Symptoms of Myositis
Symptoms of myositis can include muscle weakness, muscle pain and muscle tenderness. Other symptoms vary depending on the specific cause of myositis:
Idiopathic inflammatory myopathies: These conditions typically cause painless muscle weakness that develops slowly over weeks, months or years. Although up to 40% of people with these conditions have muscle pain, weakness is usually worse than the pain. In polymyositis and dermatomyositis, weakness usually affects the muscles near the center of the body (called proximal muscles), including the muscles of the neck, shoulders and hips. Some patients also have difficulty swallowing.
In dermatomyositis, the skin symptoms are accompanied by muscle problems. These may include purple pigmentation on eyelids, a red rash on the face and neck or scaly patches, usually on the knuckles. In inclusion body myositis, weakness typically starts in the upper leg muscles and away from the center of the body (called distal muscles), including the muscles of the hands, wrists and upper legs. Muscle wasting (atrophy) is often very remarkable, and half of these patients have trouble swallowing.
Infectious myositis: When infectious myositis is caused by the flu, symptoms include not only muscle aches and weakness, but also high fever, chills, sore throat, cough, fatigue and runny nose. When caused by trichinosis, symptoms in the early stages include diarrhea and vomiting. Later, as the parasites invade the muscles, symptoms may include fever, red eyes, swollen eyelids and muscle pain. Patients with pyomyositis usually have fever and muscle abscess is sore, tender and mildly inflamed (swollen). The skin over the muscle could be red and hot.
Benign acute myositis: A child suddenly has trouble walking and complains of pain in the legs. This pain is often worse in the region of the calf muscles. In most cases, the child also has a history of recent fever, runny nose, throat, nose, and other symptoms in the upper airways.
Myositis ossificans, a lump appears in the affected muscle and the lump may hurt when pressed. These symptoms usually begin several weeks after a muscle injury, especially a bruise.
Drug-induced myositis: Symptoms include swelling, pain and muscle weakness, which appears after a person starts taking a new medication or a combination of medicines.
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