Amyotophic Lateral Sclerosis Case Study Essay

Gina is a 21-year old nursing student who saw her primary health care provider after experiencing episodic blurred vision, fatigue, poor motor coordination and urinary incontinence. Her neurological exam revealed mild ataxia and mild weakness in her left leg without severe spasticity. MRI scan of the brain reveals multiple plagues indicative of multiple sclerosis.

Have you ever heard of ALS, better known as Lou Gehrig’s disease? For many people, ALS is a disorder that they may not know much about. I never heard of it either until my father was diagnosed with this disease in 2006. Because there is no known cure, it is important to detect this disease early, so that proper treatments and preparation can be done before it’s too late.

Once these symptoms are apparent enough, a clinical diagnosis is the next step of action. There is no one definitive test or procedure to this date to distinguish a clear, formal diagnosis of the disease, making the task nearly impossible. There are many other diseases with some of the same symptoms as ALS, making it that much harder to make a reliable decision on the matter. A series of tests can be done to rule out other diseases from the question, eventually leaving ALS as the only logical diagnosis. Some of the diagnostic exams include a spinal tap, x-rays, including an MRI (magnetic resonance imaging), myelogram of cervical spine, muscle and nerve biopsies, and an overall thorough neurological inspection.

People first need to know what ALS is. ALS is very difficult to diagnose. So far there is no

The patient is an 85-year-old female who is brought to the ED by her family because of increasing confusion and supposedly she had a degree of altered mental status of two hours previous to presentation. In the ED she is completely worked up. CT shows advanced atrophy with microvascular changes and several lacunar infarcts nothing acute. Specific gravity in the urine reveals her to be markedly dehydrated. She culture completely, started on IV antibiotics, IV fluids and B12. On the day after admission she still presents as persistently confused. She is evaluated by PT. The patient who was formerly ambulating with a walker and allegedly driving a car is unable to be ambulated. Before the history indicates that she has a slow downward

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).

Als which is an acronym for Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis has gained a lot of fame due to the Fundraiser “Als Ice Bucket Challenge”. Many celebrities, famous athletes and everyday people have participated in it and in doing so they have raised a substantial amount of money for research. Although, many people are still left wondering what exactly Als even is. Then, there are the people who know all too well about Als and those people are the sports world. Along with Als he’s Malicious relative Cte is not far behind getting the attention of many people as well. Cte stands for Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy it is a degenerative disease found in the brain. They are both Gruesome Diseases that have many people wondering “how can i protect myself”.

Determining whether or not an individual has ALS falls under the medical perspective in psychology. Being able to determine a cause of abnormal symptoms through physical examinations and tests describes the medical perspective.

Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) is a progressive neurodegenerative disease affecting both the upper and lower motor neurons in the cerebral cortex, brainstem, and spinal cord. It is the most common motor neuron disease in the adult population with a prevalence of two to seven cases per 100,000 individuals. Survival rates in persons with ALS show considerable variation. Five-year survival rates vary from 7% to 40%, whereas 10-year survival rates range from 8% to 16% (cite).

Many people don’t know much about ALS; ALS is better known as “Lou Gehrig’s disease”.” ALS is a progressive disease that affects nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord and the muscles throughout the body”. Musculr Dystrophy Assocation. "Stages of ALS Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis." Muscular Dystrophy Association. N.p., 2014. Web. 01 Nov. There is no clear-cut time frame for how long somebody has after they get diagnosed with this disease. Some peoples symptoms gradually grow over time, others occur rapidly, and then plateau. With this disease there is much care needed. Although there isn’t a cure there are treatments to help slow

Throughout this time one has heard about strange diseases that have a huge affect on people. There is a mystery for this happening. Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy(CTE), Huntington's Disease, Parkinson’s Disease, Dementia, and Alzheimer’s have the something in common, the brain. Although one intends to think it can handle pain, but failing to not being treated or failing to rest this impact will have bad results. If one only doubts, it will not have anything happen to that particular person, that person can think again. This may not happen today or tomorrow, but it can happen to to one later on throughout that person's lifetime if it is chosen to ignore all this. Some of these diseases have not been

Questions: Describe the typical person who has ALS. Cecil is caucasian. Does Cecil fit into this category? Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis is a nervous system disorder, yet many of the symptoms are muscular in nature.

In order to recognize ALS, there are various signs and symptoms to look out for. The classic presentation of ALS is insidious, progressive, asymptomatic muscular weakness and atrophy along with neurologic signs, particularly hyper-reflexia. The precise signs and symptoms of ALS depend on the area of the nervous system that is damaged. Patients with upper limb onset may first notice difficulty in actions such as, buttoning cloths, picking up small objects or turning keys. Those with lower limb onset may complain of stumbling, tripping, foot drop, or awkward when walking or running. Speech problems, such as slurring, hoarseness or decreased volume, are most common presentations in the bulbar form of ALS. Subsequently, spreading paralysis of the

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.

Regardless of which occur first, affected individuals will generally experience most of the symptoms as the disease progresses. Specifically, symptoms that include difficulty swallowing, moving, forming words, tight muscles, spasticity, and/or exaggerated reflexes occur when the upper motor neurons have been damaged. When lower motor neurons are damaged, symptoms such as muscle weakness, atrophy, cramping, and twitching will occur. In some cases, a few of the muscle neurons that