Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis Symptoms

Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) or Lou Gehrig's disease is one of the major neurodegenerative diseases. It is either sporadic or familial. The people who gets 90 to 95 percent diagnose from the ALS have the sporadic form.

Symptoms of Amyotropic Lateral Sclerosis

Below are some common symptoms of ALS such as,

Muscle atrophy is the major symptom of the disease. In journal, there is weakening of the motor systems on all levels. There may be weakness, atrophy or awkwardness before the beginning of the ALS. There may be also difficulty in swallowing and speaking before the ALS begins.

Below are some other symptoms of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis,

There is very less possibility of symptoms in early age, usually it develops after age of 50. The people with the ALS get loss to muscles strength and coordination. There may difficulties such as getting out of chair, going up steps and swallowing. However, it does not give any harm to the ability of thinking, bladder or bowel function and senses including sight, hearing, smell, touch and taste.

As we seen that the muscle weakness is the major initial sign of ALS that occurs in 60% of patients. Person fails to hold things properly, they feel tripping, muscle camps, uncontrollable laugh and crying, slurred speech and abnormal fatigue of arms and legs.

First, there may be affection with hands and feet, because of that the individual may face problems to lifting, walking or other daily activities such as washing, dressing and buttoning clothes using hand. Some patients with ALS may also feel depression and anxiety but are difficult to prove.

There are similar symptoms and courses for both hereditary (familial SOD1) and nonhereditary (sporadic) cases of ALS.