Motor neurone disease

You may be worried that you or someone close has motor neurone disease (MND). As this is not a common disease, it is more likely that another condition, illness or injury has caused the problem. See below for guidance about possible early signs of MND. In a small number of cases, a family history can be involved. Find out more on our Inherited MND page. See What is MND? for facts about the disease and Newly diagnosed if you have recently received a diagnosis of MND. Select from the following options or search for content by need with our: Care information finder "I found the MND Connect helpline invaluable...we were able to gain knowledge about the condition." Person with MND • How do I get help if I think I may have MND? With any health concerns, your first contact should be your local doctor or GP. Book an appointment to explain what’s happening and why you are worried. MND is not a common disease and your GP can usually work out if there is a general health problem or injury. There may be an obvious cause that is easy to test and treat. If the problem eases and gets better, it is highly unlikely that you will receive a diagnosis of MND. Where the brain or nervous system is involved, this is known as a neurological problem. If your GP thinks this is possible, you will be referred to a neurologist for examination. This does not mean you will be diagnosed with MND. There are many neurological conditions and some share similar symptoms. Following examination, your neurologi...

Motor neuron disease (MND) refers to a group of rare but severe neurodegenerative diseases in which motor nerves in the spine and brain lose function over time. Early signs include weakness and slurred speech. Motor neurons are nerve cells that send electrical output signals to the muscles, affecting the muscles’ ability to function. Motor neuron disease (MND) can appear at any age, but the symptoms usually appear after the age of The renowned English physicist Stephen Hawking lived with ALS for many decades until his death in March 2018. The American baseball player, Lou Gehrig, also had ALS. This resulted in people calling it Share on Pinterest funky-data/Getty Images There are • ALS: This is the most common type of MND. It affects both the upper and lower motor neurons — the neurons in the brain and spinal cord — which then affects the muscles of the arms, legs, mouth, and respiratory system. On average, people with ALS live for • Primary lateral sclerosis: This affects the neurons in the brain. It is a • Progressive bulbar palsy (PBP): This involves the brain stem, and people with ALS often have PBP, too. It causes frequent choking spells and difficulty speaking, eating, and swallowing. • Progressive muscular atrophy: This type of MND is rare. It affects the lower motor neurons in the spinal cord and causes slow but progressive muscle wasting, especially in the arms, legs, and mouth. • Spinal muscular atrophy (SMA): This inherited MND develops in children. There are th...

When you take a walk, talk to a friend, or chew a piece of food, motor neurons are behind these movements. Just like other parts of your body, they can become damaged. You may have heard of ALS, commonly known as Lou Gehrig’s disease. It’s one kind of motor neuron disease, and there are several other lesser-known types. What Are Motor Neurons? They are a type of nerve cell, and their job is to send messages around your body so you can move. You have two main kinds: • Upper motor neurons are in your brain. They send messages from there to your spinal cord. • Lower motor neurons are in your spinal cord. They transmit the messages sent from your brain to your muscles. As nerve cells die when you have a motor neuron disease, electrical messages can't get from your brain to your muscles. Over time, your muscles waste away. You may hear a doctor or nurse call this “atrophy.” When this happens, you lose control over movements. It gets harder to walk, talk, swallow, and breathe. Each kind of motor neuron disease affects different types of nerve cells or has a different cause. ALS is the most common of these diseases in adults. Here's a look at some of the types of motor neuron diseases. Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) ALS affects both your upper and lower motor neurons. With ALS, you gradually lose control over the muscles that help you walk, talk, chew, swallow, and breathe. Over time, they weaken and waste away. You may also have stiffness and twitches in your muscles. Most ...

Medical condition Motor neuron disease spinal diagram Motor neuron diseases or motor neurone diseases ( MNDs) are a group of rare Motor neuron diseases affect both children and adults. Symptoms of motor neuron diseases can be first seen at birth or can come on slowly later in life. Most of these diseases worsen over time; while some, such as ALS, shorten one's life expectancy, others do not. Signs and symptoms [ ] Signs and symptoms depend on the specific disease, but motor neuron diseases typically manifest as a group of movement-related symptoms. Motor neuron diseases are seen both in children and adults. Patterns of weakness [ ] Various patterns of muscle weakness occur in different motor neuron diseases. • Asymmetric distal weakness without sensory loss (e.g. ALS, PLS, PMA, MMA) • Symmetric weakness without sensory loss (e.g. PMA, PLS) • Symmetric focal midline proximal weakness (neck, trunk, bulbar involvement; e.g. ALS, PBP, PLS) Lower and upper motor neuron findings [ ] Motor neuron diseases are on a spectrum in terms of upper and lower motor neuron involvement. Pure upper motor neuron diseases, or those with just UMN findings, include PLS. Pure lower motor neuron diseases, or those with just LMN findings, include PMA. Motor neuron diseases with both UMN and LMN findings include both familial and sporadic ALS. Causes [ ] Most cases are sporadic and their causes are usually not known. DNA damage [ ] Associated risk factors [ ] In adults, men are more commonly affecte...

