What are the signs and symptoms of myopathy?
General signs and symptoms of myopathy include the following:
- Symmetric proximal muscle weakness.
- Malaise, fatigue.
- Dark-colored urine (suggests myoglobinuria) and/or fever.
- Absence of sensory complaints or paresthesias; however, deep tendon reflexes (DTRs) may be diminished/absent in hypokalemic paralysis.
What does myopathy look like?
Myopathy is often associated with the abnormal shape of the bones, often because the muscles don’t adequately support the bones. Other characteristics of myopathy include fatigue, lack of energy, and worsening weakness as the day goes on, or progressive weakness with exertion.
Can myopathy be cured?
The chronic inflammatory myopathies can’t be cured in most adults but many of the symptoms can be treated. Options include medication, physical therapy, and rest.
What causes muscular myopathy?
Myopathy develops as the result of either inherited (congenital or genetic) disorders or acquired conditions of the muscles. Most commonly, people develop acquired myopathy from muscle fatigue, electrolyte imbalance, or dehydration, resulting in stiffness or cramping.
How serious is myopathy?
The prognosis for individuals with a myopathy varies. Some individuals have a normal life span and little or no disability. For others, however, the disorder may be progressive, severely disabling, life-threatening, or fatal.
What type of doctor treats myopathy?
Patients with dermatomyositis, polymyositis, or necrotizing myopathy are usually treated by rheumatologists. Those with dermatomyositis may also work with a dermatologist. Those with IBM are often treated by neurologists.
What drugs treat myopathy?
Medication for Inflammatory Myopathies
- Corticosteroids. These medications suppress inflammation.
- Immunosuppressants. For people whose symptoms cause pain and limit mobility, doctors may prescribe immune-suppressing medications, or immunosuppressants.
- Intravenous Immunoglobulin.
What kind of doctor treats myopathy?
What drugs cause myopathy?
Direct myotoxicity – Examples include alcohol, cocaine, glucocorticoids, lipid-lowering drugs, antimalarials (which are associated with vacuolar myopathies), colchicine (which is associated with vacuolar myopathies), and zidovudine (which causes a mitochondrial myopathy).
What is the prognosis for myopathy?
Can you live a normal life with myositis?
While sporadic inclusion body myositis is a progressive disease, life expectancy for those with sIBM is usually the same as for those without the disease. In fact, IBM patients usually don’t die from the disease, but from complications (often preventable) that are associated with it.
Does myopathy affect breathing?
Breathing difficulties Nemaline myopathy and congenital (X-linked) myotubular myopathy may cause weakening of the respiratory muscles (those that control the lungs). This can increase the risk of lung infections.
