Muscle Disorders
We haven't covered all nerve-muscle disorders, and we won't have time to. But you are welcome to look up a few yourself. Google "muscle disorders" or "myopathies" and see if you can turn the medical-ese into an explanation that the other students can follow and find interesting.
48 comments:
One muscle disorder is called Fibromyalgia. There is no known cause for it but recent research has shown that it has something to do with the way that people process pain.
"The level of chemical in the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) called substance P, which transmits pain impulses to the brain, is three times higher in people with the disease as in those who do not have the condition. This likely causes someone with fibromyalgia to experience pain more intensely.
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Some researchers also think that it has something to do with a lack of sleep.
Fibromyalgia is an illness that causes chronic pain in muscles and ligaments. Although this disorder affects about 4 million Americans, the vast majority of them are women in their mid-30s to late-50s.
The symptoms of it are Pain, Fatigue, Fibrofog(mental haziness) and headhaches.
More information can be found at this website:
http://www.emedicinehealth.com/fibromyalgia/article_em.htm
Muscles that are connected to the bones are affected by a disease called Myopathies. It produces a weakening in the skeletal muscles. The ones most affected are the ones at the center of the body. The muscles further away are less affected by this disease. This disease can develop early in stage or farther in life. The disease can worsen over time and not be treatable but others are treatable and can be remain dormant.
This website was very helpful http://www.neurologychannel.com/myopathies/index.shtml
An interesting muscle disorder which has been studied at UCI in animal studies is inclusion body myositis. This is a group of muscle diseases known as the inflammatory myopathies, which are characterized by chronic muscle inflammation accompanied by muscle weakness. The research study at UCI demonstrated slowing of the development of inclusion body myositis in mice treated with lithium chloride. Muscle analysis of the mice showed lower levels of a protein that the study linked to muscle inflammation associated with IBM. This is the first study showing benefit with the use of lithium chloride which is approved for the treatment of bipolar disorder in humans.
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/101076.php
Myopathies are basically a class of degenerative skeletal muscle disease. The skeletal muscles get weak and they vary according to their causes. The general symptoms are weakness in voluntary muscles such as the arms, legs, eyelids, and facial muscles. (http://www.tylermedicalclinic.com/myopathies.htm ).
According to this website, http://www.rheumatology.org/public/factsheets/myopathies_new2.asp, the causes of muscle disease varies from infection, injury due to medications, inherited diseases, disorders of electrolyte levels and thyroid disease.
I find this disorder scary because we rely on our skeletal muscles to do our daily routine such as getting up to get ready. People with muscle disorder can have difficulty swallowing and cause them to choke. I think it is sad that not being able to eat without choking and not being able to move is a difficult challenge trying to get by in life.
Two other kinds of muscular disorder is the Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy, DMD and Becker Muscular Dystrophy, BMD. BMD is actually a less severe type of DMD. DMD affects mostly boys and is a genetic disease that involves the loss of muscle throughout their lives. DMD and BMD are two of the more common musclar dystrophies of the about 30 or so that currently exist.
There is currently no cure for this type of muscular dystrophy(ies), there are ways to slow down the progression of the disease in the body of those who have been infected, such as a wheelchair, breathing aid, and spinal surgery.
More information can be found here: http://www.ygyh.org/dmd/whatisit.htm
(This is Christina Oh)
http://www.healthatoz.com/healthatoz/Atoz/common/standard/transform.jsp?requestURI=/healthatoz/Atoz/ency/myopathies.jsp
Myopathies are caused by nerve disorders. They causes weakness in voluntary muscle movement. It becomes difficult for people to voluntarily move muscles on their face, their arm and leg muscles, and some their hips. Some myopathies are caused by glands producing too many hormones. There are various kinds of myopathies that cause different symptoms. This site goes in-depth on different kinds of myopathies that exist.
http://www.healthatoz.com/healthatoz/Atoz/common/standard/transform.jsp?requestURI=/healthatoz/Atoz/ency/myopathies.jsp
Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) is a progressive disease of the motor neurons.
