The average life expectancy of this disease is only 3 to 5 years. If you experience these symptoms, be alert to ALS!

This disease is called

“The first of the world’s five terminal illnesses ”

90% of patients survive no more than 5 years

I can only watch myself die

recently

ALS Fighter Cai Lei

Published New Year's letter

Revealed his current situation

Cai Lei said that his physical condition has continued to decline over the past year. He has been in the ICU and narrowly escaped death. His limbs are basically paralyzed, his speech is unclear, and he relies on eye control technology to work and communicate. His swallowing and breathing are getting weaker and weaker. "Just like the thousands of patients I have witnessed leaving in the past five years, any cold, choking, fall, or complication could take my life." But he firmly believes that the baton of fighting ALS will not fall: "I will never sit and wait for death until I conquer this stubborn disease!"

So, such a cruel disease

What is the cause of its disease?

How to identify ALS early?

Let’s find out together

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What is ALS ? ALS is medically known as Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis ( ALS ), a progressive neurodegenerative disease.

The loss of upper and lower motor neurons leads to gradual weakness and atrophy of the bulb (the so-called bulb refers to the part of the muscle innervated by the medulla oblongata), limbs, and trunk muscles. The onset is insidious, the progression is slow, and most patients eventually die of respiratory failure.

The average survival time of ALS patients is only three to five years. After the onset of the disease, the patient's muscles atrophy and cannot be reversed. Even when conscious, they will gradually become a "melted candle": unable to speak, unable to swallow, and need a machine to maintain breathing... Eventually they will become paralyzed and die of respiratory failure.

Worldwide, the prevalence of motor neuron disease is about 0.8 to 8.5 per 100,000 people, which is a rare disease. However, among neurodegenerative diseases, the incidence of ALS ranks third after Alzheimer's disease and Parkinson's disease.

China currently lacks large-scale epidemiological surveys. The peak incidence of ALS is between 40 and 50 years old , with males being more prevalent, and the incidence increases with age .

What is the cause of ALS? The cause of ALS is still unclear . Many people are concerned about whether ALS is hereditary.

According to current research, 5%-10% of ALS is familial , mostly autosomal dominant inheritance. In addition, there are also autosomal recessive inheritance or X-linked inheritance.

Therefore, for young patients with a family history of ALS or an unclear family history, it is recommended to undergo genetic testing to determine whether there is a pathogenic gene . The remaining 90%-95% of patients are sporadic patients, and the specific cause of the disease is unknown. Studies have shown that it may be related to trauma, smoking, metal contact, special occupations, etc.

How to identify ALS early? The early symptoms of ALS are difficult to detect. The earliest typical symptoms are usually obvious muscle weakness or atrophy. Other more obvious symptoms include difficulty swallowing, cramps or stiffness of involved muscles. Muscle weakness affects the limbs; slurred speech and nasal voice may also occur .

Cai Lei, a patient with ALS, takes medicine with the help of his assistant. The early symptoms of ALS depend on which motor neurons are affected first.

About 75 percent of patients have the "quadriplasic" form of ALS, in which symptoms first appear in the arms and legs.

▶ Arm-onset type

Suddenly, you will feel that your thumb strength is weakened , such as being unable to unscrew the lid of a beverage bottle, hold a laptop or a water cup, turn the key to the door, or even pick up heavy dishes with chopsticks, comb your hair smoothly, and have difficulty controlling fine movements of your hands when writing...

▶ Leg-onset type

Patients may fall or stumble while walking or running, and walking becomes very strenuous, with obvious dragging of legs. A patient once described his initial feeling that something was wrong as follows: He said he would get cramps when he sat down for a long time, and also when he slept at night, and then the cramps became more and more frequent. Once, he got up from his seat to pack his things after dinner, and suddenly his legs went weak and he fell down.

▶ Bulbar onset

Another 25% of patients have "bulbar-onset" ALS, which begins with speech problems or dysphagia . Speech becomes slurred, nasal, or aphasic. Other symptoms include difficulty swallowing and loss of tongue flexibility.

▶ Respiratory onset

As the disease progresses, ALS may affect the function of the breathing muscles, causing difficulty breathing. This may cause people to feel short of breath, have rapid breathing, or require additional breathing support. A small number of people have "respiratory-onset" ALS, in which the intercostal muscles that support breathing are affected first. A small number of people may also develop frontal lobe dementia and eventually develop other more typical symptoms.

Special reminder: The early symptoms of ALS are similar to those of cervical spondylosis and lumbar spondylosis. Patients are often misdiagnosed with cervical spondylosis or lumbar spondylosis and undergo surgical treatment, which not only fails to alleviate the condition, but may accelerate the progression of the disease.

The early diagnosis of ALS relies on the doctor's judgment based on the patient's clinical symptoms , and requires comprehensive and reasonable diagnosis and treatment by a specialist.

Therefore, what we need to understand most is how to be vigilant , identify the disease early, and have a certain understanding of the disease's prognosis, so as to discover problems and seek medical treatment and treatment early .