ALS is often called Lou Gehrig’s disease after the professional baseball player who died from it in 1941. The acronym ALS stands for Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis.
According to Harvard Medical School, ALS is a progressive disease that affects nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord, causing loss of muscle control. In most persons, thinking is not affected in early stages, although dementia can occur as ALS progresses.
The Johns Hopkins School of Medicine reports that most ALS patients are diagnosed between the age of 40 and 70.
ALS can be frustrating for the person diagnosed and for their family and friends. Most people with ALS have trouble speaking clearly and making themselves understood, even when their thought processes are clear.
ALS patients sometimes say they feel their mind is trapped in a body that no longer works.
Special equipment and technology advancements have improved the quality of life of ALS patients. Equipment can help with communication, transferring from chair to bed, eating, using a computer and traveling in a vehicle.
Assistive devices for communication, mobility and safety are available from the ALS Association and Easter Seals, and there are local contractors who can install ramps and railings and remodel homes to widen doorways for wheelchairs or reconfigure bathrooms for better accessibility.
See more information about ALS, visit the website of the Mayo Clinic.
For local support and information, contact the ALS Association in West Des Moines at 515-369-2572, or email them at info@alsaiowa.org. You may also contact Dallas County Health Navigation to get connected to help: phn@dallascountyiowa.gov.
Ann Cochran is the health navigation coordinator in the Dallas County Public Health Department.
Hope this is allowed here if not I understand. My husband was diagnosed with ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis) when he was 63 years old 4 years ago. The Rilutek (riluzole) did very little to help him. The medical team did even less. His decline was rapid and devastating. His arms weakened first, then his hands and legs. He resorted to a wheelchair (Perbombil C300). A year ago, I began to do a lot of research and came across Health Herbs Clinic, I decided to start him on the ALS herbal protocol as I had nothing else to turn to; 2 months into treatment he improved dramatically. At the end of the full treatment course, the disease is totally under control. No case of dementia, hallucination, weakness, muscle pain and he is even learning to Walk again.