Know all about myositis, the disease Samantha Ruth Prabhu has been diagnosed with

While the superstar Samantha has received love and wishes for a speedy recovery and support, let's find out what myositis is and how it affects daily life.

Samantha Ruth Prabhu, the southern superstar and the most sort out actress in terms of her professional work choices and her journey towards self-love. Samantha recently revealed her health condition to her fans and industry colleagues that she has been diagnosed with myositis, an auto-immune condition. She confirmed that the condition was detected a few months back but is now ready to share the vulnerability of her state. 

The actress has assured her fans that she is on road to a more stable self, with proper treatment, her loving fans are understandably worried about her sudden health development. Sam wrote in her post, "A few months back I was diagnosed with an autoimmune condition called Myositis...The doctors are confident that I will make a complete recovery very soon."

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While her diagnosis has generated a lot of conversations, let's take a look at this rare condition- myositis.

What is myositis?

Myositis is a term used to describe the chronic, progressive inflammation of the muscles. It is caused when the body’s immune system mistakenly attacks the healthy tissues. In the case of myositis, the immune system attacks healthy muscle tissue, which results in inflammation, swelling, pain, and eventual weakness.

Causes

The cause of this uncommon condition is occasionally unknown, and diagnosis can be challenging. The onset of symptoms may be sudden or gradual. Primary symptoms can include exhaustion, fatigue, difficulty swallowing, and difficulty breathing.

There are several categories of myositis causes,

1. Inflammatory conditions

Inflammatory conditions causing potentially severe myositis include:

- Dermatomyositis (affects several muscles and can also cause purple-red rashes, mostly in women)

- Polymyositis (leads to weakness in the shoulders, hips and thigh muscles- especially among women)

- Inclusion body myositis (can lead to the weakening of muscles in the forearms, common in men)

Other inflammatory conditions tend to cause milder forms of myositis, including:

- Lupus

- Scleroderma

- Rheumatoid arthritis

2. Infection

Viral infections are the most common infections causing myositis. The muscle fibres may be directly damaged by viruses or sometimes even bacteria resulting in the weakening of the muscle tissue.

3. Injury

Vigorous exercise can cause muscle discomfort, swelling, and weakness for hours or days following such a workout. Technically speaking, this is a type of myositis because inflammation contributes to these symptoms causing fatigue and exhaustion.

Symptoms

Myositis' primary symptom is muscular weakness. The weakness might be visible or might only be identified through testing. 

Fatigue, rashes, loss of balance, thickening of the skin on the hands, weak, painful, or aching muscles, difficulty swallowing, and weight loss are a few common characteristics.

Treatment

According to the National Health Service (UK), myositis has no particular course of treatment but can be managed with exercise and physiotherapy in the case of inclusion body myositis (IBM), steroids help treat polymyositis and dermatomyositis conditions. Disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drugs, if the swelling in your muscles flares up and blood therapies.