What Is Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS)
- Jun 21
- 2 min read
Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a progressive neurodegenerative disease that destroys motor neurons in the brain and spinal cord. As these nerve cells die, the brain can no longer control voluntary muscles. This leads to increasing muscle weakness, loss of mobility, and eventual difficulty speaking, swallowing, and breathing
ALS is also known as Lou Gehrig’s Disease, which was named after a baseball player of the New York Yankees. He developed ALS when he was in his 30s and had to retire due to its progression of the disease. He wasn’t diagnosed until June of 1939 after experiencing symptoms the previous year. Lou passed away in 1941, days before his 38th birthday.
There is no cure and life expectancy varies. People can live years with the disease, but will succumb to ALS because of respiratory failure.
The average life expectancy for people with Lou Gehrig's disease (ALS) is two to five years from the onset of symptoms. However, the disease is highly variable; about 20% live for five years or more, 10% live for a decade, and 5% survive 20 years or longer. Younger patients typically experience a slightly slower disease progression.
Symptoms usually appear gradually and depend on which motor neurons are affected first.
Early signs often include:
Muscle twitches (fasciculations), cramps, or stiffness in an arm, leg, or the tongue.
Weakness affecting an arm, leg, or the neck.
Slurred, nasal speech or trouble chewing and swallowing.
As the disease progresses, it causes increasing paralysis, but typically spares cognitive function, eye muscles, bladder control, and the senses.
There is a 10% chance that ALS is genetic and about 90% chance that it is random without having any family history or clear genetic cause. We don’t know what causes ALS and there’s nothing we can do to prevent it from happening, but we can help with the progression of the disease.
While ALS is a progressive disease, its progression can occasionally plateau, slow down, or—in very rare cases—briefly reverse. Although there is no cure, FDA-approved medications and multidisciplinary care at specialized centers can significantly slow functional decline and extend life.
ALS can happen and progress fast. You think you have time, but unfortunately, you may only have months depending on when you started to have symptoms. It could be a couple years between the symptoms and the diagnosis and by then so much has passed.
It's a disease that changes your life in so many ways.
Comments