Patients may not have the same symptoms as one another since the rate at which sickness develops differs from patient to patient. Although some ALS patients may have weeks to months of no more functions loss, or even recover some functions,significant recovery, lasting a year or more is only experienced by less than 1 percent of those who have the disease. This development has been divided into three phases: the early, the middle, and the late stages. In the early stages of the disease, patients with ALS experience muscle weakness, tightness, cramping, or twitching, which is also accompanied by muscle loss or atrophy.
Because of the symptoms at this level, ordinary tasks such as buttoning a shirt or openinga can of food become difficult. Early on, they are usually localized to a single body part, beginning and terminating in the arms or hands; however, they can occasionally begin and stop in the leg. "Limb onset" is a term used to describe the onset of a limb. ALS is a kind of neurodegenerative disease that begins in the arms or legs.
Muscle difficulties manifest themselves in a variety of ways, including fatigue, poor balance, slurred speech, loss of grip strength, and the tendency to slip or fall when walking. It may be difficult for ALS patients who are experiencing symptoms in their hands or arms to do simple tasks requiring manual dexterity, such as writing, buttoning up a shirt, or turning a key in a lock. It is possible that people will become clumsy when walking, jogging, or whether they will fall or stumble more frequently if the symptoms initially appear in the leg.
In the late or severe stages of ALS, the majority of voluntary muscles areparalyzed, including the limbs. When the muscles of the mouth and throat, as well as the muscles that control respiration, become paralyzed, it has an impact on the ability to eat, talk, and breathe. As a result, a feeding tube is inserted to allow the patient to eat and drink while a ventilator is used to assist with breathing. Persons suffering from ALS are most likely to die from respiratory failure, with a prognosis of three to five years following the onset of symptoms. A few of the less common causes of death include malnutrition, pulmonary embolism, cardiac arrhythmias, and pneumonia as a result of aspiration.