ALS is often called Lou Gehrig's disease after the baseball player who was diagnosed with it. The exact cause of the disease is still not known. A small number of cases are inherited. ALS often begins with muscle twitching and weakness in an arm or leg, trouble swallowing or slurred speech. Eventually ALS affects control of the muscles needed to move, speak, eat and breathe. There is no cure for this fatal disease. Symptoms Symptoms of ALS vary from person to person. Symptoms depend on which nerve cells are affected. ALS generally begins with muscle weakness that spreads and gets worse over time. Symptoms might include: • Trouble walking or doing usual daily activities. • Tripping and falling. • Weakness in the legs, feet or ankles. • Hand weakness or clumsiness. • Slurred speech or trouble swallowing. • Weakness associated with muscle cramps and twitching in the arms, shoulders and tongue. • Untimely crying, laughing or yawning. • Thinking or behavioral changes. ALS often starts in the hands, feet, arms or legs. Then it spreads to other parts of the body. Muscles get weaker as more nerve cells die. This eventually affects chewing, swallowing, speaking and breathing. There's generally no pain in the early stages of ALS. Pain also is not common in the later stages. ALS doesn't usually affect bladder control. It also usually doesn't affect the senses, including the ability to taste, smell, touch and hear. Causes ALS affects the nerve cells that control voluntary muscle movem...

Overview Primary lateral sclerosis (PLS) is a type of motor neuron disease that causes the nerve cells in the brain that control movement to fail over time. PLS causes weakness in your voluntary muscles, such as those you use to control your legs, arms and tongue. You may experience movement problems, such as difficulty with balance, slow movements and clumsiness. You may eventually experience problems with chewing, swallowing and speaking. This rare condition can develop at any age, but it usually occurs between ages 40 and 60 and is more common in males than females. A very rare subtype of PLS, known as juvenile primary lateral sclerosis, begins in early childhood and is caused by an abnormal gene passed from parents to children. PLS is often mistaken for another, more common motor neuron disease called amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). While likely related to ALS, PLS progresses more slowly than ALS and in most cases isn't fatal. Symptoms Signs and symptoms of primary lateral sclerosis usually take years to progress and generally begin in the legs. Rarely, PLS begins in your tongue or hands and then progresses down your spinal cord to your legs. However, the disease has highly variable effects from person to person. Signs and symptoms may include: • Stiffness, weakness and muscle spasms (spasticity) in your legs, rarely starting in one leg, and eventually progressing to your arms, hands, tongue and jaw • Slowed movement • Tripping, clumsiness and difficulty with bala...

• Afrikaans • العربية • Asturianu • Azərbaycanca • Български • Bosanski • Català • Čeština • Dansk • Deutsch • Eesti • Ελληνικά • Español • Esperanto • Euskara • فارسی • Français • Galego • 한국어 • Հայերեն • हिन्दी • Hrvatski • Bahasa Indonesia • Íslenska • Italiano • עברית • ქართული • Kiswahili • Latina • Latviešu • Limburgs • Magyar • Македонски • മലയാളം • მარგალური • Bahasa Melayu • Nederlands • 日本語 • Norsk bokmål • ଓଡ଼ିଆ • Polski • Português • Română • Русский • සිංහල • Simple English • Slovenčina • Slovenščina • کوردی • Српски / srpski • Srpskohrvatski / српскохрватски • Suomi • Svenska • Tagalog • தமிழ் • ไทย • Türkçe • Українська • Tiếng Việt • 吴语 • ייִדיש • 粵語 • 中文 • Motor neurone disease (MND) • • Parts of the Early: Later: Difficulty in Usual onset 45 – 75 years Causes Unknown (about 85%), genetic (about 15%) Genetic risk factors; age; Clinical diagnosis of exclusion based on progressive symptoms of upper and lower motor neuron degeneration in which no other explanation can be found. Supportive evidence from Treatment Life expectancy highly variable but typically 2–4 years after diagnosis Frequency Incidence: 1.6/100,000 individuals per year; Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis ( ALS), also known as motor neurone disease ( MND) or Lou Gehrig's disease, is a Limb-onset ALS begins with weakness in the arms or legs, while bulbar-onset ALS begins with difficulty Most cases of ALS (about 90% to 95%) have no known cause, and are known as sporadic ALS. genetic ALS. There is no ...