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.
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