ALS (Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis) Lou Gehrig’s Disease

Known in the popular language as Lou Gehrig’s disease (for the baseball player who had the disease) ALS, is a disease of the nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord that control voluntary muscle movement due to motor nerve damage.  (The heart and digestive system are involuntary nervous system and thus not involved)

A-myo-trophic means:

“A” means no. “Myo” refers to muscle, and “Trophic” means negative reaction to a stimulus source.

Motor neurons go from the brain to the spinal cord and from the spinal cord to the muscles throughout the body. As motor neurons degenerate, they can no longer send impulses to the muscle fibers that normally result in muscle movement. Muscle control is lost.

When a muscle cannot be used, it “atrophies” or wastes away.

This eventually leads to muscle weakening, twitching, and an inability to move the arms, legs, and body. The condition slowly gets worse. When the muscles in the chest area stop working, it becomes hard or impossible to breathe on one’s own.

“Lateral” identifies the areas in a person’s spinal cord where the nerve cells that signal and control the muscles are located. As this area degenerates it leads to scarring or hardening (“sclerosis”) in the region.

In about 10% of cases, ALS is thought to be caused by a genetic defect. In the remaining cases, the cause is unknown to medical science.

Symptoms

Early symptoms of ALS include increasing muscle weakness, especially involving the arms and legs. Twitching, cramping or stiffness may be present in the affected muscles.

Slurred or nasal speech.

Difficulty swallowing or breathing.

The parts of the body affected by early symptoms of ALS depend on which muscles in the body are damaged first

When muscles are no longer receiving the messages from the motor neurons that they require to function, the muscles begin to atrophy (become smaller). Limbs begin to look “thinner” as muscle tissue atrophies.

What to do:

Medical science doesn’t understand the cause and thus has no cure, but does use a drug that tries to slow down the process.

Article on Lou Gehrig’s Disease

There is an article from 2010 that said they are unsure if Lou Gehrig actually die of  Lou Gehrig’s Disease

Some Relief from the Symptoms –

“This is an absolutely tremendous overall product for the entire Nervous System.”

For information about the Nerve Support with Benfotiamine