Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis

Following the diagnosis of ALS the main goal of treatment is focused at relieving the symptoms. The most important matter in managing ALS patients is that they continually sustain the highest amount of movement and activity as possible and remain comfortable while doing so. Although a cure for ALS has not yet been developed, effective treatments do exist to assist the patients in their fight with the disease. Physicians urge the patients to carry on with their everyday lives doing all the activities and physically exerting themselves as they would normally do. But, they also recommend the patients to limit their amount of physical exertion

Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) is a terminal disease, also known as Motor Neurons Disease, Charchot Disease and Lou Gehrig disease. ALS destroys the Central Nervous System (CNS) and causes damage to the upper and lower motor neurons in the brain. Signs and symptoms are characterized as: muscles weakness, muscle atrophy, twitching and reduced muscle reflexes. Eventually the patient will become paralyzed and rely on a tracheostomy and ventilator for breathing (ALS Association [ALSA], 2010).

ALS is a disease which is prevent the body from producing normal things. Most people who develop ALS are between the age of 40 and 70, with an average age of 55. The athletes is between 20 and 30. “Lou Gehrig, he was a baseball player, he had ALS in his 30 years old”. “Dou Revie, he was a football player, he had ALS when he was 29”. People who have ALS gradually become more disabled, they can’t walk, speak, eat and anything in

Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis also known as ALS or Lou Gehrig Disease, it's a disease that affect the neurons in the brain and its ability to communicate with other neurons leading to complications to the spinal cord. This disease affects the victim in various ways it's a progressive disease meaning it starts off slowly

“A-myo-trophic comes from the Greek language ‘A’ meaning no or negative. ‘Myo’ refers to muscle, and “Trophic” means nourishment-’No muscle nourishment’... ‘Lateral’ identifies the areas in a person's spinal cord where portions of the nerve cells that signal and control the muscles are located.” (“What is ALS?”). Literally, Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis means no muscle nourishment in the spine. In this disease, nerve cells in both the brain and spinal cord slowly die over a period of time. The cells, referred to as motor neurons, control the muscles throughout the body, resulting in death or paralyzation as they degenerate. At any given time, ALS can strike anyone. It is not contagious, however, in about 10% of cases, ALS runs in the family making it somewhat hereditary (“What is amyotrophic lateral sclerosis?”). “The incidence of ALS is two per 100,000 people” (“Facts You Should Know). Most of the time, Lou Gehrig’s disease (ALS), acts on middle-aged and older adults, however there have been noted cases of patients much younger. Considering that a friend or family member can be diagnosed with this horrible disease, everyone should pitch into ALS charities in hope to find a

The four troubled systems are the respiratory, skeletal, nervous, and muscular. The respiratory system is affected due to the fact that ALS paralyzes the respiratory muscles which hinder a person's breathing. ALS causes stress to the skeletal system by weakening the human body. The bones become tremendously brittle and are unable to move like they once were. Another organ system affected by ALS is the nervous system. ALS stops the brain from receiving information from the rest of the body, like how to move the arms, legs, and hands. Lastly, the muscular system's major functions are to produce movement and provide support for the body. ALS destroys the motor neurons and in the beginning stages causes the muscles in the body to have minimal movement and then eventually result in paralysis. Therefore, the disease does not allow the muscular system to perform the functions essential to the human

It's a brave question because the answers are not very pleasant." When an individual is diagnosed with ALS, they begin a totally new way of life. Surprising, in many cases it can often be difficult to diagnose someone with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis. However, with a history of their problems and a few other tools, it is possible. One of the most common ways to diagnose someone with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis is by looking at their complications. Some of the most common early signs of ALS are a patient's legs may seem to be heavier than normal or

The National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke have identified over 12 genetic mutations as the cause in some familial cases of ALS. The research on ALS is continually resulting in new factors that may be the cause of ALS, including environmental factors and even possibly a “genetic predisposition”. (www.ninds.nih.gov/disorders/amyotrophiclateralsclerosis/detail_ALS.htm) Personally speaking, when I told my mom about the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge, she told me that ALS was what my great grandma had died from. I had known that my great grandma had died from some disease, but I didn’t know that it was ALS. Unfortunately for my great grandma and the others suffering from ALS, there has not been a cure found yet for ALS. There is one FDA approved drug for ALS called riluzole (Rilutek). Riluzole helps to reduce the damage to the nerves that are being attacked by the disease. While Riluzole can’t reverse the damage that has already been done to the nerves and muscles, it can extend the amount of time before the person needs respiratory support and help with difficulty

