Dermatomyositis in Your Child

I want to express sympathy if your child has something as horrible as Dermatomyositis. I grew up with advanced stages and highly active forms of Dermatomyositis, complete with half-dollar sized calcium deposits which would erupt on a regular basis. Today, I am almost completely normal and have had no pain for years. While your child is sick with this disease, there are some tips you can use to guide them through this process.

Recognize their pain level. Now, I know that not everyone has excruciating pain like I did, but you must know that their pain could, indeed, be very high. Anyone can get used to anything, so sometimes they may not even allow themselves to be aware of how much pain they are in. They will use any distraction at all from their pain as a coping mechanism, so don't take their distractions (friends, toys, peaceful, quiet afternoons, or schoolwork) away from them at all. Company and having friends around will always help drive up their energy level, which must be maintained for them to want to handle this disease.

Encourage them to fight back! One of the best ways to get your child interested in healing is to encourage them to fight the disease until it's demolished. Don't give up on your child, and they will not give up on themselves. This is extremely important. You must realize that their recovery, no matter what you've been told by specialists, is a doable and very real thing. They will have a lot of frustration at this disease, especially if it's visible on the outside and kids do a lot of pointing and staring. Use their anger by getting them involved in active and "violent" exercise forms, such as boxing and karate. This will naturally keep them mobile, improve their body's ability to fight the disease, and it will give them a lot of vent for their frustration: Triple Bonus!

Use ONLY positive words and speech. One of the things which helped me a huge amount when I was a child with Dermatomyositis is the fact that I didn't know that it could be fatal, and I was told on a constant basis that I would soon be able to run and jump and get up and down off of the floor...just like all the other kids. It took longer than I expected, but all of that is now true. I would not be where I am today if I had not firmly and unequivocally believed that I would be healed soon...and my parents made sure I believed that. Don't listen to negative input from neighbors or outsiders, talk back to anyone who is saying how sick your child is in front of him, always tell your child how well he's doing (even if he argues with you on that point), and never give up fighting! This is a hard disease to wipe out, but it is very doable if you have the right attitude. If you don't have the right attitude, then your child is receiving the kiss of death from his parents.

Keep treatments as natural as humanly possible. This is an important one. Drugs never helped me, and in some cases, the side effects did more harm than the treatment, and most of the time I never felt any benefit from the treatment. Weight training, mobility training and lots of raw foods will do more good than any medicine. Medicine, by nature, slows down the elimination process, and if there's one thing you need to keep going, it's elimination of the disease. Carefully, and daily, pay attention to food which your child craves. These cravings are signals from their body that something is needed BADLY! Ask them what they would like to eat every night, and get their input regularly during trips to the supermarket. Cravings can last for a few hours or for years, so make sure you keep tabs on how much their body needs of each thing. Zymactive is a natural anti-inflammatory enzyme and has worked wonders on me, making me feel and move so much better. Meat is important for their digestive tract, especially if they have allergies, so make sure they have daily meat.

I will be posting other articles on Dermatomyositis and you can search for them here on AssociatedContent.com. Feel free to ask me any questions in the comments section below and I will be keeping tabs on that. Don't give up hope. This is a nasty thing which is infecting your child, but your child has probably not worried about it too much. Make sure they never do.

Sources: My own personal, and hard earned, experience with Dermatomyositis.