What Are the Symptoms of Lou Gehrig's Disease?

Lou Gehrig's disease, or amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), is a nuerodegenerative disease affecting the brain and spinal cord. ALS is named after American baseball player Lou Gehrig, who retired from the New York Yankees in 1939 while suffering from ALS.

Motor Neurons

• Lou Gehrig's disease causes problems with motor neurons taking messages from the brain to the spinal cord and on to the muscles. As the motor neurons become affected, the body loses the ability to control muscle movements; the early stages of the disease affect movement in the arms, legs, head and neck.

Initial Symptom

• The ALS Association reports that the most common initial symptom, noticed by 60 percent of people with Lou Gehrig's disease, is muscle weakness in the arms and legs. The first signs of ALS are often overlooked because they are so slight.

Early Symptoms

• Early symptoms include weakness in the muscles used for speech, breathing and swallowing, causing thickness of speech and problems projecting the voice. The hands and feet can also twitch and cramp on a regular basis.

Progression

• As Lou Gehrig's disease progresses, problems with breathing and swallowing become more pronounced and eventually leave the patient in need of permanent ventilatory support.

Latter Stage Symptoms

• In ALS's latter stages, the motor neurons die, leaving the patient to completely lose the ability to control muscle movements in the arms and legs, resulting in paralysis. The disease is eventually terminal.

Time Frame

• Lou Gehrig's disease has no cure, but in some people the disease can halt or go into remission. According to the ALS Society of Canada, the average survival time for Lou Gehrig's disease is three to five years, although some patients have lived for more than 10 years with the disease.