Progressive weakness of voluntary muscles, such as the tongue (slurring of speach and difficulty swallowing), and upper/lower extremity muscles are usually the symptoms first seen. Upper motor neuron involvement is displayed through the patient's increased reflexes, and lower motor neurons involvement is seen as a weakness and wasting of the bulbar and the limb muscles. Involuntary muscles are usually not affected.
Though ALS affects all age groups and sexes, the disease is most commonly seen in adults between 35 to 65. The best way to diagnose and evaluate ALS is through the EMG test. This test involves inserting electrodes into the weakened muscles and measuring the amount of electrical activity.
ALS progresses within 3-5 years, and death usually results from paralysis of the respiratory muscles or aspiration pnemonia. Also known as the Lou Gehrig's disease, ALS cut short the career and life of the famous baseball player. Diagnosed in 1939, he died in 1941.
Currently, no cure for ALS has been found. Riluzole, a glutamate antagonist, is the first medication approved for treatment of the disease. Taking it subtly increases survival time.
www.nerverandmuslce.org
http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/chronic-fatigue-syndrome/DS00395
Chronic fatigue syndrome (or CFS) is a muscle disorder in which chronic fatigue occurs for 6 months of more and has no explanation for it. It can occur after an infection, due to high stress, or can occur slowly over time. It is coupled with cognitive difficulties, meaning it also effects concentration and memory. Some symptoms include as stated, 6 months of chronic fatigue and muscle pain, pain in the joints, headaches, feeling tired after sleeping, and many others. The disease affects thousands of people and is present more in women than in men. It is common within young adults and it can effect everyday actions because of their constant fatigue. It is common for a patient with CFS to be in depression because of these effects, even though CFS does not cause depression directly. There is no specific treatment for CFS but some things that may help include treating the pain, treating the depression, moderating daily physical activities, and many others. There have been some experimental treatments such as acupuncture, antiviral drugs, corticosteroids, and others. However, not all of these have shown significant improvements in patient’s health.
Myopathy otherwise known as muscle disease. Diagnosis of a muscle disease could mean live or death and the correct diagnosis and treatments could drastically improve the outcome of the disease. Most myopathy treatments include medications that include prednisone.
Muscle disease is caused by infection, muscle injury due to medication and inherited disease. The first signs of myopathy is weakness in large muscles around the neck, shoulders and hips. Some patients develop weakened throat muscles which can cause choking, shortness of breath and cough due to lung inflammation.
Inflammatory myopathies are a rare disease. They occur is 1 in 100,000. All age groups are effected with a peak in children ranging from age 5 and 10 and between age 40 and 50 in adults.
http://www.rheumatology.org/public/factsheets/myopathies_new2.asp
hypotonia is a medical term that describes decrease in muscle tone, which is different from muscle weakness but can be associated. it is cause by truama, environmental factors, and genetics disorders such as Down syndrome. Infants with this disease look like "rag dolls" because their feet, arms and head have little support therefore causing them to sag. physical treatment can help improve fine movement skills. hypotonia can be a life time problem but muscle tone can get better as time goes on.
http://www.ninds.nih.gov/disorders/hypotonia/hypotonia.htm
Although many people would disregard a muscle cramp or "Charley Horse" as a disorder of some sort, they can actually be a sign of a pinched nerve or spinal cord injury. This would cause involuntary muscle spasms and can last from seconds to several minutes. This is labeled as a very common muscle problem and can be caused by nerves with a malfunction. Other less serious causes are a muscle strain, dehydration, overuse, a lack of minerals in your blood, or in fact not enough blood reaching the muscle due to poor circulation.
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/musclecramps.html
Myotonia Congenita is where muscles are unable to relax after a voluntary contraction, which results in muscle stiffness, usually in the legs, and is caused by sudden activity after rest. This disorder, however, does not cause a weakening of the muscles but, rather, leads to muscle strengthening and enlargement. The two forms of this disorder are Becker-Type, the most common form, and Thomsen's Disease where the genes that shut off electrical stimulation to the muscles have mutated.
