier.
It is produced by absent or wrong genetic information that prevents the body from making the proteins required to build and sustain healthy muscles.
A child who is detected with MD slowly loses the ability to do things like walk, sit upright, breathe easily, and move the arms and hands.
This progressive weakness can result in other health problems.
There are several major types of muscular dystrophy, which can involve the muscles to varying degrees.
In some cases, MD begins producing muscle problems in infancy.
In others, symptoms do not appear until adulthood.
There is no cure for MD but researchers are quickly finding about how to prevent and treat it.
Doctors are also working on increasing muscle and joint function and reducing muscle deterioration so that those with MD can live as actively and independently as possible.
What are the symptoms of Muscular dystrophy?
First Symptoms
Many children with muscular dystrophy go through a normal pattern of development during their first few years of life.
But in time frequent symptoms start to appear.
A child who has Muscle Dystrophy may begin to
1. Walk late and waddle,
2. Stumble,
3. Have difficulty going up stairs, and
4. Walk on the toes without the heels hitting the floor (Toe walk),
5. A child may need to push himself to get up from a sitting position
6. Have a problem pushing things, like a wagon or a tricycle.
Children with MD often form enlarged calf muscles (pseudo hypertrophy of the calf) as muscle tissue is destroyed and replaced by fat.
Symptoms are different among the various types of muscular dystrophy.
All of the muscles may be involved.
Specific groups of muscles may be involved, such as those around the shoulder, pelvis, or face.
The muscle weakness slowly gets worse and symptoms can include:
1. Delayed development of muscle motor skills
2. Difficulty using one or more muscle groups
3. Drooling
4. Eyelid drooping (ptosis)
5. Frequent falls
6. Loss of strength in a muscle or group of muscles as an adult
7. Loss in muscle size
8. Problems walking (delayed walking)
9. Intellectual disability is present in some types of muscular dystrophy.
TABLE OF CONTENT
Introduction
Chapter 1 Muscle Dystrophy
Chapter 2 Causes
Chapter 3 Symptoms
Chapter 4 Diagnosis
Chapter 5 Treatment
Chapter 6 Prognosis
Chapter 7 Myasthe
