Lateral sclerosis is a degenerative disease with serious symptoms. Just like what happened with the Egyptian player Moamen Zakaria recently, and after he returned to the net of the Egyptian Al-Ahly club again, as he began to show symptoms of the disease. And with medical examinations, it was revealed that he had a muscle imbalance. Which causes him to suffer from muscle pain, and the inability to pronounce correctly, which is what made some people suggest that he suffers from one of the two diseases, multiple sclerosis, or lateral sclerosis. So what is it Lateral sclerosis What are its causes and main symptoms?

What is primary lateral sclerosis?

Primary lateral sclerosis (PLS) is a type of motor neuron disease that leads to a slow breakdown of nerves within the brain. Which makes the nerves unable to do their job in order to activate the motor neurons in the spinal cord. This disease is often confused with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. However, it differs from it in terms of the slow development of the condition, as symptoms take several years to develop, and it is not fatal in most cases.

What is amyotrophic lateral sclerosis?

This rare disease is the most common type of motor neuron disease, which causes malfunctions in the nerves that control muscle movement. As it affects nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord, which leads to muscle weakness, and changes the way the body works.

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis may also become fatal if it affects the nerves that control breathing.

Causes of lateral sclerosis?

Scientists have not found the real cause of this disease. However, sometimes the disease may be hereditary, which represents about 5% to 10% of infected cases.

And you may be from Possible reasons For amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS):

1. Disorganized immune response: It results from the immune system attacking some of the body’s cells, and it may kill nerve cells.
2. chemical imbalance: High levels of glutamate in the brain near motor neurons can damage neurons. As its availability in large quantities makes it toxic.
3. Poor handling of proteins: If neurons do not process the proteins properly, this can lead to a buildup of abnormal proteins, causing neurons to die.
4. environmental factors: Such as exposure to mechanical or electrical shock, intense exercise, or exposure to a high percentage of agricultural chemicals.

Symptoms of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis

The severity of symptoms of lateral sclerosis varies from one medical condition to another, and this disease may cause a range of physical, mental, and social changes. Among the most common symptoms are:

• Inability to do daily activities such as walking
• Weakness of the feet, legs, hands, and ankles
• Cramps and twitching in the arms and tongue
• memory problems
• Cognitive changes
• dysarthria
• feeling sick
• myalgia
• Saliva and mucus problems
• breathing difficulties
• difficulty swallowing
• Emotional vulnerability, such as having uncontrollable bouts of laughing or crying

Methods of treating lateral sclerosis

To this day, there is no effective treatment available for this dangerous disease, other than some treatments that are used to relieve symptoms, prevent complications, and possibly slow the rate of disease progression.

• pharmaceutical: Doctors may prescribe some medications to relieve symptoms of lateral sclerosis. Physiotherapy is also used to help patients control pain and treat movement problems.
• Respirators: In some cases, respirators are used to help the patient sleep better at night.
• Pronunciation difficulty: If the symptoms of dysarthria clear up, speech therapists may be able to provide assistance by teaching adaptive techniques.
• eat the food: As for food, when symptoms of difficulty swallowing appear, the dietitian begins to provide advice on eating nutritious, easy-to-swallow foods, and may resort to the use of suction devices and feeding tubes.

Now, if you need reliable medical advice in any of the medical specialties, you can communicate at any time with an accredited doctor through this link.