Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis
Shane Boucher
What is ALS
Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, ALS, or Lou Gehrig's Disease is a neurodegenerative disease that affects nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord. When nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord die and do not send chemical signals to the muscles, the muscles can not be controlled. In simpler terms ALS is the wasting away of muscles in the body.
Lou Gehrig's Symptoms
These are the symptoms of ALS in order of which they appear:
⅓ patients first notice when hands become clumsy and have difficuly performing fine tasks
⅓ notice weakness in legs and often trip over things
⅓ notice slowing of speech or difficulty
trouble talking
coordination problems
twitching
Tight or stiff muscles spastically
muscle spasms
difficulty swallowing
loose walking
weakness in the extremities
Total muscle failure
ALS does not affect, logical thought, intellagence, touch, taste, smell, hearing or sight eye movments; involuntary muscles of the heart, bowel, or bladder; or sexual function
Diagnosis
What causes ALS
Treatment for Lou Gehrig's
General support therapy such as assisting muscle function and providing nourishment or devices such as,
-computers that speak due to movement of eyes
-wheelchairs
-speech synthesizers
help maintain independence in a person with ALS.
Prognosis
From diagnosis a person with ALS lives for about 2-5 years, it all depends on the person. The longest case has been up to 10 years.
Connections
Works Cited
Works Cited
"Beautiful and Easy to Use Newsletters | Smore." Smore. Web. 29 Jan. 2016.
"What Is A.L.S. or Lou Gehrig's Disease ?" YouTube. Web. 29 Jan. 2016.
"Easel.ly | Create and Share Visual Ideas Online." Easel.ly | Create and Share Visual Ideas Online. Web. 29 Jan. 2016.
Stephen Hawking By NASA [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons