This is really positive thing – certain ALS patients experience improvements. This means that science has clear evidence ALS is not exclusively “downhill ride”. These cases are quite rare but happen and are being studied. Problem is that after improvements or apparent slow-down/stopping of the disease it continues again in …

It is hard to predict future but in the purely scientific world there is not many reasons for such optimism, i.e. humans will be able to cure reliably ALS in upcoming few years. I often cited Michal Schwartz who specializes on neurodegenerative diseases and in her book (see my ALS …

Official authorities will always respond “YES” but the question why most people ask this question is little bit different. Patient: Is there any hope I can be cured?  For science this is already question which pushes it to the corner and forces it to respond: Medical science: We are sorry but …

Science is aware of this heightened statistical risk of getting ALS among professional athletes, sporting persons as well as military personel and body builder community. Study among soccer players in Italy is also known. A bit strangely for me, science states it has no information why this is happening and …

ALS research centres state they are clearly underfunded. You can visit the websites of those ALS organizations or do a Google search on ALS funding. As per my information ALS is underfunded too. It seems that the resources spent on Alzheimer disease are multiples of ALS. This can be explained …

Science distinguishes three forms of ALS. One is so called familial form (F-ALS) which is believed it is inherited due to identification of several suspected genes (gene mutations observed). This is further supported with the fact the disease sometimes occurs in family tree repeatedly. This form makes 5-10% of all …

As explained in the ALS forms question science thinks there is familial and hereditary version of ALS disease. There are gene mutations which were identified in ALS patients by comparing with healthy people. There are  probably certain genetic predispositions which make such persons more vulnerable but it does not mean …

Lou Gehrig was famous baseball player who was diagnosed with ALS in 1930s and his fame and unfortunate destiny helped to spread the awareness of ALS. In United States ALS is called Lou Gehrig disease (alias).   Comment I think Lou Gehrig, together with Stephen Hawking (later) has done for …

Stem cell therapy is often mentioned in the context of ALS disease. There were many ALS patients who underwent the therapy but it never cured anyone. The idea of stem cell therapy is more in slowing down the disease progress – on individual basis it is very hard to measure …

This is the first drug approved for use in treatment of ALS. You can read about it here and then of course google for any other more detailed information. It basically targets the excessive glutamate levels in brain which are known finding in ALS patients. However the drug is no …