Myotonia Congenita interferes with chewing, swallowing, walking, and grasping, but does not require special treatment as muscles loosen up with exercise or simple movement. Most people with this disorder go on to lead long, normal, healthy lives.
http://www.ninds.nih.gov/disorders/myotoniacongenita/myotoniacongenita.htm
Myopathies usually are brought to our awareness when we notice that our muscles begin to weaken or fatigue more quickly when we do normal daily activities. It is a neuromuscular disorder due to muscle fiber dysfunction when your muscles weaken. It can also be seen as slight discomforts such as spasms, cramps, and stiffened muscles. When mypopathies occur, it is either inherit or acquired. When it is inherited it can occur from family history, thyroid problems, age, etc. Or it can be acquired from certain drugs, accidents, etc.
http://www.medications.com/doc/view/1491
EMND, or Equine Motor Neuron Disease, is one that is found in horses and is a muscle-wasting disease. It affects the nervous system of the horse, specifically the nerves controlling the skeletal muscles. If a horse has this disease, then its hind legs become very weak, and the respiratory muscle weakness eventually leads to death.
It has been shown that vitamin-E can help treat this disease.
http://www.thoroughbredtimes.com/horse-health/2002/August/31/A-new-look-at-equine-muscle-disease.aspx
A very rare muscle disorder is Pompe Disease, which is inherited by 1 in 40,000.
It basically is a mutated gene which prevents the body from making the enzyme to break down glycogen (energy source). This causes excess amounts of glycogen to build up all around the body, and have muscle weakness and an enlarged heart. Infants that are born with it generally only have a year to live, and those who are diagnosed later on with life generally have much less severe cases.
The FDA has just approved Myozyme, a drug which works wonders in improving muscle tone and reducing heart size.
To read more, follow this link:
http://www.marinedepot.com/ps_AquariumPage~PageAlias~chillers_coolworks_iceprobe.html?CartId=
One of many common muscle disorders or myopathies is myotubular myopathy. In myotubular myopathy, the most severe case is x-linked, or connected to the X chromosome. Thus, a male has a greater chance of getting the disorder. In this disorder, the patient feels muscle weakness, weak breathing, and difficulty swallowing. The disorder is present in mostly newborns or young children.
The actual disease occurs when the muscle cell develops. A normal muscle cell nucleus would move to the outer edge of the cell and use myotubularin to strengthen the cell. But in myotubular myopathy, the myotbularin is missing and makes the cell remain in its weak stage.
Link:
http://www.myotubulartrust.com/page1.htm
Multifocal Motor Neuropathy is a muscle disorder that affects the nerves to the muscle which causes twitching, cramping, and wasting away of muscle. It also causes involuntary contractions. It typically occurs in Men more than women, and symptoms are noticeable before the age of 45. It is a disease that is asymmetrical meaning it can occur on different sides of the body, and to different muscles.
Treatment for Multifocal Motor Neuropathy varies depending on the severity of the disorder. Some can be mild cases which do not require any treatment. Extreme cases are treated with immunoglobulin or immunosuppresive therapy. Healing time is typically 3 to 6 weeks. The earlier the patient is diagnosed and treated, the quicker they can recover.
http://www.ninds.nih.gov/disorders/multifocal_neuropathy/multifocal_neuropathy.htm
One muscle disorder is called compartment syndrome. It is caused by the pressure within the compartment. If pressure gets too high, there will be lack of oxygen to the tissue and it will damage blood vessels and nerve and muscle cells. The sign of compartment syndrome is pain, especially when the muscle is stretched. If a person is diagnosed to have compartment syndrome, they are mostly required to be treated surgically.
