Myotonic Dystrophy Information

Myotonic (mi-o-ton-ik) Dystrophy (dih-strow-fee) type 1 (DM1) or (MyD), also known as myotonic muscular dystrophy (MMD), dystrophia myotonica (DM) or Steinert’s disease, is the most common type of adult muscular dystrophy affecting up to 1 in 8,000 individuals (in the United States approximately 40,000 people), with a world wide incidence of 1 affected individual in every 15 000.

DM causes your muscles to get weaker and smaller. Your muscles may also get very stiff as you use them, It then takes awhile for the muscles to relax. This is called myotonia (mi-o-to-nee-uh) and is most common in the hands.

Some of the symptoms could be muscle weakness, especially those of the distal *** leg , hand, neck, and face, clubfeet, hypotonia, tissue wasting, developmental delays or mental retardation and poor sucking in newborns.

The symptoms of DM get worse in each following generation because of the bad copies of genetic information. This means that you may pass on the bad genes to your children if you have DM. The more the bad genes are copied, the bigger the mistakes become. So your children will probably show symptoms of DM much earlier. And, their DM will be worse than yours. Genetic blood testing can tell you and your family whether or not your children may inherit DM.

**(a control system of ductless glands that secrete chemical messengers called hormones that circulate within the body via the bloodstream to affect distant organs.)
***(On the limbs or other appendages, a point closer to the main body is proximal; a point farther away is distal.)