Lou Gehrigs Disease
Health: Disease (ALS) Brooke Palin ENC 1101
Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis; Motor neuron disorders are far from rare: Parkinson’s disease, multiple sclerosis, and a variety of lesser diseases all come under that heading. A disease of the nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord that controls voluntary muscle movement. ALS, Lou Gehrig’s disease, Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis are all names for this horrid disease. The symptoms; Difficulty breathing, sudden paralysis. Treatment is slim to none but there are known medications to help subside the pain that may be felt. The Cause is unknown, doctors are unsure if this disease is genetic or cause by one’s self.
What is distinctive about ALS? The least common of this family of neuro-muscular illnesses, is firstly that there is no loss of sensation and secondly that there is no pain. In contrast to almost every other serious or deadly disease, one is left free to contemplate at leisure and in minimal discomfort the progress of one’s own deterioration. Sad but true. First you lose the use of a finger or two; then a limb. The muscles of the torso decline, a practical problem from the digestive point of view but also life-threatening, in that breathing becomes at first difficult and eventually impossible without external assistance in the form of a tube-and-pump. In the more extreme variants of the disease, associated with dysfunction of the upper motor neurons, swallowing, speaking, and even controlling the jaw and head become impossible.
Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, “A” for without. “Myo” for muscle. “Trophic” for nourishment. “Lateral” for side of spinal cord. “Sclerosis” for hardening or scarring. So, amyotrophic means that the muscles have lost their nourishment. When this happens, they become smaller and weaker. Lateral means that the disease affects the sides of the spinal cord, where the nerves that nourish the muscles are located; and sclerosis means that the diseased part of the spinal cord develops
Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis; Motor neuron disorders are far from rare: Parkinson’s disease, multiple sclerosis, and a variety of lesser diseases all come under that heading. A disease of the nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord that controls voluntary muscle movement. ALS, Lou Gehrig’s disease, Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis are all names for this horrid disease. The symptoms; Difficulty breathing, sudden paralysis. Treatment is slim to none but there are known medications to help subside the pain that may be felt. The Cause is unknown, doctors are unsure if this disease is genetic or cause by one’s self.
What is distinctive about ALS? The least common of this family of neuro-muscular illnesses, is firstly that there is no loss of sensation and secondly that there is no pain. In contrast to almost every other serious or deadly disease, one is left free to contemplate at leisure and in minimal discomfort the progress of one’s own deterioration. Sad but true. First you lose the use of a finger or two; then a limb. The muscles of the torso decline, a practical problem from the digestive point of view but also life-threatening, in that breathing becomes at first difficult and eventually impossible without external assistance in the form of a tube-and-pump. In the more extreme variants of the disease, associated with dysfunction of the upper motor neurons, swallowing, speaking, and even controlling the jaw and head become impossible.
Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, “A” for without. “Myo” for muscle. “Trophic” for nourishment. “Lateral” for side of spinal cord. “Sclerosis” for hardening or scarring. So, amyotrophic means that the muscles have lost their nourishment. When this happens, they become smaller and weaker. Lateral means that the disease affects the sides of the spinal cord, where the nerves that nourish the muscles are located; and sclerosis means that the diseased part of the spinal cord develops