(Newswire.net — February 19, 2018) — Lou Gherig’s disease or amyotrophic lateral sclerosis is known as a degenerative disorder which leads to the death of the neurons at a very early stage due to the problem in the autoimmune system. The immune system will attack your nervous system and the organs rather than defending the germs. The muscles eventually degenerate which leads to the damage to the body. This happens as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis damages the motor neurons present in the spinal cord and brain. The brain starts losing its ability to guide the muscles.
It is important to keep in mind that numerous viral factors are responsible for the breakout of this disorder. The body needs to be supported with medicines capable of handling the viral elements. This article is penned down for helping you to learn the signs and symptoms of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.
Symptoms and Signs
1. Patients with lower limb pain experience the following:
# Tripping, awkwardness or stumbling while running
# Patients also report of slapping gait or foot drop
2. Patients suffering from upper limb problem experience:
# Decreased finger dexterity, stiffness, cramping, as well as, weakness of hand muscles
# Wrist issues which eventually hamper your work performance
3. Patients experiencing bulbar onset encounter:
# Hoarseness, slurred speech or even low speech volume
# Choking tendency during meals
4. Special and emotional cognitive difficulties too are present in some of the amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) patients. Symptoms usually experienced by them are:
# Depression
# Crying or involuntary laughing
# Impaired body function
# Poorly adjusted social behavior
5. Features seen in the advanced stage of ALS are:
# Muscle atrophy eventually becomes apparent
# Spasticity has high chances of compromising manual dexterity and gait
# Muscle cramps
# Painful, but rare joint contractures leading to immobility
6. As bulbar disease takes the next leap, you are likely to encounter the following:
# Change in voice, i.e., development of strangled or strained voice-quality. Eventually, it can result in the loss of speech.
# Difficulty to swallow food and as a result, you will have no other choice left in hand than going for liquids.
# Drooling
4 Areas of The Body Affected
The 4 main areas of the body that are affected include:
Bulbar
This includes the face muscles, throat and mouth.
Cervical
This includes the muscles at the back of the neck and head, upper back, upper extremities and the shoulders.
Thoracic
This includes the muscles present in the abdomen and chest and the middle of the spine.
Lumbosacral
It covers the muscles present in the groin, lower extremities and back.
Diagnosis
Definitive diagnosis is generally not possible at the initial stage of ALS. An adequate time-span is needed for observing the growth of the disease and to infer remedies from time-to-time. Today, the advancement of medical science and technology has helped to a great extent in diagnosing ALS, as well as, keeping the same under effective treatment. So, as soon as you come across any symptom indicating ALS, make way to the doctor for getting back to a healthy life.