More information can be found here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compartment_syndrome
Multiple sclerosis, or MS, is often thought of as an autoimmune disease, as the body attacks the central nervous system, breaking it down. It more specifically targets the myelin, which surrounds and protects the nerves. Symptoms contain, but are not limited to numbness, paralysis, and even loss of sight. What occurs on a tiny scale is that the myeling, when broken down, exposes the nerve and thus distorts and interrupts the impulses traveling along them. There are 4 different courses, which vary by intensity.
There is relapsing-remitting ms, which features sharper attacks and a more defined weakening of the nervous system functions. There are moments of relapse, when the ms is easily noticed, and moments of remission, when the ms is not seen as easily.
There is also primary-progressive ms, which showcases ms gradually worsening. This does not have peaks and valleys in the form of relapses and remissions as the aforementioned course.
Secondary-progressive ms starts like relapsing-remitting ms, with moments of relapse and remission, but then becomes more like primary-progressive ms, gradually worsening over time.
People suffering from progressive-relapsing ms tend to start with a steady worsening of symptoms to evident attacks of worsening ms.
http://www.nationalmssociety.org/about-multiple-sclerosis/what-is-ms/index.aspx
Muscular Dystrophy is a type of muscle disorder. This diseases characterised by "progressive weakness and degeneration of the skeletal muscles that control movement". There is no specific treatment for this disorder. You may go through some therapies; drugs may help to degenerate muscle contration.
http://www.medic8.com/neurological-disorders/muscular-dystrophy.htm
http://www.uptodate.com/patients/content/topic.do?topicKey=bone_joi/2116
This article dicusses Dermatomyositis and polymyositis which are diseases of the muscle that cause inflammation. It is a rare disease but it has effected more women than men.
These diseases cause muscle weakness that tend to affect the hips, shoulders and neck. The disease is only called polymyositis when just the muscles are involved, if skin rashes occur then it is called dermatomyositis. Polymyositis can affect muscles in any part of the body including the heart and lungs.
Both polymyositis and dermatomyositis are chronic diseases and can last a long time. The cause for these diseases isn't known but environmental factors are suspected.
Myotonic Muscular Dystrophy (MMD)is a muscle disorder that is characterized by progressive muscular weakness. MMD is a form of muscular dystrophy that affects not only muscles, but many other organs in your body. The word "myotonic" is an adjective for myotonia which means an inability to relax muscles at will. The myotonia component is specific to MMD, seperating it from other muscular dystrophy diseases. MMD is not as severe as other muscular dystrophy diseases, and its mild form is commonly found in adult. However, congential MMD (infants), is often severe, and includes weakness in swallowing and breathing muscles.
There are two types of MMD: the chromosome 19 form (MMD1) and the chromosome 3 form (MMD2). The are currently no treatments or cures specifically for MMD. Other problems associated with the disorder can be treated but not cured.
More Information;
http://ghr.nlm.nih.gov/condition=myotonicdystrophy
Huntington's disease or HD is a genetic neurological disorder. Though it is a neurological disorder, Huntington's disease affects body movements and coordination. Symptoms of this disorder include jerky, random, and uncontrollable movements. Other symptoms also include stiffness in movement. Chewing, swallowing, and speaking are often affected.
As you may have noticed, this disease seems some what similar to Parkinson's disease discussed in class. However, Huntington's disease differs from Parkinson's disease in that Huntington's causes muscle rigidness while Parkinson's causes excess muscle movements.
Some treatments used to alleviate Huntington's include antidepressants and sedatives. Also some antipsychotics are used for psychotic symptoms. There's no cure for Huntington's disease as well as Parkinson's disease for the moment.