Now although there hasn't been any proven treatment for ALS, there has been one drug that has been approved. This drug is known as Riluzole (or Rilutek). It appears that Riluzole can provide up to 3 months increase for life expectancy if taken regularly, a significant slowing and loss of muscle strength. Riluzole helps by decreasing glutamate from nerves. Other treatment options could be experimental, which doesn’t need any effect, but it doesn’t have any proven benefits to doing experimental treatment either. Some options might be for one to go to a physical therapist, to help try to gain that muscle back and gain more strength in areas that could possibly help you to do everyday tasks. Occupational therapy is another option. Occupational therapists help with everyday life. They are there for you mentally and physically; they help with getting people back into a routine. One might go see a speech therapist, to help them talk better or slower so they are understood better. Speech therapy would help with stuttering and speech impediments. Treatment options that would be a good idea for people with ALS is a Nutritional adviser. These people help get you on a nutritional diet where some may have lost a lot of weight due to not getting the nutrients from the food they are, or were, eating. Also mechanical ventilation could help a patients breathing when it becomes

ALS or Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis is a neurodegenerative disease that causes muscle weakness, fatigue, and overall respiratory failure. It can also cause trouble breathing and swallowing.

Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), or Lou Gehrig’s disease, is a neurodegenerative autoimmune disease. This means that the neurons ( nerve cells of the brain and spinal cord), particularly the ones that control voluntary muscles (motor neurons), degenerate and die. Naturally, motor neurons in the brain send signals to the motor neurons in the spinal cord, which in turn, sends signals to the muscles. However, the degeneration and death of these neurons (upper and lower motor neurons) doesn’t allow the body to transmit signals to permit the movement of muscles. This eventually causes the weakening of the muscles, and the brain’s loss of controlling voluntary muscle movement. By this, people lose their ability to speak, walk, and breathe.

ALS is inherited in five to ten percent of cases, while other cases just seem to appear randomly (Learn About ALS 2014). Some believe that the nerve cells that control movement just gradually die off. It is also said by doctors and scientists that this condition is the result of a gene mutation. Others, on the other hand, believe there is a chemical imbalance where there are higher than normal levels of glutamate, which is a chemical messenger in the brain around the nerve cells in their spinal fluid (Learn About ALS 2012). Earlier in class, we established that glutamate is a salt or ester of glutamic acid, and too much glutamate is known to be toxic to some nerve cells. Some cases could be a result of a disorganized immune response where the immune system begins attacking normal cells, leading to the death of nerve cells. When a body’s own cells begin attacking its normal cells, it’s almost guaranteed that the body is at risk for shutting down. There could also be some sort of protein mishandling; mishandled proteins with the nerve cells may lead to gradual accumulation of abnormal forms of these proteins in the cells, eventually causing nerve cell death. Some scientists believe that they have found genetic links related to acquiring this disease, but not legitimate cure has been settled on or established (Learn About ALS

ALS is one of the most common neuromuscular diseases worldwide (Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis Fact Sheet).There are three different types of ALS causes there is, familial, sporadic, and guamanian. Familial is 5-10% , sporadic is the most common which is 90-95% of all ALS causes and guamanian is rare variant. Guamanian is very similar to ALS almost the same and it happens because of something toxic that they are eating which messes with their nervous system (ALS[Lou Gehrig’s Disease]). It is also a disease varied with etiology characterized by rapidly progressive in weakness in the muscles.

The brain is a complex organ that controls all of our bodies’ functions. In a normal functioning brain, there are thousands of neurons that lead to the muscles so they can control movement and feeling throughout the body. A rare disease called amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) affects these neurons in the brain, specifically in the medulla oblongata and the spinal cord. ALS is a neurodegenerative disease that leads to the inability of the brain to signal muscle movements, which cause the person to be unable to walk, speak, eat or breathe, and ultimately leads to paralysis and death.

The manifestations of ALS are caused by the location of motor neuron death. When upper motor neurons die, the symptoms include problems controlling fine movements, spasms, dysphagia, dysphonia and dysarthria (Porth & Matfin, 2009). “Manifestations of lower motor neuron destruction include fasciculations, weakness, muscle atrophy, and hyporeflexia” (Porth & Matfin, 2009, p. 1284). Patients with early signs of ALS usually complain of feeling weak on one side, which is due to the slowing of electrical impulses to that group of muscles (Ignatavicius & Workman, 2010). Since the impulses are slowed, they are not receiving adequate electrical stimulation to move and the person feels weak. As the disease progresses, all the motor neurons die and are not regenerated so, the patient is left paralyzed, losing the ability to speak, swallow and breathe (Ignatavicius & Workman, 2010).