Motor Neurone Disease – Sporadic, Silent, and Shocking

Motor Neurone Diseases or MNDs are grave and incurable forms of progressive neurodegeneration. In a more simple definition, a Motor Neurone Disease is a generic or non-specific term that refers to a group of diseases that aim to seek and destroy the motor neurons of the body. Once these motor neurons are damaged, a person loses the ability to willfully control the various muscles of the body, making the simple act of lifting a hand very difficult and strenuous. Currently, only two people are known to live with having MND, renowned physicist, Stephen Hawking, and guitarist Jason Becker.

A Motor Neurone Disease, being a general name, is further classified into different types or forms:

• Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is perhaps the most common type of MND. Also referred to as Lou Gehrig’s disease, the ALS is caused by the degeneration or destruction of the neurons that are responsible for movement or motion. This type is usually characterized by muscle atrophy, progressive weakness, and muscle spasms. This is also the type that accounts for about 50-70% of all Motor Neurone Disease cases.
• Progressive bulbar palsy (PBP) is a form of Motor Neurone Disease that specifically attacks the nerves that are responsible for supplying the bulbar muscles, which in turn are responsible for transmitting signals from the brain to the different muscle groups in the body. The organs that this type affects are the spinal cord, cerebral cortex, pyramidal tracts, and the brain stem. This type accounts for about 20% of MND cases.
• Progressive muscular atrophy (PMA) is the rarest of among the types of Motor Neurone Diseases due to the fact that it only seems to affect the lower motor neurons, which is different from the other two types since they affect both the upper and lower motor neurons. Due to its rareness, it only affects about 4-10% of all MND cases.
• Primary lateral sclerosis (PLS) is also another rare form of Motor Neurone Diseases since, of all the different types; it is the only one that is not fatal.

The various types are quite similar; however, they progress at different rates on different persons. MND is an uncommon condition that occurs or is diagnosed in only about 1 out of every 50,000 people. This disease affects any person at any given age, but is most seen to occur during the old stages of life such as from 50-80 years old. Also, men are most likely to be the victim of the disease since 6 out of 10 people that are suffering from the illness are males.

Another thing about the MND is that where it stems from is unknown until today. Researchers and scientists have yet to unravel the real mystery behind the causes of Motor Neurone Diseases, hence making it sporadic. Some say that it is hereditary while some say that the main reason behind it is the miscommunication of the brain and muscles. Whatever reason it may be, once the disease starts to show, a person’s life expectancy is usually shortened by 5-10 years, and that is a lot of life. Around 2-5 years after diagnosis, MND becomes lethal and around 50% of people die within the first 14 months of having the disease. Also, there has yet to be a treatment that can fully rid a person of his Motor Neurone Disease, which makes the said disease even more deadly.

Most MND cases progress at a ridiculously fast rate and it can be observed from patients that they almost experience bodily changes every week. No known root cause and no known cure, the Motor Neurone Disease is, perhaps, the deadliest sickness known to mankind.