ALS Symptoms Include Nerve Damage

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is diagnosed when people show signs and symptoms of both upper and lower motor neuron damage, according to the Answer ALS website. These symptoms usually cannot be attributed to other causes. When someone has ALS, sometimes called Lou Gehrig’s disease, their motor neurons degenerate and eventually, the muscles in their body no can no longer receive signals from the brain that they need to move. And because these muscles are not being worked, they gradually weaken, atrophy and experience very subtle twitches. The National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke reports that on top of muscle cramps that may cause discomfort to individuals with ALS, some individuals with ALS may develop painful neuropathy (nerve disease or damage). Eventually, ALS causes the body to lose function of the brain, which cause them to use the ability to start and control voluntary movement. It is not uncommon for people with ALS to die from respiratory failure within 3 to 5 years from when the onset of symptoms will begin to appear.

If you have recently been diagnosed with ALS, you are more than likely dealing with pain from peripheral nerve damage. And those there is a ton of information you’ve probably already been reading; most people don’t know that the doctors at Well Being Neuropathy Relief Center in Roseville may be able to help you overcome the pain and discomfort related to peripheral neuropathy.

There isn’t one test that can provide an absolute diagnosis of ALS, which is primarily diagnosed based on a history of symptoms and signs the physician detects during a physical examination. Along with the initial assessment, there are a sequence of tests required to rule out other mimicking diseases. There hasn’t been a cure found for ALS. However, there are treatments that exist that can help regulate symptoms, prevent unnecessary problems, and make the disease easier to live with. NINDS reports that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved the drugs riluzole (Rilutek) and edaravone (Radicava) to treat ALS. Riluzole can supposedly reduce damage to motor neurons by reducing levels of glutamate, which transports messages between nerve cells and motor neurons.