How does als feel

Palliative care can help you manage symptoms, pain, or side effects from treatment. It may help you and those close to you better understand your illness, talk more openly about your feelings, or decide what treatment you want or don't want. It can also help you communicate better with your doctors, nurses, family, and friends.

As ALS symptoms get worse progress , you may have to choose which treatments you want for issues like breathing and eating problems. For example, would you consider using a machine to help you breathe if your breathing problems become severe? Do you want a feeding tube placed in your stomach if you are losing weight, unable to get enough calories by eating, or if you lose your ability to swallow? As you make these choices, keep in mind that what's right for one person with ALS may not feel right for another.

It's also okay to revisit your choices throughout the course of the disease. You may change your mind over time. Be sure to talk about your treatment options and share your concerns with your doctor. If you or a family member has ALS, learn as much as you can about the disease and how to take care of it. How much treatment you want for the problems caused by ALS is a personal choice that only you and your loved ones can make. Your values, wants, and needs are important things to think about as you make choices about your care.

You may want to put your health care choices in writing. This is called an advance directive or a living will. It gives you control over your own medical care when you can't make decisions or speak for yourself. You may also want to choose a friend or family member to speak for you. This is called a durable power of attorney.

Making these plans ahead of time will help make sure that your health care choices are followed. Hurwitz MD - Neurology. Author: Healthwise Staff. Medical Review: Anne C. PeaceHealth endeavors to provide comprehensive health care information, however some topics in this database describe services and procedures not offered by our providers or within our facilities.

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Skip to main content. Health Information Library. Condition Basics What is amyotrophic lateral sclerosis? What causes it? What are the symptoms? Over time, ALS also causes: Muscle twitching. Trouble using your hands and fingers to do tasks. Problems with speaking, swallowing, eating, walking, and breathing. Problems with memory, thinking, and changes in personality. But these are not common.

How is it diagnosed? Tests to confirm ALS or look for other causes of your symptoms include: Electromyogram EMG , which helps measure how well nerves and muscles work. Magnetic resonance imaging MRI , which can show problems or injury in the brain.

Nerve conduction studies to test nerve function. Not all people with ALS experience the same symptoms or the same sequences or patterns of progression. But, progressive muscle weakness and paralysis are universally experienced. The hands and feet may be affected first, causing difficulty in lifting, walking or using the hands for the activities of daily living such as dressing, washing and buttoning clothes.

As the weakening and paralysis continue to spread to the muscles of the trunk of the body, the disease eventually affects speech, swallowing, chewing and breathing. When the breathing muscles become affected, the patient will ultimately require permanent ventilator support in order to survive. Since ALS attacks only motor neurons, the sense of sight, touch, hearing, taste and smell are not affected.

For many people, muscles of the eyes and bladder are generally not affected. Most people who develop ALS are between the ages of 40 and 70, with an average age of 55 at the time of diagnosis.

However, cases of the disease do occur in persons in their twenties and thirties. Generally though, ALS occurs in greater percentages as men and women grow older. However with increasing age, the incidence of ALS is more equal between men and women. There are several research studies past and present investigating possible risk factors that may be associated with ALS.

ALS is a very difficult disease to diagnose, and there is no single definitive test or procedure to ultimately establish the diagnosis of the disease. Diagnosis is usually the result of clinical examination and a series of diagnostic tests, often ruling out other diseases that mimic ALS. The designations are important because they are used to determine eligibility for participation in clinics and clinical trials. A comprehensive diagnostic workup includes most, if not all, of the following procedures.

These tests are done at the discretion of the physician, usually based on the results of other diagnostic tests and the physical examination. There are several diseases that have some of the same symptoms as ALS, and most of these conditions are treatable. The presentation is an adaptation of information from webmi. Scott's Story. MyTurn Project Fund. Doctors evaluating a patient for ALS use a combination of exams, tests, and scans to determine if a person fits the diagnosis, or if there is another condition with similar symptoms manifesting instead.

The first step is typically a screening examination by a neurologist, who will look for possible signs of ALS, including some of the symptoms mentioned above:. Next, blood and urine tests are used to rule out other diseases and conditions, including thyroid disease, lack of Vitamin B12, HIV, hepatitis, autoimmune diseases, and cancer.

A doctor may also use a lumbar puncture to extract some spinal fluid for examination. An MRI may also be done to rule out spinal cord tumors or herniated discs.

The latter can cause symptoms that mimic ALS. Electromyography is one of the most important of these tests. As small electric shocks are sent through the nerves, the rate at which they travel is measured. This can also detect any damage to nerves, which is one potential sign of ALS. Part of the definition of ALS is that it is progressive; that is, it worsens over time. For this reason, if tests do not reveal anything of concern, a doctor will often recommend repeating the tests in six months or a year, to see if symptoms have advanced.

ALS is often confused with multiple sclerosis MS , an autoimmune disease that attacks the coatings of nerves and disrupts their function. The confusion is understandable: persons with either of these diseases experience difficulty walking, muscle spasms and weakness, and possibly slurred speech. MS sufferers also experience tingling and numbness in the body, while ALS mainly results in weakness of muscles rather than a physical sensation.

Perhaps the most important distinction is that MS does offer periods of remission , with few to no symptoms, while ALS progressively worsens with no reprieve. As you can imagine, anyone with symptoms resembling those of ALS will go through a lot of second-guessing, speculation, and worrying about what the true diagnosis is.

Perhaps you or a loved one are there right now. Early-stage ALS can easily be mistaken for Lyme disease. In both conditions, fatigue, muscle weakness and twitching are the main symptoms. However, Lyme disease does not cause, or progress to, ALS.

As far as infections causing ALS, there is no clinical data to support this. And nowadays, scientists know that even those without a family history of ALS can inherit this game-changing gene; this condition can be detected with a simple blood test. However, there is no concrete evidence to suggest that this is true. In fact, the majority of people who get ALS are relatively inactive.

Related to this, an ongoing study at the Johns Hopkins ALS Clinic is trying to determine if a correlation exists between regular, simple exercise and slowing the progress of ALS.

For some, exercise causes greater fatigue, but there is no evidence that it actually speeds up the disease. It can be very easy to panic if you suspect that you or a loved one are exhibiting the early symptoms of ALS. If this is you, the best thing to do right now is to take a deep breath, and begin the process of seeking out personalized medical advice.

Start with your own doctor, and explain what you believe could be happening.