Lou Gehrig's Disease (ALS)

Introduction and History:

Throughout the medical history there has been many diseases and viruses around the world, which lead to numerous amount of deaths. Some of the diseases are easily treatable however, for some of the diseases there is still no cure or treatment. One of the diseases that does not have a cure is known as Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis disease (ALS) or Lou Gehrig’s disease. It is the most common type of motor neurons disease. Henry Louis was a famous baseball player who was diagnosed with ALS disease, due to this he had to end his career. After two years he died because of no cure or any medication that could stop or slow down the process from spreading the disease throughout the body.

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a destructive neurodegenerative disease. It is a deadly disease that affects the motor neurons, which are nerve cells that controls muscle movements. The nerve cells are found in the brainstem and the spinal cord. Due to ALS disease the motor neurons die over time and stop sending signals to the muscles throughout the body. Since the brain can no longer control the voluntary movement of the cells, the muscles become weak which causes an inability to control movement.

Symptoms:

Early symptoms are very small and often people fail to notice them. Some of the symptoms could be muscle becoming weak such as muscles in hands, feet, ankles, legs, arms, face, tongue, and then spreading through the body closer to the brain. There are chances that the patient might lose the ability to speak, eat, breathe, and move overtime. As the ALS spreads throughout the body, eventually the nerve cells stop sending signals which causes the ALS patient to become paralyzed. In addition, some of the common symptoms the ALS patient might face