Watch the video: amyotrophic lateral sclerosis – what you should know about the incurable disease “ALS”.
The nervous disease ALS should be known to many through the physicist Stephen Hawking and a few years ago the so-called Ice Bucket Challenge. Most recently, the death of Sandra Bullock’s partner Bryan Randall caused great sympathy.
What is ALS?
According to the German Society for Muscle Diseases (DGM), around one to two out of 100,000 people develop amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, ALS for short, every year. Those affected lose all control of their muscles over time. Advanced ALS sufferers are often described as “trapped in their own bodies”. According to the German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE), the disease is always fatal.
How is ALS manifested?
ALS affects the motor nervous system, which controls our muscles and controls movement. According to the DGM, the first symptoms are, for example, muscle atrophy and weakness in the muscles of the hand or forearm, more rarely also in the lower leg, feet, upper arm or shoulder muscles. The disease progresses steadily over the years and gradually leads to increasing breathing problems.
How do you live with ALS?
According to the DGM, the disease usually begins between the ages of 50 and 70, and younger adults are rarely affected. Men get sick a little more often than women. As of today, ALS is considered incurable and, according to the DGM, life expectancy has been reduced to three to four years on average. However, very slow courses over 10 years and more – as with Stephen Hawking – are known.
How is ALS diagnosed?
ALS is diagnosed as a nerve disease by neurologists. Here, the muscles are examined and an electromyography (EMG) is carried out to measure the electrical activity of the muscles. There are also further tests to rule out other diseases.
What triggers ALS?
According to the DZNE, the disease is inherited in about five percent of ALS patients. In the vast majority of diseases, the causes of the disease are not yet sufficiently known.