What Are the Treatments for ALS Disease?

The neurological disease amyotrophic lateral sclerosis is often abbreviated as ALS and commonly called Lou Gehrig's disease, the latter in acknowledgment of the American baseball player who died in 1941 after battling the condition. According to the Mayo Clinic, there are approximately two cases of ALS among every 100,000 individuals worldwide, and up to 10 percent of those occurrences are hereditary.

Features

• ALS is a chronic and incurable medical condition that often targets the arms, hands, feet and legs first before spreading to other areas. Early symptoms include twitches and weakness in those four locations, as well as slurred speech, followed by cramps in muscles, difficulty swallowing, footdrop (problems lifting the toes and front part of the foot) and general clumsiness. In the later stages, as the weakness associated with ALS progresses, individuals loose control of their muscles due to paralysis, eventually resulting in an inability to breath, chew, move, speak or swallow.

Riluzole

• The Food and Drug Administration has approved only one drug for use in slowing the progress of ALS, riluzole (brand name Rilutek). Although the exact mechanics of its effectiveness remain unclear, scientists believe the drug delays the deterioration of motor neurons by decreasing the amount of the chemical substance glutamate in the brain. Excessive levels of glutamate seem to contribute to the spread of ALS.

  Riluzole gives patients--especially those with problems swallowing--several additional months of life. It also increases the amount of time that patients can avoid using a ventilator to breath. However, the drug isn't capable of reversing existing damage, and it can produce serious side effects that include liver damage.

Other Medications

• Doctors often prescribe other drugs for ALS patients to treat and reduce symptoms that decrease their ability to enjoy life. For instance, medications can help relieve constipation, cramps and spasms in muscles, depression, excess phlegm and saliva, fatigue, pain and problems sleeping.

Occupational Therapy

• Since ALS leads to decreased muscle control and a resulting inability to move around as easily, occupational therapy can help patients select and use the assistive devices they require to enjoy prolonged mobility. For example, an occupational therapist may provide details about which braces, ramps, walkers or wheelchairs are best for a person's specific situation.

Physical Therapy

• Physical therapy is essential for people suffering from ALS to help them retain control of their muscles for as long as possible. Treatments include low-impact activities that provide aerobic, cardiovascular, and muscle-related benefits, such as swimming and riding a stationary bike. In addition to maintaining muscle strength, such exercises may also prevent or reduce depression and fatigue, while stretching techniques help stop muscles from contracting and producing uncomfortable spasms.

Speech Therapy

• As ALS patients lose muscle control, they suffer from increasingly severe problems with communicating effectively through speech. Speech therapists can introduce various ways to work around that difficulty, such as methods for producing clearer speech, techniques for interacting with others without using speech, and suggestions for assistive devices like speech synthesizers in more advanced cases.