Duchenne muscular dystrophy is just one of the nine types of the degenerative muscular disease. A French doctor named Guillaume Duchenne was the first person to take notice of the disease symptoms, and thus, experts named it after him. It wasn't until around 1987 that specialists discovered that the disease came from a deficiency in a crucial muscle protein. The condition is genetic, and it starts to affect suffers as young as age three. There is a milder form of Duchenne muscular dystrophy called Becker muscular dystrophy. The Becker type is a little less symptomatic, and the symptoms may not start in an affected person until his or her teenage years.To pinpoint and diagnose a case of Duchenne muscular dystrophy, a medical specialist will run some tests. The first test that they run may be a blood test where they look at the creatine kinase levels. Creatine kinase leaks from the blood when something is destroying the person's muscles. If that test yields positive results, the next test will be one in which they will examine the person's DNA to look for mutations in the protein called dystrophin. They draw the conclusion from those two tests and then begin to treat the affected person.
The life expectancy of a person with Duchenne muscular dystrophy has improved over the years and is now into the 30s, 40s and even 50s. The numbers will improve as new medicines and processes become available for treatment. Parents of children who exhibit the signs of Duchenne muscular dystrophy should have their children checked by a medic as soon as possible to begin care. The following are seven of the most common symptoms that a person with the condition will have:
