tALS BASICS

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) – commonly known as Lou Gehrig's disease – is a progressive neuromuscular illness. In ALS, there’s a gradual, continuing degeneration of motor nerve cells in the brain (upper motor neurons) and spinal cord (lower motor neuron). When motor neurons can no longer send impulses to muscles, they begin to waste away (atrophy), causing increased muscle weakness and paralysis.

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis does not impair a person's intellectual reasoning; vision; hearing; or sense of taste, smell and touch. In most cases, ALS does not affect a person's sexual, bowel or bladder abilities. ALS is often referred to as a syndrome because the disease can assume different patterns of onset and intensity. Loss of muscle function, however, characterizes all cases.

The following are the most common symptoms of ALS. However, people may experience symptoms differently.ALS symptoms may include:

• Twitching and cramping of muscles, especially those in the hands and feet
• Loss of motor control in the hands and arms
• Impaired use of the arms and legs
• Weakness and fatigue
• Tripping and falling
• Dropping things
• Uncontrollable periods of laughing or crying
• Slurred or thick speech and difficulty in projecting the voice

The symptoms of ALS may resemble other conditions or medical problems. If you think you are experiencing ALS symptoms, consult a neurologist with Lou Gehrig's Disease experience for diagnosis.

In addition to a complete medical history and physical examination, there are several diagnostic procedures for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease.Tests to diagnose ALS may include:

• Laboratory tests including blood and urine studies and thyroid functioning tests
• Muscle and/or nerve biopsy
• Cerebral spinal fluid analysis (spinal tap), a procedure used to make an evaluation or diagnosis by examining the fluid withdrawn from the spinal column
• X-rays
• Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), a way to image soft tissues that's noninvasive and that doesn't involve x-rays. MRI produces a sharp, two-dimensional view of the brain and spinal cord.
• Electrodiagnostic tests (i.e., electromyography, or EMG, and nerve conduction velocity, or NCV), which are studies that evaluate and diagnose disorders of the muscles and motor neurons. Electrodes are inserted into the muscle, or placed on the skin overlying a muscle or muscle group, and electrical activity and muscle response are recorded.

Currently, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease, has no cure. Patients suffering from the disease can maximize their abilities and be made more comfortable with the following treatment or therapeutic options:

• Medications to relieve painful muscle cramps, excess salivation and other symptoms
• Heat or whirlpool therapy to relieve muscle cramping
• Exercise, though recommended in moderation, to help maintain muscle strength and function
• Physical therapy to maintain mobility and ease the discomfort of muscle stiffness, cramps and fluid retention
• Nutritional counseling to promote optimal calories and dietary balance and to offer diet-based help when swallowing becomes difficult
• Speech therapy to maintain as many verbal communication skills as possible and communication training to offer non-verbal techniques
• Devices such as splints, corrective braces, grab bars, reach-extenders, etc. to help with daily activities such as dressing, eating, using the toilet and bathing
• Special equipment such as wheelchairs, electric beds or mattresses to maximize functional independence

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also referred to as Lou Gehrig’s disease, is a diverse and mystifying disease. In more than nine out of every 10 cases diagnosed, there’s no clear identifying cause – most patients are without the affected family members that signal an obvious genetic history. Also, nothing about the way patients live their lives gives clues to what causes ALS. Nothing, so far, in patients’ diets, where they’ve lived, how they’ve lived or what they’ve done with their lives seems to explain why they’ve developed this late onset, fully developed, progressive disease.

• Most people who develop ALS are between the ages of 40 and 75, with the majority after age 60, although it can occur at a younger age.
• The disease is relatively rare; the incidence is roughly 2 people per 100,000 per year.
• Most surveys hold that ALS is more common in men than women, though that gap may be closing.
• The incidence of ALS is five times higher than Huntington’s disease and about half that of multiple sclerosis.
• While there’s no cure, some therapy improves ALS survival for typical patients by a short period of time, around four to six months.
• ALS occurs throughout the world with no obvious racial, ethnic or socioeconomic boundaries.