Outline/Thesis/Intro for Research Paper

Juvenile Dermatomyositis

      A.    Intro

a.       JDM is an autoimmune disease that can cause a skin rash and weak muscles, although there is no known cure, there are many medications that can suppress the symptoms of this illness

b.      Some other symptoms can include fever, weight loss, and fatigue.

      B.     Genetics

a.       My cousin was diagnosed with JDM in January.

                                                              i.      Just dry air and she slept on her neck funny.

                                                            ii.      Went to a doctor in North Carolina and then sent to Chicago

     C.     Diagnoses

a.       Many different ways some are strength tests and some are blood test

b.      CMAS-tests the child’s endurance and how long they can keep their leg off of the ground.

c.       For a blood test the look to find higher leavels of aldolase or phosphocreatine kinase levels.

     D.    JDM only affects 17,000 children in the United States. 

     E.     The immune systems is defined as a group of cells that protect the body from infection.

a.       In JDM the immune system becomes hyper active and the cells attack each other causing inflammation.

     F.      Case Study

a.       14 year old girl who was diagnosed at age 3

b.      She had difficulty standing up from a sitting position and vise versa.

c.       Rash on her hands and knuckles, shoulders, and back.

     G.    Doctors in the United States

a.       Dr. Lauren Pachman

                                                              i.      Works at the Children’s memorial in chicago

     H.    Treamtent

a.       Prednisone-side effect and how to be weaned off of it

b.      Methotrexate

                                                              i.      I have taken Prednisone and am currently on Methotrexate

c.       Other medications can work too

     I.       If caught soon enough the outcome can be good

         What if one day you thought everything was okay and then you woke up and realized that you may never be able to do every day activities again? Juvenile Dermatomyositis is an auto-immune disease that can cause a skin rash and weak muscles, although there is no known cure, there are many medications that can suppress the symptoms of this illness. There are many different ways to find out if someone has JDM and if the illness is caught soon enough they may be able to regain all strength back and live a healthy normal life. 

Statement of Purpose? Design Plan for Photo Essay

Statement of Purpose/Design Plan

My audience is my classmates and my professor; because each of my classmates will get a chance to look at my photo essay. The context will be a normal day of class, but we are going to pull up our essays on our computers and we will move around the room looking at each other’s essays.

My anticipated expectation for evaluation is that people will understand and get a chance to see what it is like to have Juvenile Dermatomyositis. I hope that through the photos people will also see the emotional experience that it is to have JDM. My story will talk about how my cousin Caroline went from having a completely normal life to it all changing in a few weeks. I will show photos of how she looked and felt “normal” and healthy, to pictures of her illness and how her body changed physically. For my essay, the argument is that even when something gets us down, or someone tells us that we cannot do something. We need to stand up and try again and prove people wrong. We are stronger than the rough times in our life, and we grow from every experience we overcome. Some anticipated needs that I still have about my argument is that I know that I am not trying to convince someone of something and that their really is not anything to argue. Who is going to argue against that we need to be humble in bad situations? I would like my readers to understand that there are bad things in this world, if they did not already know that, but sometimes they can have very good outcomes. Just because something bad happens to someone, does not mean that they will not overcome it. When they do they become a stronger person. I want to show how illnesses can change people’s lives for the better and how they make us who we are. My argument is that even though some of us have illnesses that we should not let them define us although they are a part of us, it is not all that we are. I want my audience to agree with my argument and to see how it is possible to achieve all of this.

Research Paper Topic Proposal/Design Plan about Juvenile Dermatomyositis

For a long time in my family I was the only person who had an illness to deal with, until this past year. One of my younger cousins was diagnosed with an illness called Juvenile Dermatomyositis. This is the topic that I have chosen for my research paper. JDM is an auto immune disease that affects only a small number of children. There is not much known about the illness, and only three doctors in the country specialize in it. Although they do not know much about the illness itself, the can compare it to other autoimmune diseases and use the medications that are used to treat them.

            For my strategies, I plan to talk about not only what JDM is but also all the advances about the illness. If there are any possible ways to cure it and all the current research that is being done about it. My choice of medium is going to be a written paper and I will produce the communication on a computer. After this, I will post it on my blog.

            The argument that I hope to make is that people need to be more aware of illnesses. Sometimes people just think things will go away on their own and that they do not need a doctor or medication. In most cases if an illness is caught in time it can either mean that the illness can go away forever, or at least the person will not need as much medical assistance. Another argument is that health care and health insurance are both important. I hope that people will agree with both of my arguments. I also hope that it will teach people about JDM so that if they have it or someone that they know has it, they can notice the symptoms and save someone.

            JDM is an autoimmune disease that can cause a skin rash and muscle weakness. Doctors do not know what the cause of it is but genetics has a factor. JDM is rare and affects only 17,000 children in the United States. What happens during JDM is lie any other auto immune disease, it just attacks differently. The immune system is defined as a system that protects the body from infection. It becomes overly active and starts to attack itself destroying healthy tissue. This causes inflammation of the blood vessels, which causes the rash, and inflammation of the muscles, which causes great pain. Unfortunately, there is no known cure for JDM but there are medications that can help with the symptoms. One common medication is called prednisone, it is a steroid. It helps take the inflammation away, but it has bad side effects. A few of them are, weight gain, mood swings and stunts growth. When taking prednisone there is not a quick way to get off the medication. Every day you have to wean yourself off of it, and if your symptoms come back then the medication goes up again. This can cause someone to be one the medication for years, and that is not good. Another medication that can be used is called Methotrexate, it is taken every week either orally with a pill or with an injection usually given in the leg or arm. The only bad that about this medication is that it is a chemotherapy drug. Most patients are put on a very low dose, so they do not get any chemo symptoms like hair loss.

            I plan to conduct my research using the internet and statements from my cousin who has JDM. I can ask her if the website correctly depicts what it is like for someone to have JDM. One source that I will use I called curejm.org, I already did research on the website and found that it is a credible source.

            I hope to learn about my topic, that there is some way that all auto immune diseases can be cured. I hope that through research they can find a cure. I would also like to learn what an everyday experience is for someone who has JDM and how they live with it everyday.