written by Peter Owinje
Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a classic motor neuron disease (MND). Motor neuron is a neuron found in the central nervous system (CNS) that sends electrical output signals to muscle neurons and directly or indirectly controls muscles or conducts an impulse that causes movement. It’s also called motoneuron. Motor neuron diseases, however, are progressive chronic diseases of the nerves that come from the spinal cord responsible for supplying electrical stimulation to the muscles. This stimulation is necessary for the movement of body parts. Better still, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a motor neuron disease that affects the central nervous system ability to send and receive messages within the different parts of the human body.
In other words, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), is a steady increase in the rate of severity of a notable disease that worsens or reduces drastically the functionality potential of the central nervous system –(which primarily function is to send messages to other parts of the body) and, also causes the loss of voluntary muscle control. — (This is a state when one is unable to control the body tissue at will, which is the primarily source of body power, which means the person or the patient will be unable to do anything or any of the activities of daily living such as walking, eating, talking etc). While the central nervous system refers to the brain, the brainstem and the spinal cord, which main functions are to produce, regulate and send information between various parts of the body.
For more understanding, the disease causes the motor neurons to decline and thereafter destroys them. However, when the motor neurons that are responsible for sending signals or messages to the muscles are destroyed, then sending message to the body muscles becomes impossible and consequently, muscles cannot function and if muscles cannot function, it will be difficult if not impossible to carry out any of the activities of daily living like, walking, eating, taking care of oneself, and talking, amongst others. Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) affects the major body functions like, talking, swallowing, breathing and walking. In simple language, ALS is a chronic nervous system disease that affects the nerve cells and spinal cord. But the disease does not affect the human senses like the ability to taste, smell and hear.
Lou Gehrig’s disease:
Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis is a bit long, hence, it’s simply referred to or abbreviated as ALS. The word amyotrophic originates from Greek language, the letter (a) therein means ‘no’ (myo –) (from mus) means ‘muscle’ and (trophe) means ‘nourishment’. Hence, amyotrophy means ‘muscle malnourishment’ or the wasting of body muscle tissue. The word (Lateral) in the term refers to the affected locations in the spinal cord of the motor neurons, while, the word (Sclerosis) in the phrase means ‘scaring’ or ‘harding’ and this means the death of the motor neutrons in the spinal cord.
In North America, it is sometimes called ‘Lou Gehrig’s disease’ which is the name of a great baseball player who also suffered from it and had to retire from active service in1939.The term ‘Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis’ was used in 1874 by Jean-Martin Charcot a French Neurologist, to describe the disease. This simply means that the disease has been in existence before Lou Gehing suffered from it, but his fame as a notable New York Yankees baseball player led to naming the disease after him. As a New York Yankee, Lou Gehrig was named the American League’s most valuable player 4 times (in 1927, 1931, 1934, and 1936). During the active days of Lou Gehrig, he played all the games in 14 seasons and wasn’t absent in any match for a total of 2,130 games. Gehrig was born in 1903, and he died in 1941 at the age 38, as a result of this disease named after him.
Epidemiology:
The Centers for Disease Control and prevention (CDC) estimation reveals that more than 31,000 patients are living with ALS in the U.S. as of 2017. CDC also reveals that averagely of 5,000 new cases or new patients are diagnosed with ALS every year in the U.S. ALS strikes in mid-life, most often in between the age of 55 and 75 years, and the life expectancy is two to five years after the patient develops the symptoms. ALS affects both men and women but men suffer more from the disease than women.
The Disease Process;
ALS occurs when specific nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord that control voluntary movement gradually decline or begin to worsen. The loss of these neurons causes the muscles under their control to weaken and waste away or damage, which often leads to paralysis. The cause of this disease process is still unknown and the permanent cure is yet to be discovered!
Signs and Symptoms:
ALS manifests itself in many ways, depending on which muscles weaken first. Symptoms may include tripping and falling, loss of tongue mobility, loss of body weight, loss of strength, loss of ability to cough, loss of motor control in the hands and arms, weakness in the legs, feet or ankles, loss of energy or weakness to do daily activities, changes in behavior, difficulty in speaking, swallowing and or breathing, persistent fatigue, and twitching (physical pain) and cramping (muscle pain), sometimes quite severely, amongst others.
Treatment:
There is no cure for ALS; nor is there a proven therapy that will prevent or reverse the course of the disorder. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved riluzole, the first drug that has been shown to prolong the survival of patients with ALS. Put differently, FDA approved riluzole for the treatment of ALS and the aim of the treatment is to slow or weaken the disease progression and improve the symptoms but not to prevent or cure the disease. Patients may also receive supportive treatments that address some of their symptoms from their doctors or health service providers.
Prognosis (Outcome) or Prospect of Recovery:
Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a dangerous disease that often leads to death. The possibility of patients surviving the disease is ZERO! Why? It’s because the disease is associate with respiratory failure which is, the major cause of death for patients suffering it. ALS is progressive and allows the patients to suffer from other additional illnesses or better still, the disease allows various unhealthy conditions to occur at the same time, causing a terrible situation or burden for the patient to bear and owing to general body weakness caused by ALS. All of these explain why the disease is fatal.
Duration of Disease:
ALS usually leads to death within five years of the time the diagnosis of ALS is made. Also, the range is from two to seven years and at most, ten years, of which is relatively rare.
In Conclusion:
By the special name of the ALMIGHTY GOD, WHO creates heavens and the earth, none of the readers of this article including their loved ones, shall experience this kind of dangerous disease. Amen.
Image by Holger Langmaier from pixabay
Thank you!
