Miguatemala Health Blog

Posts Tagged ‘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. Read the rest of this entry »