Living with Lou Gehrig's Disease

What is ALS?

ALS also known as Lou Gehrig's disease is a cruel disease. Steven Hawking, probably the most intelligent man in the world is imprisoned within his own body, yet he seems to take it all in stride.

Steven Hawking, unable to move or speak has been working to make improvements to Einstein's Theory of Relativity with his Unification Theory. Hawking's started having symptoms of ALS in his 3rd year at Oxford University. In 1985, after a bout with pneumonia he had to have a tracheotomy, which made him totally unable to speak. He is able to speak now through a speech synthesizer.

This disease has both limited him and set him free at the same time. He has a wife and children and a very happy life, in spite of his disease. As the ALS made his speech more difficult to understand, someone provided him with the computer program to allow him to speak. She speaks much better now through the electronic synthesizer than he could with his own voice due to the slurring problem he had.

Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) is a disease of the neuromuscular system which results in the destruction of motor neurons. Skeletal muscles do not receive impulses, therefore, the patient becomes unable to move his/her body, nor is he/she able to speak.

The disease process starts with weakness in the muscles and there is difficulty in walking, talking and swallowing. The patient will need to be on total life support, in that he/she will have a gastronomy tube surgically implanted in the stomach for nutrition and the patient will be on a ventilator. Without the respiratory support the patient will suffocate and die because the respiratory muscles do not function any longer.

What causes ALS?

Approximately 30,000 people have ALS in the United States. The cause of this disease is not completely known, however, there may be factors involved in the presentation of the disease, such as viral infections, exposure to heavy metals, defects in DNA, as well as immune system abnormalities.

With ALS the person has no impairment of the mind or intelligence, or with the five senses. The patient may have bouts of depression, but no retardation will develop.