Tuesday, February 5, 2013

Benign Acute Myositis/ Infectious Myositis

I have a narrowing of diagnoses related to my leg pain and weakness.   According to the doctors I have seen, some of whom may actually have a clue of what they're speaking, I am suffering either from a condition known as benign acute myositis or from infectious myositis.  Benign,of course,  indicates the affliction isn't terribly serious and is somewhat self-limiting. Acute in a medical sense typical means of sudden onset or of short-term duration.  Myositis is an inflammation of the bone

Infectious myositis, is, as the name would indicate, contagious to some degree. I would have picked it up somewhere, and would have the potential to transmit it to others, although, as I understand it, it's not nearly so communicable s influenza or head lice.

My fingers are crossed in favor of the first diagnosis. I would much prefer the condition that, however painful it might be, is essentially self-limiting and is of short duration.   I have places to go and things to do.  I will not be so  trite as to  quote Frost in saying that I have "promises to keep and miles to go before I sleep," but suffice it to say I cannot afford to loll around in bed for weeks on end. I can spare a few days or even a week or so, but that's the extent of recovery time I am willing to devote to this pseudo-illness.

Myositis is a broad term  referring to inflammation of voluntary skeletal muscles.  In many cases, the calf muscles will be the primary muscles affected. My calf muscles are feeling the effect,  but my quadriceps and hamstrings are feeling the brunt of things, in addition, to a lesser degree, to the upper body muscles, including but not limited to the deltoids, pecs, biceps, and external obliques. Still, the upper legs are feeling the worst of it. Everything else I could ignore were it not for what's going on in my thighs.

This entire inconvenience most likely came about as a complication of some sort of influenza that I had but worked my way through because I chose not to acknowledge its existence.  I did not cause the condition by refusing to acknowledge influenza and to recuperate in a conventional manner. It was the luck of the draw. Also worth noting is that benign acute myositis is typically a childhood malady. So is croup. What else is new?

I'll be out of class for a week or so. If the more serious prognosis ends up being the correct diagnosis, my doctors will be in contact with my professors concerning skyping lectures in order to continue enrollment at my university, but that's a bridge that will be crossed if and when the need should arise.
I'm not concerned. This doesn't feel like a long-term illness. It's far more likely that in a week or two I'll be back to dragging myself to class, possibly with a few lingering aches and pains, but well on the mend.

Results from lab work should fill in the blanks in the next few days. In the meantime, I'm doing what I can from my bed but otherwise living the life of an invalid. Maybe the forced laziness will cause me to pack on a few pounds. One can only hope.

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