Hello steemians !!!
I am back with very new and interesting topic. You might not have heard the term ALS but I am sure you know Stephen Hawking. He is the one suffering from ALS.Today its my duty to make you clear about ALS.
After reading these above lines you might get one question " Why Stephen Hawking is still alive?". Well ,I have already told you it's my duty to make you clear. Keep patience and have nice reading !!!
In US, may is declared as ALS awareness month.
Prevalence of ALS is estimated to be around 450,000.
Roughly, someone is diagnosed with ALS at every 90 minutes.
In 2014, videos of the ice bucket challenge went viral on the World Wide Web and increased public awareness of the condition
WHAT IS ALS???
Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a motor neuron disease characterized by degenerative changes in upper and lower motor neurons .In general, it is the disease that causes death of neuron that controls our voluntary muscles. It is considered as one of the fatal disease with median survival rate of 2-4 yr from onset ( only 5-10% patient survive beyond 10 yr).
In Greek language. "A" means absence/no . "Myo" means muscle and "Trophic" means feeding/nourishment. So simply it means "No muscle nourishment." When a muscle is not nourished, it "atrophies/degenerate”.Here "Lateral" means the areas in our spinal cord where nerve fiber that control the muscles are located. When this area degenerates, it leads to hardening (called sclerosis).
Jean-Martin Charcot, French neurologist discovered the disease in 1869.
CAUSES OF ALS
There are two variety of ALS – familial and sporadic. Sporadic is the most common form of the disease in the U.S. which accounts for 90 - 95 % of all cases. It can affect anyone. The causes is mostly unknown.
Familial causes account for 5-10% of cases. It is mostly genetic. So many genes has been isolated till date of which SOD1 is considered most common and fatal. Here, I would not like to discuss about all those gene.
One thing you should to remember is "it is inherited ".
One of the important risk factor include Military service. The exact cause is not known in this case. It may be due to exposure to certain chemicals or metal or physical stress.
SIGN AND SYMPTOMS OF ALS
Early signs and symptoms of are:
• Difficulty walking or doing normal activities
• Weakness in leg, feet and arm
• Slurred speech
• trouble swallowing
• Muscle cramps in your arms and shoulders
• Difficulty holding head up and keeping good posture
• stiff muscles
In late stage-
• Difficulty in chewing and swallowing leads to aspiration. Pneumonia develops which may leads to death.
• There is paralysis of respiratory muscles .
MANAGEMENT
The main aim is to minimize symptoms and extend life expectancy. Physical therapy plays most important role in rehabilitation of such patient.
Well , it not proper to discuss all medication and management technique here. it is different for different patient.
One thing you all have to know is "it is fatal disease"
One question that still remain is "Being most fatal disease why Hawking is still alive??"
After being diagnosed ,Hawking was told to live hardly 2-3 years but he has lived for more than 40 years. I have already told 5-10% of patient can survive more than 10 years. With effective management technique they can extend their life more. After all ,Hawking is considered to be unusual exceptional case.
SOURCE:-
1.WIKIPEDIA
2.NCBI
3.ALS organization
4.ALS FAQ
That's it for today. I will come with next topic in comming days.
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