Polymyositis is a muscle disease caused by the attacks of the personal body on its muscle. It is generally seen in blacks than whites, more in women than in men. In medical terms, it is called inflammatory myopathy. People ranging from age 30-60 years are the targeted age of this disease. To step aside from this disease, it is better to strengthen your muscles by exercising and following a proper diet.
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Cause For Polymyositis
There is no cause of it but, commonly seen that people suffering from polymyositis are autoimmune; autoimmune is a disease in which the body attacks its body cells. Suppose the person is suffering from diseases like lupus, rheumatoid, arthritis, scleroderma, then the risk of getting affected by polymyositis increases. Other immunity diseases like HIV AIDS also can be the cause of this disease. If the tissues near the throat are inflamed, you may have difficulty swallowing, leading to aspiration pneumonia. Breathing issues are also seen in some cases.
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Symptoms Of Polymyositis
Both sides of the body are affected by this disease due to muscle weakness. The targeted muscles are the neck, upper arm, hips, thighs, shoulder. If you are affected by this disease, you may not climb upstairs and raise your hand above the head. Pain is also observed in weak muscles. The muscles affected can get atrophy (the size of cells decreases, indirectly it becomes light). The process of atrophy is so slow that for months you won’t observe anything.
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Diagnosis Of Polymyositis
The disease doesn’t have any simple or straightforward test to conduct. The doctors take multiple tests to ensure this disease like,
- MRI
- EMG
- BLOOD Test
- Muscular biopsy
- Muscle ultrasound
All these tests are necessary to know the inflammation extent and the stage of the disease. Doctors then confirm the patient with polymyositis and start further treatment. The treatment depends on the spread of disease in their parts.
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Prognosis Of Polymyositis
There can be a permanent disability because of polymyositis if treatment is not taken carefully. In sporadic cases, the disease can end up the patient affected, cancer, or osteoporosis. In most cases, the patient gets rid of this disease to a certain extent and regain muscle strength.
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Treatment Of Polymyositis
There is no such treatment for polymyositis, but certain medications and therapy can cure it. The doctors can prescribe impressive immune drugs to stop further damage to cells—this helps in reducing the spread of myositis. Physical therapy is a must to gain muscle strength. The difficulty in swallowing can be fired by speech therapy; the muscles near the throat are strengthened. Intravenous immunoglobulin to stop further damage to the muscle. This disease can’t be cured, but the symptoms can be controlled by dosages of steroids. It takes 4 – 6 weeks to get the symptoms under control. After then the steroid dosages are reduced to decrease the side effects of it.
Final Note
Polymyositis the muscle weakens the disease. Every single necessary information regarding this disease is covered in this. Right from cause to treatment, so if you have such symptoms, it’s better to visit the doctor and clarify. And don’t worry, the death cases in this disease are less, and can be cured to an extent by proper treatment. You will also get the muscle strength back, but at times it can strike back with pain in the affected muscle.
