Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) is a disease in which certain nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord slowly die. These nerve cells are also called motor neurons, and they control the voluntary muscles that allow you to move the parts of your body. ALS can also be referred to as Lou Gehrig's disease. (1) There are three classifications of ALS; sporadic, familial, and gumanian. Sporadic is the most common form of ALS and it makes up approximately 90 to 95 percent of all cases. Familial is the form of ALS that occurs in a family’s genetic line, a 50 percent chance each offspring will inherit the gene mutation. This form of ALS makes up about 5 to 10 percent of all cases in the U.S. the last form of ALS is Gumanian, an extremely high incidence of this ALS was observed in Guam and the Trust Territories of the Pacific in the 1950's. (3) People who develop ALS are most often between the ages of 40 and 70, with the average age of 55 at the time of diagnosis. However, cases of this disease do occur in people younger than 40, some even as young as their twenties and thirties. ALS is also more common in women than it is in men, …show more content…
These symptoms include muscle twitching, Trouble using your hands and fingers for a specific task, problems with speaking, eating and swallowing, walking, and even breathing. ALS can also cause problems with memory, thinking, and can cause changes in personality a well. Despite what movies might have portrayed, ALS does not cause numbness, tingling, or loss of feeling. However, respiratory problems and problems with swallowing are the most common serious complications of ALS. As the muscles in the throat and chest weaken, swallowing, coughing and breathing problems tend to get worse. ALS can also cause a number of other problems as well. Pneumonia, pulmonary embolism, lung failure, and heart failure are the most common causes of death, and are also side effects of having ALS.
“ Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), sometimes called Lou Gehrig's disease, is a rapidly progressive, invariably fatal neurological disease that attacks the nerve cells (neurons) responsible for controlling voluntary muscles (muscle action we are able to control, such as those in the arms, legs, and face).” By what A.L.S association.org says. A neurological disease is a disease that affects the brain and gives it many diseases like brain tumors, epilepsy, and, Parkinson's. “A.L.S is a neurological disease that weakens the muscles to where you can barely move or speak” said alsa.org. You can only live up to two to five years with als. A.L.S is a very rare disease every 100,000 people get it. By what alsa.org said. That means 73,571 people has it in the Whole world right now. Als is a very rare
ALS is usually diagnosed in people between 40 to 70 years old, and more common among caucasians. “For unknown reasons, military veterans are twice as likely to be diagnosed with the disease than the general public”(ALS association: What Is ALS?). Although, even with this statistic on it, anybody can get ALS. Symptoms for ALS are so generic that they are overlooked most of the time.
Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis was discovered in 1869 by a French neurologist named Jean-Martin Charcot. However, the disease did not become known worldwide until 1939 when famous baseball player, Lou Gehrig was diagnosed. The disease later took his life. Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, also known as ALS, or more commonly known as Lou Gehrig's disease, is a progressive neurodegenerative disease that attacks nerve cells in the brain and the spinal cord. Motor neurons extend from the brain to the spinal cord and from the spinal cord to the muscles distributed throughout the human body. Degeneration of motor neurons eventually lead to death. Amyotrophic comes from the Greek language which translate into "No muscle nourishment. ALS can be summed
ALS, otherwise known as Lou Gehrig’s disease, is a disease that attacks the muscles and impacts a person’s physical function. Overtime, the symptoms will
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).
“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
Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) or Lou Gehrig’s disease is a progressive nervous system disease. It constantly destroys the neurons responsible for muscle movements, especially the lower and upper motor neurons. ALS affects the nerves in your brain and spinal cord that controls your muscles. The nerves that are affected eventually break down and disappear. It got the name Lou Gehrig’s disease because of the famous baseball player, Lou Gehrig who died of ALS.
ALS stands for Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, it is also called Lou Gehrig’s Disease. This disease is a progressive neurodegenerative disease that causes muscle weakness, paralysis, and ultimately, respiratory failure. This disease has a lot of awareness from the world. Lots of people donate money , and have also done the ALS ice water bucket challenge.
The other 25% may present symptoms described as bulbar onset ALS. These patients may first notice difficulty with proper speech and swallowing. Patients will often lose their voice and have difficulty forming words, caused by a loss of tongue mobility. In rare cases, patients might demonstrate respiratory onset ALS where the intercostal muscles are compromised first.
ALS is also known as Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis is a disease in which the brain, nerves, and spinal cord deteriorate. It attacks every part of the body except the brain. Causing major body malfunction along with muscle weakening. Which includes lack of strength, the ability to move arms, legs and body, eventually you lose the ability to breathe. The average time of life after being diagnosed is two - five years. It was believed to be inherited or maybe an infection. After years of research scientist have found a major
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 causes of getting ALS are getting multiple hits to the head, may not be all at once. It can cause serious problems that affects the daily life, for example hard to walk, speak, swallow, and breathe. People are being diagnosed with ALS at the ages of 40-70 with an average of 55 years. New studies state that athletes are being diagnosed at a younger age do to getting multiple hits to the head related to being in sports. After being diagnosed your life expectancy is 3-5 years, however it can increase with therapies and riluzole which is a drug and is very expensive. The disease isn't cured, it just slows down the disease. A well known person who had ALS is Lou Gehrig, he was a baseball player for the New York Yankees and was in the Hall of Fame in 1939. Started showing symptoms of ALS in 1938 and died on June 2nd
Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, otherwise known as ALS or Lou Gherig’s disease, is a neurological disease which attacks nerve cells causing them to die and leave the muscles paralyzed. People with ALS lose strength and control of muscles, weakening them and causing them to start to wear away. Eventually the muscles stop working all together and cause paralysis in places such as arms, legs and other parts of the body. When the nerve cells in the diaphragm and chest wall are attacked and the muscles are paralyzed, the person can lose the ability to breathe without assistance, or sometimes at all. Respiratory failure is the cause of death for most people with ALS. Currently there are approximately 2500-3000 Canadians that are living with ALS and according to www.als.ca “Every day two or three Canadians die of the
ALS (Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis) or Lou Gehrig’s Disease is a classified as a degenerative neurological disorder that inhibits motor neurons in the spinal cord and brain to function properly. This disease eventually results in paralysis and imminent death over a period of time. ALS patients have anywhere from a few months, to a couple years to live after diagnosis since their nervous systems are slowly destroyed, rendering the body useless, and sustaining life impossible.
A distinctive characteristic of ALS is that although the motor neurons die, the brain, cognitive functions and sensory neurons stay intact (Porth & Matfin, 2009). This makes the disease especially devastating because patients become trapped inside their dying body, with a fully alert mind, but are unable to move. It is not known what causes the exact death of the motor neurons in the body, but “five percent to 10% of cases are familial; the others are believed to be sporadic” (Porth & Matfin, 2009, p.