In 2002 a study in Sweden was conducted to see if a drug, Erythromycin would help improve the stomach emptying rate in patients with Myotonic Dystrophy. This study looked at 10 patients… here are a few key details:
“Gastrointestinal symptoms are
common among affected individuals and they may be of
considerable clinical relevance, e.g. abdominal pain, diarrhoea,
or anal incontinence. In a recent study we have found
that one-quarter of the patients considered their gastrointestinal
symptoms to be the most troublesome consequence
of the disease [3].”
The study showed that the drug erythromycin did not improve stomach emptying time but did help the majority of patients with diarrhea. In general the patients thought this drug improved their condition.
“Nevertheless, in general the patients
considered the treatment effective. This could be explained
by possible effects of the drugs on parts of the gastrointestinal
tract other than the stomach [15,16] due to the widespread
involvement of the gastrointestinal tract in MD
[9,17]. This assumption gains support in our study from the
fact that six out of 10 patients experienced reduced
symptoms of diarrhoea.”