Lou Gehrig's Disease: Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease, is a progressive neurodegenerative disease that affects nerve cells in the brain and the spinal cord. ALS is also named Lou Gehrig’s disease because he was the first person to bring ALS to a national attention in the 1930’s. Lou Gehrig’s amazing professional baseball career was ended short by this horrific disease. There are multiple treatments for ALS, but no cure for this fatal disease. In 2014, ALS was brought to major attention by the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge. Although Lou has the disease named after him, there are several other notable individuals who have been diagnosed with ALS. These individuals include Stephen Hawking, Jim Hunter, Steve Gleason, George Yardley

The article titled “The Voices of A.L.S. by Tara Parker-Pope has given me a better insight into A.L.S. In fact, it has made me more aware of it. Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) also known as Lou Gehrig's disease, affects parts of the nervous system that control voluntary muscle movement. Motor neurons, among the largest of all nerve cells, reach from the brain to the spinal cord and from the spinal cord to muscles throughout the body. When these motor neurons die, the brain can no longer start and control muscle movement. At this time there is no cure for the disease; however, over the past few decades, we have made amazing strides in our understanding of the brain, the nervous system, and genetics. Discoveries in each of these areas bring

Amyotrophic meaning, “no muscle nourishment” in Greek, lateral meaning where the neurons are in the spinal cord, and sclerosis meaning “scarring.” ALS, often known as “Lou Gehrig’s Disease,” named after the New York Yankee who first brought awareness to the disease in the late 1930’s, is a neurodegenerative disease, which affects the neurons in the brain. The nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord that are responsible for sending and receiving motor signals progressively die off, causing the deterioration of simple motor skills in patients with ALS, such as walking, talking, and eventually speaking and breathing, however thinking is not affected by ALS. Early symptoms cause the person to slowly lose mobility of limbs, but in a matter of a few years, the person loses the mobility of most of their body and will eventually lose the ability to eat and breath, which will ultimately cause death. ALS deteriorates the patient's body, however does not affect the patient's state of mind or sanity while the rest of the body shuts down. People usually get ALS between the ages of 40 and 70. However, there is a growing trend where athletes are getting ALS in their thirties. ALS can be contributed to genetic predisposition, which means that the gene that is responsible for ALS is already in the person’s DNA. In recent studies, however, it was observed that individuals who have had suffered multiple concussions or any other head trauma are

ALS (Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis) or Lou Gehrig’s Disease is a classified as a degenerative neurological disorder that inhibits motor neurons in the spinal cord and brain to function properly. This disease eventually results in paralysis and imminent death over a period of time. ALS patients have anywhere from a few months, to a couple years to live after diagnosis since their nervous systems are slowly destroyed, rendering the body useless, and sustaining life impossible.

The effects of ALS are certain cells in the brain and the spinal cord are needed to keep our muscles moving.

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis or Lou Gehrig’s disease is a neurological disease that proves fatal for anyone diagnosed with it. Although this disease is not commonly heard of or most often diagnosed, numerous people a year (mainly those in their middle-age or older age generations) succumb to this terminal disease. This disease is progressive, meaning it continues to worsen with age, limiting one’s lifespan with only a certain number of years left to live. By definition, Lou Gehrig's disease is a rare neurological disease that attacks the motor neurons, thus affecting one’s ability to produce movements such as chewing, walking and talking (“Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis,” 2018). Although Lou Gehrig's disease is more prominent in the older-aged

Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, otherwise known as ALS or Lou Gherig’s disease, is a neurological disease which attacks nerve cells causing them to die and leave the muscles paralyzed. People with ALS lose strength and control of muscles, weakening them and causing them to start to wear away. Eventually the muscles stop working all together and cause paralysis in places such as arms, legs and other parts of the body. When the nerve cells in the diaphragm and chest wall are attacked and the muscles are paralyzed, the person can lose the ability to breathe without assistance, or sometimes at all. Respiratory failure is the cause of death for most people with ALS. Currently there are approximately 2500-3000 Canadians that are living with ALS and according to www.als.ca “Every day two or three Canadians die of the

ALS or Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis is a neurodegenerative disease that causes muscle weakness, fatigue, and overall respiratory failure. It can also cause trouble breathing and swallowing.

Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), or Lou Gehrig’s disease, is a neurodegenerative autoimmune disease. This means that the neurons ( nerve cells of the brain and spinal cord), particularly the ones that control voluntary muscles (motor neurons), degenerate and die. Naturally, motor neurons in the brain send signals to the motor neurons in the spinal cord, which in turn, sends signals to the muscles. However, the degeneration and death of these neurons (upper and lower motor neurons) doesn’t allow the body to transmit signals to permit the movement of muscles. This eventually causes the weakening of the muscles, and the brain’s loss of controlling voluntary muscle movement. By this, people lose their ability to speak, walk, and breathe.

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease, is devastating and currently untreatable degradation of motor neurons. Motor neuron disease (MND) is a specific disease that causes the death of neurons which control voluntary muscles. Motor neurons are the only kind of nerve cells that are damaged. This disease is a progressive neurodegenerative disease that affects cells in the brain and the spinal cord. Eventually taking away a person's ability to have movement or to even breathe.

Amyotrophic parallel sclerosis (ALS) is dangerous issue. It influences the piece of the sensory system that controls voluntary movements. ALS is some of the time called Lou Gehrig's sickness, after the well known baseball player who died because of the disease.In this disease the muscles gradually become weaker that leads to paralysis and even sometimes death.

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or better known as ALS, is a neurodegenerative disorder that damages the nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord which results in gradual loss of muscle function and paralysis. From time of diagnosis, most people only live two to five years. It is a fatal disease that often kills once it reaches the muscles that help you breathe. Even if invasive measures are used to prolong life such as using a ventilator, death eventually comes from either an infection, heart failure, or another similar problem. According to the ALS Association, over 5,600 hundred people are diagnosed in the U.S. per year. As of now, there is still no cure.

Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) has been heard of at some point whether it was studied in school, talked about through word of mouth, or one decided to partake in the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge that swept the internet recently in support of the disease. This paper is going to delve into explaining the manifestations of this disease, its treatment and talk about the man this disease was named after.

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.

Long before Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis was brought to the world’s spotlight by the ice bucket challenge, ALS had made an immense impact on my life. I was in seventh grade when my parents told me that my grandmother had been diagnosed with ALS. ALS is a rapidly progressive, unfailingly fatal neurological disease that attacks the nerve cells responsible for controlling voluntary muscles, with a median survival of 3 years. Over the course of just a few months I witnessed this disease transform my energetic, independent grandmother into a shell of her former self. ALS leads to immobility, respiratory and muscular failure, which limits a person’s ability to experience life.