Polio/Post Polio

What is Polymyositis?
Polymyositis is an inflammatory disorder of skeletal muscle that causes muscle weakness.  The disease has a moderately severe onset and generally begins in the second decade of life, rarely affecting individuals under the age of 18.  The most common symptom is muscle weakness, usually affecting the muscles that are closest to the trunk of the body. Eventually, individuals have difficulty rising from a sitting position, climbing stairs, lifting objects, or reaching overhead.  In some cases, muscles that are further from the trunk of the body may be affected later in the course of the disease.  Individuals may have trouble swallowing.  Muscles may ache and be tender to the touch.  The disease may be associated with other collagen-vascular, autoimmune, or infectious disorders such as Crohn disease, myasthenia gravis, or HIV-AIDS.  What is Post-Polio Syndrome?

Source: www.ninds.nih.gov

Post-polio syndrome (PPS) is a condition that affects polio survivors anywhere from 10 to 40 years after recovery from an initial paralytic attack of the poliomyelitis virus. PPS is characterized by a further weakening of muscles that were previously affected by the polio infection. Symptoms include fatigue, slowly progressive muscle weakness and, at times, muscular atrophy. Joint pain and increasing skeletal deformities such as scoliosis are common. Some patients experience only minor symptoms, while others develop spinal muscular atrophy, and very rarely, what appears to be, but is not, a form of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also called Lou Gehrig's disease. PPS is rarely life-threatening.

Source: www.ninds.nih.gov

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