Congenital Myopathies are inherited disorders of the muscles or nerves that are present at birth or infancy. There are hundreds of these and five of the most common types of these are nemaline myopathy, myotubular myopathy, central core myopathy, congential fiber type disproportion, and multicore myopathy. Lifespan is usually normal but exceptions do occur. This is just one type of muscle disorders that can be found at the website. It covers a wide range of muscle disorders such as ones affecting the bones, joints, ligaments, muscles, tendons, or other things such as osteoporosis. This website is helpful because it provides a brief overview of these disorders and does not go into too much depth while it still covers the main points of each disorder. This would be a helpful way to cover a wide range of disorders just on one website. The congenital myopathies is just one area of this site that I found interesting because it covered disorders that are not brought upon by life but instead by birth. Below is the website I would recommend because it is both very thorough and informative while also being very brief.
http://www.merck.com/mmhe/sec05.html
According to http://www.mda.org/disease/mito.html, Mitochondrial myopathies (MM) are group of diseases that affect the mitochondria and interfere with the function of muscles. The cause of theses diseases is a defect in either a mitochondrial gene or a gene in the cell nucleus that effects the functioning of the mitochondria. According to the different diseases of MM, some symptoms may include nervous system impairment, eye problems, skeletal muschle abnormalities, and disorders of the gastrointestinal tract.
One particular MM disease, chronic progressive external ophthalmoplegia (CPEO)is a slow progressive paralysis of the motor nerves of the external eye muscles. Some victims of PEO have ptosis (drooping eye lids).
http://www.emedicine.com/OPH/topic510.htm
one muscle disorder is muscle atrophy. Muscle atrophy refers to the general medical term that describes a decrease in skeletal muscle mass. The disorder causes the muscles to be weaker and the ability for the muscles for force weakens.
There is a variety of reasons that may cause muscle atrophy. Another cause is cachexia, which refers to a "body wasting" syndrome caused by different kinds of diseases.
Muscle atrophy happens when there is a change in the balance between muscle formation and muscle degredation. In muscle atrophy, there is a irregulation in protein synthesis and muscle degradation activates. The pathway for muscle degredation is activated by ATP.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muscle_atrophy
Myopathy, or an abnormal condition of the muscle tissue can be caused by drugs. Some of the known drugs that can cause this disorder are cocaine, hydroxychloroquine, penicillamine, and zidovudine. Myopathy caused by drugs usually comes on sneakily in a few days to a few months after exposure to the disease causing agent. Fatigue is often the first sign of the disease. Luckily, drug-induced myopathy can be reversed with proper care.
http://www.uspharmacist.com/oldformat.asp?url=newlook/files/Feat/myopathy.cfm&
http://www.mda.org/disease/dd.html
This is a link to information about Distal Muscular Dystrophy. There are several types of muscular dystrophies which deteriorate and weaken muscle fibers. Distal Muscular Dystrophy specifically attacks the muscles that are farthest from the center of the body (i.e. arms, hands, lower legs, and feet). In general, the progression of DMD is slow and does not lead to death. It is a congenital disorder and can occur in both children and adults.
Luckily, no one has talked about Isaacs Syndrome yet!
It might be due to the fact that Isaacs Syndrome or Isaac-Mertens Syndrome is a very rare neuromuscular disorder. The disease causes muscles to cramp and stiffen, especially around the limbs, and speech or breathing may be difficult if the laryngeal or pharyngeal muscles are affected as well. The symptoms include difficulty relaxing muscles and with motor activity as well as myokymia episodes (involuntary muscle contractions without atrophy). The disease is caused by the nonstop signals from the peripheral nerve fibers that continually activate the motor neurons. Patients from age 15-60 may suffer from Isaac-Mertens Syndrome and the disorder can be hereditary. It is also associated with peripheral neuropathies. Anticonvulsants like Carbamazepine and Pheytoin might bring temporary relief, but as of yet there is no cure for Isaac's Syndrome. Organizations such as NORDS (National Organization for Rare Disorders) and NINDS (National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke) are supporting extensive programs for research in order to find a cure. For more information on Isaacs Syndrome or the organizations, you may go to
http://www.ninds.nih.gov/disorders/isaacs_syndrome/isaacs_syndrome.htm
temporomandibular joint and muscle disorders also known as TMJ disorders are a group of conditions that cause pain and dysfunction in the jaw joint and the muscles that control jaw movement. Trauma to the jaw or temporomandibular joint plays a role in some TMJ disorders, but for the most part scientists don't know the causes of the disorder. The condition is more common in women than men for reasons unknown. Majority of TMJ disorders go away and come in cycles, but can cause significant long term symptoms
http://www.nidcr.nih.gov/OralHealth/Topics/TMJ/TMJDisorders.htm
Myopathy is the term used to describe Muscular Disorders. The broad range of muscle disorders extends from mild muscle bruises; otherwise known as contusions, to Poliomyelitis; a viral infection of the nerves that control skeletal muscle. The mild muscular disorders, such as a contusion or Tenosynotitis; though able to cause pain, swelling or even limitation of movement, are usually naturally healed (with the aid of rotating hot to cold compresses). Tenosynovitis is an inflamation of the tendon-sheaths. Repitition of motion has been noted at the most common cause of this mild muscular disorder.
