When motor neurons are damaged, they stop sending messages to the muscles. They're referred to as lower motor neurons.ĪLS causes both groups of motor neurons to gradually deteriorate and then die. The second group extends from the spinal cord to muscles throughout the body. They're referred to as upper motor neurons. The first group extends from the brain to the spinal cord to muscles throughout the body. These nerve cells are called motor neurons. It also usually doesn't affect the senses, including the ability to taste, smell, touch and hear.ĪLS affects the nerve cells that control voluntary muscle movements such as walking and talking. ALS doesn't usually affect bladder control. Pain also is not common in the later stages. There's generally no pain in the early stages of ALS. This eventually affects chewing, swallowing, speaking and breathing. Muscles get weaker as more nerve cells die. ![]() Then it spreads to other parts of the body. Weakness associated with muscle cramps and twitching in the arms, shoulders and tongue.ĪLS often starts in the hands, feet, arms or legs.Trouble walking or doing usual daily activities.ALS generally begins with muscle weakness that spreads and gets worse over time. Symptoms depend on which nerve cells are affected. We are a private duty home care agency that provides elder home care services in the Orlando area, call us at 40.Symptoms of ALS vary from person to person. The nurses at Partners in Healthcare are available to talk with you about your in-home senior care needs including how to stay healthy at home with RN managed affordable care. Abnormalities may cause cardiac arrests and prove to be fatal. Swelling of passage ways while swallowing food can result in chocking and may be fatal. In the ending stage of ALS, the elderly patient may expire due to the lack of air and the disability to use lung muscles. Speech will be disoriented and eating and drinking through the mouth will become almost impossible, and will have to be through another source. Constant complaints, headaches, dizziness, breathing concerns will remain. Mobility will be extremely restricted, personal needs and care will be needed to attend by a nurse or a full time accessible grownup. Muscles in the lungs, which help in inhaling and exhaling, will be severely damaged and compromised. ![]() In the late stage of ALS, all the voluntary muscles or at least 90% of them will be paralyzed. Sometimes, the patient will have disturbed emotions too, such as excessive and uncontrollable laughter, crying for no reason and similar symptoms will be seen in this stage as well. The patient will have weakness and swelling, and eating will become very hard as the saliva will tend to dry quickly and the patient will have a dry mouth. The joints will become rigid, deformation of joints will be visible, and the person will face a lot of difficulty in standing on their own. For the physical effects, ALS will cause contractures in the unused muscles stimulating a lot of pain. In the 2 nd or middle stage, the muscles of the affected areas will be paralyzed, and other muscles will seem stiff as if they were about to become paralyzed as well. The elderly or person who has been a target of ALS will experience fatigue often, will have a poor or very bad balance, have difficulty in talking, have weak grip, and other similar symptoms and signs. Other symptoms include a single region being affected, or more than one region being affected as well. Cramping and twitching are also common signs that ALS is in its early stages. In stage 1, the muscles will become softer, appear to be weaker, or sometimes, they become tight and spastic. There are several changes which happen in the muscles as well as the physical appearance and effects as well. Whereas, the effects on the lower motor neurons cause loss in the ability to move, muscle shrinkage, twitching, and weakness in the muscles as well.ĪLS can occur at any age at anytime, although it is more likely to be diagnosed in the middle aged individuals. When the upper motor neurons face a serious problem such as degeneration, this causes spastic, also known as muscle contraction or tightening.
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