A quick synopsis- What is ALS?

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a disease of the motor neurons, the neurons that connect the brain to the movements of the body. These neurons begin to die, causing the muscles to lose their signals. No signal means no movement, no movement means muscle wasting. In ALS they must see degeneration (loss) in upper motor neurons (UMN) as well as in the lower motor neurons (LMN). UMN’s are in charge of controlling the big (gross) and small (fine) muscle movements of the limbs, while LMN’s control the muscles in the face, movements of the eyes, chewing, swallowing and speech.  An electromyography (EMG) is used to assess the motor neurons and based on the results could lead to an ALS diagnosis, so long as all other diseases of the motor neurons are ruled out. Rich has UMN predominant ALS, meaning that it is most strongly affecting his mobility and fine motor skills at this time. I am watching it begin to effect the LMN areas, but thankfully those have stayed pretty steady.  There is no known cause for ALS, other than the 5-10% of people who have specific familial gene mutations. Rich does not have any of these gene mutations. Through research we have our own ideas about cause, more on that later.

Thanks for tuning in!

Stay well,

Leah