In the U.S., someone is diagnosed with ALS every 90 minutes and every 90 minutes someone with ALS dies. ALS (Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis) is a rapidly progressive, terminal disease that causes muscle weakness, difficulty speaking and swallowing and, generally, complete paralysis.
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Resources for Physicians
To ensure people living with ALS receive the best possible quality of care, it is critical that their primary care physicians be knowledgeable about the disease and work in collaboration with an ALS specialty team. The resources on this page will help you to better understand ALS in order to support your patients who are living with the disease.
Resources for Youth
An illness like ALS brings about many changes and affects every member of the family. Children and teens may have concerns, fears and questions they don’t know how to cope with or articulate. The following resources are designed specially to help children and teens who have a family member living with ALS.
Living with ALS: Resources
People and families affected by ALS will be faced with the challenge of adapting to a new way of life. Below are a few resources that will help you cope with the physical, emotional, financial and legal ramifications of an ALS diagnosis.
What is ALS?
Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (also known as ALS, Lou Gehrig’s disease, or motor neuron disease) is a disease that gradually paralyzes people because the brain is no longer able to communicate with the muscles of the body that we are typically able to move at will. Over time, as the muscles of the body break down, someone living with ALS will lose the ability to walk, talk, eat, swallow, and eventually breathe.