New Book about a Family with Myotonic Dystrophy

There are not many books about myotonic dystrophy. There is a fictional series about a skater that has myotonic dystrophy. I wrote a short book about the hopes and aspirations of my son “The boy who was President”. Now comes a great biography about a family with Myotonic Dystrophy. A must read for all with the disease. Here’s a short introduction:

As a young girl, my constant goal was to help my brother, Dustin, walk. Dustin’s limits were hard to gauge because he constantly surpassed expectations. He was born with congenital myotonic dystrophy and expected to die, then to live three months, then three years. Instead, he gained strength and capabilities until age 13, when he had a simple cold and just did not wake up from his nap. His body became too much for the largest muscle in his body, his heart.

While Dustin was alive, I threw quarters in wells, prayed every night, and practiced with him every day after he had surgery and got corrective braces. I would stretch my brother’s legs, rotate his ankles, do resistance exercises and help him practice standing. At age 12, I thought willpower was so strong that, through perseverance and dedication, I could will my brother to walk.

Three years older than my brother, I grew up doing adult caretaking tasks. Through the years, I would change thousands of diapers, brush Dustin’s teeth, lift him into bed, administer nebulizer treatments, clean his feeding tube, watch him when both my parents had to work, bathe him, unload his wheelchair from the bus and play with him. Most things I did for my brother were helpful, but with my conceptions about willpower and Dustin walking, I pushed my brother past his comfort level more than once and caused more pain than progress. For me, a healthy sibling, willpower was a tool to push past obstacles. However, the same view I took of my young healthy body proved detrimental to my brother’s and caused him pain.

Continue reading

Dr. Eckstrom Doctoral Thesis on Childhood Myotonic Dystrophy

Here is a copy of Dr. Eckstrom Thesis on Childhood Myotonic Dystrophy. Its pretty comprehensive and a bit technical. Click below to open a PDF Copy. The thesis is almost 90 pages long and full of a lot of good information. Dr. Eckstrom is one of the leaders in the knowledge of childhood myotonic dystrophy and Autism

EckStrom Doctoral Thesis Childhood Myotonic Dystrophy

 

 

Continue reading

Diagnosing Autism in Myotonic Dystrophy

Many Children and some adults may have autistic like tendencies or autism. Several studies have indicated that ASD or autism like behaviors are present in there children. It could be your child only a few of these symptoms. IT could be they have quite a few of them. You will need a multidisciplinary team to do a formal assessment. However, as a parent you can get a sense of whether or not your child has some of these tendencies. This information is from Autism Speaks. Here is some additional information to consider:

Symptoms

What Are the Symptoms of Autism?

Autism spectrum disorders (ASD) are characterized by social-interaction difficulties, communication challenges and a tendency to engage in repetitive behaviors. However, symptoms and their severity vary widely across these three core areas. Taken together, they may result in relatively mild challenges for someone on the high functioning end of the autism spectrum. For others, symptoms may be more severe, as when repetitive behaviors and lack of spoken language interfere with everyday life.

Continue reading

Juvenile and Childhood onset DM

JUVENILE DM

There is not much information on the juvenile form of CMD. There is a really good 30 minutes video about the Childhood forms (Red link at end of column). There is also a drug under development by Ionic Pharmaceuticals in Carlsbad, CA. 

BREAKING NEWS ON TREATMENTS: A recent study (Dec 2015) by Japanese and Polish researchers have found that Erythromycin an FDA approved drug might help with the treatment of Myotonic Dystrophy. This drug helped with the treatment of gastric symptoms in patients with myotonic dystrophy in a separate study in 2002. As the Juvenila and Childhood forms will be there for years your doctor may want to consider this treatment. Read more about this potential treatment here.

Continue reading