What is Muscular Dystrophy?

There are many people who can live their lives unaffected by any condition, but unfortunately that is not the case for many people. There are many people who are affected by diseases that they must adapt to in order live their life. There are also many different types of diseases such as neurological diseases or neuromuscular diseases. One disease that people may have heard about but may not know many details about is Muscular Dystrophy (M.D.), which is a neuromuscular disease.

M.D. is a disease that affects many people and there are many types. According to Mayo Clinic (n.d.), “Muscular dystrophy is a group of diseases that cause progressive weakness and loss of muscle mass In muscular dystrophy, abnormal genes (mutations) interfere with the production of proteins needed to form healthy muscle”. The disease makes it gradually more difficult for those affected by the disease to use their muscles. This because their body cannot produce the protein to create muscles, which means they cannot exercise to create muscles and it makes it difficult to use the muscles that are affected. This causes some people to need a wheelchair eventually to get around because their leg muscles have deteriorated. It can also affect breathing or swallowing because the disease can affect muscles involved with both.

According to WebMD (n.d.) 50,000 people are affected by the disease among the various types of M.D. There are nine major types of M.D. which are Myotonic, Duchenne, Becker, Limb-girdle, Facioscapulohumeral, Congenital, Oculopharyngeal, Distal, Emery-Dreifuss. Each type has its own symptoms that affect people differently, which all have a certain muscle or muscles that are affected. There are also different severity levels among the different types of M.D. This means one person with one type of M.D. may have a different experience than someone with another form. There is also a difference in severity with regards to people who have the same type of muscular dystrophy.

With the different severity levels and symptoms that is associated with each type of muscular dystrophy, it is difficult to find one cure or treatment for all the different cases. There are different ways to make life better for those affected by the disease, which must be determined case by case. For example, I have Duchenne M.D. which has affected mostly my arms and legs where I am no longer able to walk and I have some movement left in my arms. These are also different symptoms from the other types of muscular dystrophy and is considered the worst form. There are also people I have known that have worse cases of Duchenne M.D. where they have no muscle movements at all.

There is an organization called MDA (Muscular Dystrophy Association) who assists people with all forms of M.D. and ALS as well, which is similar but different from M.D. MDA’s primary focus is finding a cure or treatment for people affected by M.D. MDA’s vision according to their website is, “finding treatments and cures for muscular dystrophy, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and other neuromuscular diseases” (MDA, n.d.). Their strategy is, “funding worldwide research; by providing comprehensive health care services and support to MDA families nationwide; and by rallying communities to fight back through advocacy, fundraising and local engagement “ (MDA, n.d.).

References

Mayo Clinic (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/muscular-

dystrophy/basics/definition/con-20021240

MDA. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.mda.org

WebMD (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.webmd.com/children/understanding-muscular-dystrophy-basicsdystrophy/basics/definition/con-20021240

MDA. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.mda.org

WebMD (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.webmd.com/children/understanding-muscular-dystrophy-basics