Lou Gehrigs Disease

[AcidMaX]

Originally Posted by Cleo

That is also what Steven Hawkins has I think.

Yes it is, and it is VERY rare from what I have read for someone to last as long as he has. He has had it for over 30 years, but from everything that I read, 3 years is the average, and a few lucky ones last to like 5-10 years. Below is an excerpt from the als website. It goes over some of the numbers.

* The onset of ALS is insidious with muscle weakness or stiffness as early symptoms. Progression of weakness, wasting and paralysis of the muscles of the limbs and trunk as well as those that control vital functions such as speech, swallowing and later breathing generally follows.

* In most cases, mental faculties are not affected.

* ALS is not contagious.

* It is estimated that ALS is responsible for nearly two deaths per hundred thousand population annually. More people die every year of ALS than of Huntington's disease or multiple sclerosis and it occurs two-thirds as frequently as multiple sclerosis.

* Approximately 5,600 people in the U.S. are diagnosed with ALS each year. The incidence of ALS (two per 100,000 people) is five times higher than Huntington's disease and about equal to multiple sclerosis. It is estimated that as many as 30,000 Americans may have the disease at any given time.

* Although the life expectancy of an ALS patient averages about two to five years from the time of diagnosis, this disease is variable and many people live with quality for five years and more. More than half of all patients live more than three years after diagnosis.

* About twenty percent of people with ALS live five years or more and up to ten percent will survive more than ten years and five percent will live 20 years. There are people in whom ALS has stopped progressing and a small number of people in whom the symptoms of ALS reversed.

From what her doctor told her, since she started investigating this (Februrary) her sympotoms have progressed rapidly, so he believes she has either had this and has gone undiagnosed for 2 years or she has an extremely fast moving version of this disease. Being that she is only 4' 8" tall and like 100lbs, they think it might just be because of her size. (Yes she is very short )