Muscular dystrophy includes several progressive muscle diseases that cause progressive weakness and muscle wastage leading to loss of muscle mass. There are more than 30 types of such dystrophy. The most common type is Duchenne muscular dystrophy. In addition, Becker, myotonic, congenital, limb-girdle, facioscapulohumeral, distal, oculopharyngeal, Emery-Dreifuss are some other types. Improper balance, waddling gait, large calf muscles, muscle wastage, scoliosis, walking disability, etc., are the symptoms. These are rare muscle disorders and are due to genetic predisposition. These are due to the genetic mutation of the muscle-making protein. Although there is no cure, the symptoms can be slowed down with various therapies and medication.
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Query: Hi doctor, I am an oculopharyngeal muscular dystrophy patient. I have gone for physiotherapy and speech therapy, and slowly, my leg is also becoming weak now, and it is not easy to get up from my seat or floor without support. Please give me some advice. Read Full »
Answer: Hello, Welcome to icliniq.com. Oculopharyngeal muscle dystrophy is a progressive disease. It starts with the involvement of the eyes and throat muscles and later involves the muscles of the legs and arms. As your muscle biopsy was done eight years ago, you have had weakness in your leg muscles for... Read Full »
My partner had an electric shock a year ago and still has a shock-like feeling and pain. Why?
Query: Hello doctor, My partner got an electric shock to his right arm a year ago. Ever since then, he has felt like he is constantly shocked, and he has been unable to move his arm properly. He is on 750 mg of Lyrica a day to control the shock-like feeling and pain. However, the hand movement has not retu... Read Full »
Answer: Hi, Welcome to icliniq.com. Cases of motor neuron disease are seen after electric shocks. Most likely, your partner is experiencing wasting of muscles due to motor neuron disease post the electric shock. A motor neuron (or motoneuron) is a nerve cell, which directly or indirectly controls the... Read Full »
Query: Hello doctor, I am 28 years old, with a height of 5.3 feet, and my weight is probably more than 70 kilograms. I have a physical problem. I got seriously ill at the age of six months due to pneumonia. Later on, I faced that my nervous system got very weak, and I could walk adequately, neither stand u... Read Full »
Answer: Hello, Welcome to icliniq.com. I understand your concern. First, I would like to know your detailed history for making some conclusions: 1. Since what age have you started to have a problem? 2. What problem exactly you had with starting time? 3. As you mention, a weak nervous system- please te... Read Full »
Which disease can cause a child to suddenly lose the ability to walk?
Query: Dear doctor, My father-in-law had a son. He grew up like a normal child till the age of around 10 to 12 years. Suddenly, he was diseased and he was not able to walk properly and after some days, he completely lost power in both the legs and permanently lost his ability to walk. Could you tell me wh... Read Full »
Answer: Hi, Welcome to icliniq.com. It is likely that he could be suffering from one of the types of muscular dystrophy. It is most of the time, X-chromosome linked. Usually, the male children get affected and the females are carriers. For further queries, post a detailed history and ask a doctor online... Read Full »
I have been diagnosed with muscular dystrophy. What are the causes and treatments?
Query: Hello doctor, I have been diagnosed with muscular dystrophy, and it said I show early features of this muscle disease. But my CPK-MB, ECG, echocardiogram, and chest x-ray all came back normal. I have been down with this serious weakness since I was five years old, but I was diagnosed this year. I us... Read Full »
Answer: Hello, Welcome to icliniq.com. Muscle dystrophy is a genetic disease affecting muscles and sometimes other organs of the body, it progresses gradually. There are many types of muscle dystrophies. CPK value is usually high in such cases, but in late stages. If muscle mass is severely atrophied, then... Read Full »
My kid has tongue tremor. What are the other symptoms should I look for to detect SMA?
Query: Hello doctor, I have a 2.5-month-old who I recently noticed developed a tongue tremor. I looked up online for the causes and found them as SMA. She has great motor control, we were not doing tummy time as often because she did not like it but have increased it and have seen a big improvement. My d... Read Full »
Answer: Hello, Welcome to icliniq.com. History noted as above, your 2.5-month-old has developed tongue tremors. Please provide me more detailed history such as preterm or full term, birth weight, normal delivery or LSCS. How is her weight? Is she gaining weight and let me know more about family history o... Read Full »
CK and ALP test results are attached. What is the name of this disease?
Query: Hello doctor, My 8-year-old nephew is suffering from an unknown disease. We did two tests as suggested by the doctors. The names of the tests are CK and ALP. I am attaching the reports herewith. The doctors suggest that there is no treatment for these diseases. He walks with the help of his toes by... Read Full »
Dr. M. A. Toyeb, Nazma Parveen
Answer: Hello, Welcome to icliniq.com. I have gone through the attachments (attachment removed to protect patient identity). The symptoms you described and the CPK (creatine phosphokinase) result indicate a muscular dystrophy. Unfortunately, this does not have any cure as of now. I would stil... Read Full »
Why is there low creatinine levels for the past four months?
Query: Hello doctor, I have had very low creatinine levels for more than four months (low 11 highest 68) normal is 110 to 135. Do you think there is an issue? Read Full »
Answer: Hi, Welcome to icliniq.com. I can understand your worries. Low creatinine levels are caused by low muscle mass either due to age or a disease like muscular dystrophy (MD) that may be causing muscles to deteriorate. The liver makes creatinine and if liver functions are compromised, it can also lead... Read Full »
What is the procedure to control muscular dystrophy?
Query: Hello doctor, What is the procedure to control muscular dystrophy? Read Full »
Dr. Hafiz Muhammad Hassan Shoukat
Answer: Hi, Welcome to icliniq.com. Most of the muscular dystrophies are genetic diseases, like myotonic dystrophies, Duchan- baker dystrophy. If someone has that, no treatment discovered yet, we did not have anything to cure disease, rather diseases are progressive. But dystrophy is due to some medicatio... Read Full »