A much more serious muscular disorder is Muscular Dystrophy. This heredatary myopathy slowly attacks and destroys muscle fibers until it first causes the victim a loss of muscle control until it reaches fatal paralysis. This fatality plays a role when the paralysis reaches muscles involved in controlling breathing or simply causing the cardiac muscle to fail.
For information on further disorders, please copy and paste this address:
http://www.essortment.com/all/musculardisorde_rorr.htm
one muscle disorder is called the central core disease. This is caused by defective genes and it is dominant, so a child has a 50% chance of getting this disease.
the major symptoms of this disease is slight weakness of the voluntary muscles especially in the legs and hips. sometimes causes hip displacements. people with this disease have trouble with running and sorts of activities that involve their legs.
here's a true story about a boy who has suffered with this disease and his difficulties in life, coping with the complications of central core disease.
http://www.mda.org/publications/quest/q62ccd.html
There is also a mitochondrial muscle disease (mitochondrial myopathy). Mitochondria are provides most of the energy to cells, so a disease in the mitochondria is a multisystem disease. In relation to muscules, this disease can cause muscle weakness, cramps, as well as heart arrhythmias (if it affects the cardiac muscle).
http://healthlibrary.stanford.edu/resources/internet/bodysystems/musc_muscle.html#mitochondrial
http://www.mda.org/disease/fa.html
Friedreich's Ataxia (FA) is a type of neurological disorder where the sensory neurons and cerebellum are damaged resulting in ataxia, or uncoordinated muscle movements, and heart diseases. This disease is caused by a genetic defect in the mitochondria where not enough energy is produced for the heart and nervous system, and can only be inherited if both parents pass the mutated gene to the child. FA causes loss of balance, speech and swallowing problems, muscle tightness, loss of sensation, and other problems starting from the legs and later to the arms. There are no treatments for FA at this time but there are some drugs that can treat the symptoms.
Another muscle disorder is called tetany. The characteristics of this disorder is the common cramping of your hands and feet and spasms of the larynx, with difficult breathing, nausea, vomiting, and pain. Tetany results from an unbalance inside your body. Either lack of calcium, potassium, or magnesium in the circulation or by an over acid or over alkaline condition of the body. The treatment of tetany is restoring the metabolic balance in the blood by administering the needed element. (Calcium for calcium deficiency).
http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9071834/tetany
Another muscle disorder is called tetany. The characteristics of this disorder is the common cramping of your hands and feet and spasms of the larynx, with difficult breathing, nausea, vomiting, and pain. Tetany results from an unbalance inside your body. Either lack of calcium, potassium, or magnesium in the circulation or by an over acid or over alkaline condition of the body. The treatment of tetany is restoring the metabolic balance in the blood by administering the needed element. (Calcium for calcium deficiency).
