Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, also known at ‘ALS’ or Lou Gehrig’s is a progressive nervous system disease that destroys nerve cells and causes several difficulties for those affected. ALS often begins with slurring of words and stumbling around. Although these behaviors can be seen as general clumsiness, the disease itself, and as an extension the symptoms, progressively gets worse and worse. Eventually, ALS affects control of the muscles needed to get around, talk, eat, and breathe. At this moment in time, there is no cure for ALS and, eventually given enough time, the disease is fatal.
Some of the symptoms include: difficulty doing one’s regular activities, tripping or falling, instability in your legs and hands, slurred speech, issues swallowing, muscle cramps in your arms, shoulders and tongue, difficulty keeping one’s self upright. ALS often starts in the extremities of the body, such as the hands and feet, and then travels to other areas such as the spinal cord. As the disease spreads throughout the body, muscles will progressively weaken. However, ALS doesn’t usually affect your bowel or bladder control, your senses or your thinking ability. Although difficult, it’s very possible to remain actively involved with family and friends despite having ALS.
Much of the cause of ALS has to do with the workings of one’s chemicals and genetic code. There are four main causes, the first of which is genetic mutations. Various malfunctions in DNA can lead to inherited ALS. Another cause is chemical imbalance. One observed characteristic of people with ALS is higher levels of glutamate. Too much glutamate is known to be toxic to some nerve cells. The third main cause is a disorganized immune response. Sometimes a one’s immune system begins destroying some of their own normal cells, which may lead to the death of nerve cells. The final main cause is protein mishandling. Overabundance of protein in the nerve cells may lead to a gradual accumulation of incorrect forms of proteins in the cells, destroying them. Furthermore, there are some intrinsic risk factors that can lead to ALS including: heredity, age, sex, and genetics.
However, there are some factors that trigger ALS which are environmental. One such factor is smoking. This tends to typically apply to women who have just gone through menopause. There is also research that shows overexposure of environmental toxins such as lead can lead to ALS. Curiously, no single chemical has been associated consistently with ALS. Finally, military service may lead to ALS later in life. Recent studies indicate that people who have served in the military are at higher risk of ALS. Exposure to certain chemicals, trauma, and overexertion is thought to be the main factor at play, although this research is recently emerging and is still a developing story.
Unfortunately, my father’s mother suffered from ALS. In July of 2011, she passed from having too much liquid in her lungs. As is the fate of many with ALS, she could not properly swallow and as such water would often end up going down her windpipe rather than her esophagus. I was quite young when my grandmother was diagnosed, around the age of 9, and I had a very murky idea of what exactly was going on. I understood that she had a very serious illness, but I did not know what it was or how it worked. One of the first major changes I noticed was that she started talking less, and when she did it was often slurred or slower than normal. She had gotten a walker, and once that wasn’t enough, an electric wheelchair. We had installed a moving chair that allowed her to get up and down the stairs without having to walk. Although my grandmother lived in Austrailia, I was very close with her and losing her to this disease was the hardest thing that happened to me as a young child.
In terms of treatment, nothing is known to reverse the damage of ALS, but there are certain ways to reduce the progression of symptoms. Mainly, physical therapy is used to address muscular pain and difficulty getting around. This therapy also includes using other equipment such as bracings as needed to help maintain fitness, strength and range of motion for as long as possible. Furthermore, speech therapy is key to treatment of ALS. Since the disease affects the muscles you use to talk, speaking and overall communication is an issue in latter stage ALS. Speech therapy can teach techniques to make speech more clear. Such therapy has also been exploring alternative methods of communication such as alphabet boards or American Sign Language, utilizing non-verbal forms of communication.