Polymyositis and dermatomyositis

For a lay person:

Polymyositis and dermatomyositis are rare autoimmune diseases that inflame the muscles, causing weakness of the shoulders and hips. Dermatomyositis also causes a characteristic skin rash.

For a trained medical person:

Idiopathic inflammatory myopathies with raised CK and myositis-specific antibodies. Dermatomyositis is associated with malignancy. Treatment: corticosteroids and steroid-sparing immunosuppressants.

In Chinese medicine:

Flaws and Sionneau's textbook differentiates this condition into these patterns: Lung heat damaging fluids; Heat toxins blazing and exuberant; Damp heat soaking and spreading; Wind damp heat damaging the blood; Spleen-stomach deficiency weakness; Spleen and Kidney Yang Deficiency; Liver blood-kidney yin deficiency; Blood Stasis. Treatment follows the pattern a patient presents with, not the Western diagnosis alone.

When to get help: Get urgent care for difficulty breathing or swallowing.