Do people with myotonic dystrophy become disabled?
The course of myotonic dystrophy varies too widely, even in the same family, to permit a general statement about its effects. On the one hand, there are people with the disorder whose symptoms are so mild they hardly know anything is wrong. Whatever muscle weakness they experience is something they take for granted and adapt to. In some cases, the only symptom may be a cataract. Nevertheless these people do indeed have myotonic dystrophy and can transmit a serious case of the disease to their children. For the most part, weakness and wasting slowly progress to the point of some disability, moving beyond the muscles originally involved to those of the shoulders, hips, and thighs. As a rule, disability rarely becomes severe until 15 to 20 years after the onset of symptoms. The older a person is when muscle weakness is first noticed, the slower is the progression and the less serious the consequences.
