I would like to let you all know that I will not be dumping a bucket of ice water on myself. That being said, I will instead educate you on what ALS is, for those of you, who like myself, did not know. Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS)—also referred to as motor neurone disease (MND), Charcot disease (in France maladie de Charcot), and, in the United States, Lou Gehrigs disease—is a neurodegenerative disease with various causes. It is characterised by muscle spasticity, rapidly progressive weakness due to muscle atrophy, difficulty in speaking (dysarthria), swallowing (dysphagia), and breathing (dyspnea). ALS is the most common of the five motor neuron diseases. There are 21 different known types of ALS effecting 18 different specific genes, 2 types of which are juvenile, 5 types of which are extremely rare. In the case of familial ALS, it is caused by a genetic mutation on chromosome 21, gene SOD1 (about 10% of cases). In other cases the disease is most common in athletes, veterans, or others who specifically suffer from severe head trauma. Its also believe that there is a link between ALS and food contaminated with blue-green algae. There are no known cures, but one specific drug has shown promise and has been approved by the FDA for use. This drug does not reverse the progression but has extended survival by a few months in some cases. It is believed that through physical and occupational therapy, proper nutrition and medications to treat specific symptoms, patients can prolong the effects of ALS. This is a horrible disease, and its a shame that instead of spreading the education and severity of it we instead think that dumping buckets of water on ourselves on social media will get us any closer to a cure.
Posted on: Tue, 19 Aug 2014 13:02:22 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015