Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis :: Biology Essays Research Papers

Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis Have you ever had an experience of morning paralysis where you see yourself lying down, and you think you're awake so you try to get up, but suddenly you realize that you can't move? I have, several times. They have been the most frustrating and scariest times of my life. As I try harder to move, concentrating all my energy into moving one arm, the deeper I seem to be sinking in this indescribable feeling of entrapment. I hear the people outside my room and try to get their attention by screaming. Instead, I hear a soft slurred sound coming from my throat. Then I start to panic. I can't breathe! My energy is depleted and my body is exhausted. Eventually, I start to relax. The first time this happened to me, a mosquito landed on my big toe while I was thinking of what to do. Without being consciously aware of it, I move my big toe. My body jerks and suddenly I can move! Thank God for the mosquito, otherwise I wouldn't have known that all I had to do was move my big toe towards me. Eve r since, whenever I would have another one of these experiences, I would relax and gently move my big toe towards me. If you've had one of these experiences, then you've probably had a glimpse of how it feels to have a fully developed amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), more commonly known as Lou Gehrig's disease, is a neurological disorder that involves the degeneration of motor neurons. A-myo-trophic is derived from the Greek language. A connotes something negative or none. Myo means it has something to do with the muscles. Trophic translates to "nourishment". (1) The term Lateral is attributed to the parts of the spinal cord that ALS usually affects. (2) The scarring that results from the degeneration of these neurons and nerves in the spinal cord is known as sclerosis. (2) In 1941, Lou Gehrig, a famous baseball player, died of ALS. His name has been associated with this progressive fatal neuromuscular disease ever since. (3) Another person whose name is associated with this disease is the French neurologist, Dr. Jean-Martin Charcot. He was the first to identify that motor neurons from the spinal cord are the main part of the nervous system affected by this disease, in 1869. For that, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis is also known as maladie de Charcot.