Lou Gehrigs Disease

[AcidMaX]

Do you know anyone who has ever had it?

Just curious about your experiences with it, if you know someone who had it. The reason I was wanting to get rid of my sites, is to raise money to take care of my mother in law who recently got diagnosed with Lou Gehrgis Disease also known as ALS. They say she has the symptons of someone who has had it for 2 years, and the sad part is that most people who have ALS die within 3-5 years of being diagnosed, so we are unsure how much time we have with her.

I was just curious if any of you have experience with it, how you handled it, how the person with the disease handled it etc.

Look forward to hearing from you.

Andy

[plateman]

bad shit lost my father in law about a year and a half, my wife joined all kind of research places for surport and any breaking cures and nothing, seems to linger on and rapidly progresses to the lungs and they die, he went to the doctor for updates on where its moving to, some the disease don't spread as fast or to the lungs but his did, it was so sad seeing him..

there's a bunch of stuff on the net about it.. if you read about Lou gehric it killed a base ball player I think in 2 years..

I know that it spreads faster in some people than others the doctors told us and it started in his one arm and went to every limb till he was totaly helpless in a wheelchair and it kills you when it hits your lungs, they say you can live years on a resperator but he did not want that..

so sorry to hear this acidmax I hope it stays where it started and dont move..

[Jim]

Wow, that does suck. Let me know when you have something set up to send money.

[AcidMaX]

Originally Posted by Jim

Wow, that does suck. Let me know when you have something set up to send money.

Thanks Jim, I will definitely let you know and I really appreciate that.

The sad thing is that my wife lost her father 10 years ago last week in a car accident, and her mother is only 53.

From what I understand about the disease is that the person is completely aware of everything that is going on, their mental capacity is not diminished, yet they just cannot move, blink, speak and eventually breath.

The doctor told us that he was 85% sure she had it after all the tests, then they did some work to rule it out and that was the only thing left it could be.

Thanks for the info plateman, I am sorry to hear about your father, it doesn't seem like a very nice disease.

As far as the baseball player, his name was Lou Gehrig It was just sort of renamed for him after he passed from it.

Andy

[Fonz]

Damn that really sucks Andy. I don't know anyone with ALS myself but please let us know if we can help you out with something else...

[Cleo]

That is also what Steven Hawkins has I think.

[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 )