Hypokalemic periodic paralysis is another muscular disorder. It is caused by abnormal functioning of ion channels or the proteins that regulate the channels. HypoKPP can be inherited due to a mutation in the gene that controls the proteins in the muscle cells. These proteins are in charge of creating the channels in which ions flow. Thus, a mutation in these proteins will alter the shape of the ion channels and will ultimately reduce the amount of skeletal muscle contraction, or may cause the body to become paralyzed. The weakness in muscles or paralysis usually occur in episodes and may last for several days at a time. These attacks usually begin during adolescence and may last for the rest of life.
http://www.hkpp.org/faq/hypokalemic_periodic_paralysis.html
Hypokalemic periodic paralysis is another muscular disorder. It is caused by abnormal functioning of ion channels or the proteins that regulate the channels. HypoKPP can be inherited due to a mutation in the gene that controls the proteins in the muscle cells. These proteins are in charge of creating the channels in which ions flow. Thus, a mutation in these proteins will alter the shape of the ion channels and will ultimately reduce the amount of skeletal muscle contraction, or may cause the body to become paralyzed. The weakness in muscles or paralysis usually occur in episodes and may last for several days at a time. These attacks usually begin during adolescence and may last for the rest of life.
http://www.hkpp.org/faq/hypokalemic_periodic_paralysis
Since most of the myopathies have been covered, I'll talk about one way to avoid several types of myopathies.
If a family carries the genes to a myothopy (say, one of the parents has a X-linked genetic disorder) then the child has a great chance of getting a myopathy. In order to avoid this, there have been tests such as amniocentesis or chorionic villus sampling which can tell if a child has myopathy before it's born. However, this may lead to the decision of abortion if the results are unfavorable. To avoid such a decision, Preimplantation Genetic Diagnosis has been created. This test basically sorts out which embryos don't have myopathies before transferring them into the uterus. [This obviously then has to be done in vitro fertilization.] This really reminds me of the movie Gattaca when the parents decide the traits of the child... it's really amazing how far we have come in technology for the manipulation of natural human life.
http://www.emedicine.com/MED/topic3520.htm
A new muscle disorder that was recently discovered in France seems to be increasing in frequency. Macrophagic myofasciitis is a disease where macrophages, or in other words, a specific type of immune cells responsible for attacking microorganisms, start to damage muscle cells.
Researchers have linked this disease to patients who have an altered immune system, frequently a result from taking chloroquine or hydroxychloroquine for malaria. The medicine is "known to inhibit the secretion from macrophages of a cell messenger molecule called interleukin."
The most common symptom of this disease is muscle pain, others include "joint pain, muscle weakness, fatigue, fever, and muscle tenderness."
Treatment for this disease includes anti-biotics and/or steroids.
http://www.medicinenet.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=6869
Brachial plexopathy is when there is decreased movement or sensation in the arm and shoulder. It is caused by damage to the brachial plexus muscle which usually occurs due to damage in the nerve. Brachial plexopathy can also be caused by stretching injuries, pressure from tumors in the area, or radiation therapy. It is characterized by shoulder pain, numbness, tingling, etc. Arm, hand, wrist movements become abnormal in this disease.
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/001418.htm
McArdle's disease, a hereditary disease, affects muscle activity. It occurs because not enough energy is available to the organism. This is due to a deficiency of the enzyme glycogen phosphorylase in muscle cells, which breaks down the animal starch known as glycogen. Due to this inability, the organism is limited to gaining energy from glucose and other nutrients. Hence, the individual cannot strain his muscles for long as muscle cramping and pain will occur. Luckily, McArdie's disease is not fatal.
http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/353641/McArdles-disease
There is a muscle disorder called myofascial pain syndrome. It is a chronic local and regional pain disorder that can effect a singel or a group of muscles. Patients can experience burning and stabbing pains, as well as others. This disorder is usually caused by muscle strain and lesion on a particular muscle group.
Treatment is usually physical therapy, particularly a technique called "stretch and spray".
The link below gas more information:
http://www.stoppain.org/pain_medicine/content/chronicpain/myofascial.asp
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