What is ALS? Rare deadly disease that can make anyone lose their voice?

Lou Gehrig's disease, or ALS, is a disease many Americans suffer from. Famous politicians, notable entertainers, athletes, and tens of thousands of people from America are struggling with ALS.

Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, often abbreviated as ALS, is a non-communicable disease that slows down and kills the nerve cells of our spinal cord and that of the brain. The disease shares the family of degenerative and forgetful brain diseases like Alzheimer's, Huntington's, and Parkinson's.

As per the reports of the CDCP (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention), the nerve cells of our body gradually degrades and die if a person suffers from ALS. The ALS Association has reported that the gradual lack of the functioning of neurons takes away the patient's ability to trigger some specific muscle cells, including those of the vocal cords and the ones around the lungs and mouth.

What happens to your body in ALS?

• Though ALS disables muscle functions, it is not a muscle disease.
• It is a brain disease that slows down your message-sending and receiving impulses.
• ALS first attacks the voluntary muscles but starts to attack the involuntary ones in later stages.

FAQs

Q. How long do ALS patients survive?
The average lifespan after the symptoms start showing is 2 to 5 years. Some people, however, have lived up to ten years.

Q. Are ALS deaths painful?
Most deaths from ALS happen without much pain.