Before anything else, Motor Neurone Disease or MND for short, are a group of conditions that specifically affect and target the motor neurons in a person’s body. The disease distresses these motor neurons which therefore result to the inability of a person to make even the most important movements such as breathing and walking. Usually, a person would not feel any sort of pain, but would render him motionless, heck even literally breathless. Once a person is diagnosed with having a Motor Neurone Disease, a team of healthcare professionals would automatically handle your care.

Before discussing any of the Motor Neurone Disease treatment methods, people generally consider having an advanced directive so that methods for treatment can be chose accordingly. This is done so that when a person’s condition worsens, the doctors would know how and where the person would want to be treated. The things covered by an advanced directive plan usually include where a person would want to be treated (at home or at the hospital), what kind of medications he is willing to take, whether such person would want to donate some of his organs if he dies.

First Motor Neuron Disease treatment method is the use of the drug known as riluzole. This is the only know drug that can be used to treat Motor Neurone Disease. This medicine works by reducing the amount of glutamate in the body, which is known to be able to slow-down the damage caused to the motor neurons. Also, riluzole has the ability to extend the afflicted person’s lifespan for at most, 3 months, but this varies per person.

Another treatment is specifically designated for muscle cramps, which are usually effects of having a Motor Neurone Disease. These muscle cramps are treated using phenytoin or carbamazepine. As for muscle stiffness, botolinum toxin is used by most doctors. This works by blocking the signals from the brain to the affected muscles. Last but not least, the most serious effect of Motor Neurone Disease, the difficulty in breathing. As a Motor Neurone Disease progresses, breathing difficulties would become evident in the afflicted person. If respiratory failure occurs, then that would be the perfect time to consult with your healthcare team on what to do.

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As we all know by now, a motor neurone disease is one that specifically targets the motor neurons and damages the same, rendering a person with the inability to move. The scary thing, though, is that the disease can affect any person at any age, but commonly occurs during the age of 50-70, but there are also instances that the disease triggers on ages below 50 and is called as “young onset motor neuron disease or MND”. Based on studies, males are more likely to carry the disease rather than females. Nevertheless, it destroys the motor neurons of the body and the reason behind this is still unknown.

There are various associations all over the world that care and give encouragement and inspiration to those who are unluckily inflicted with a motor neurone disease. Perhaps the most prominent of them all is the Motor Neuron Disease Association, which was established in England during 1979. The founders of such organization were a group of healthcare volunteers that intended to coordinate care, support, and research for those who are suffering from MND. As of now, the Motor Neuron Disease Association has around 3,000 volunteers in various places in Europe and all of which are dedicated to help improve the lives of these people affected by MND.

The Motor Neuron Disease Association main goal is to live in a world that is free from motor neuron diseases. Imperative activities of the association include funding the research in search of a cure for MND, coordinating this same research by conducting conferences and symposiums, raising the awareness of the community that such a disease exists, providing information to their patients and to those who care for them, and providing local care through the use of branches and regional care professionals. Some of the prominent people or patrons within the organization include Joel Cadbury (entrepreneur and heir to the Cadbury chocolate dynasty), world-renowned scientist Stephen Hawking, Anne, HRH The Princess Royal (daughter of Elizabeth II and Prince Philip) and American businessman, James Sherwood.

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Majority of doctors, scientists, and researchers claim that almost 90% of Motor Neurone Disease cases hail from an unknown cause. It is not vivid where such person got the disease from or what exactly caused it to occur in the first place. Hence, a lot of them state that Motor Neurone Disease causes are sporadic, meaning unknown or unidentified. Motor Neurone Diseases are very deadly, but the main root cause of the same remain a mystery to all us, further adding to its viciousness since it cannot be prevented or stopped from occurring.

There are instances, though, that Motor Neurone Disease causes spring from the family since there are certain cases that they are hereditary. For example, the father passes it down to his children and in turn, passes the same to his own children and the family tree goes on and on. In we are to use figures in expressing such, approximately 10% of Motor Neurone Disease cases are caused by genetics. There are certain genes that trigger or affect the occurrence of MND. Familial or genetic MND are also known to have a higher risk of developing cognitive problems as a side effect of the disease.

Another research shares a different viewpoint regarding the main cause of MND. This research state that one of the possible Motor Neurone Diseases causes is due to miscommunication between the motor neurons and the muscles. Nerves in the brain are responsible for sending commands to the various muscles on the body and this is the mechanism behind certain bodily movements. When these nerves are damaged or totally destroyed, they cannot receive movement requests from the brain and as such, a person loses the ability to voluntarily control his movements.

Most of these are mere theories on what truly causes Motor Neurone Diseases. The fact that a person just suddenly loses the ability to move due to damaged motor neurons is truly frightening, but even more frightening is that such person does not how such a thing happened inside his body, making it perfect to be dubbed as very silent and very deadly indeed.

Also read Motor Neurone Disease Symptoms and Motor Neurone Disease Association for more idea.

Once a person has been diagnosed with a motor neurone disease, it is terrifying that he only has about 5-10 years in his life, lessening the motor neurone disease life expectancy since few people survive this kind of disease. This is to be expected since motor neurone diseases deprive a person of his power to voluntarily control his muscles due to the damage on the motor neurons. Due to this, a person cannot willingly walk, speak, swallow, and scariest of them all, breathe and when this happens, mortality is also expected to happen. In a way, this disease deprives a person the ability to do anything.

After a span of 2-5 years, motor neurone diseases tend to become fatal, which further lessen a person’s life expectancy. Aside from this, rough estimates show that in 5 patients, only 1 survives for 5 years while in 10 patients, only 1 survive for a maximum motor neurone disease life expectancy of 10 years. With these figures, the chances of surviving are truly slim, plus the facts that there is no known permanent cure for the sickness. Another thing is that the cause of the disease is unknown, thus the same cannot be prevented and a person cannot take any precautionary measures in stopping the disease from occurring.

The only person that is known to have survived and lived through having a motor neurone disease is Stephen Hawking, whom is well-known for having the disease for about 50 years now, therefore, beating the odds of having a short life expectancy upon being diagnosed with a motor neuron disease, making him one of the most inspiring persons that conquered their sicknesses. He is also living proof that motor neuron disease life expectancy varies from one person to another. Who knows, someone just might be able to live through it all.

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Motor neurone diseases, as the name implies, are those which directly affect the motor neurons which are responsible for various kinds of voluntarily movements of the human body such as speaking, swallowing, and walking. On the other hand, prognosis is defined as the forecast of a condition of a certain illness or disease. Thus, motor neurone disease prognosis refers to a prediction or forecast of the disease upon which the life of the patient depends on.

Generally, most cases of motor neurone diseases are known to progress in a quick manner. Usually in the beginning, MND affects only a single part of the body such as the hands, feet, neck etc, but over time, would spread all over the body and affect multiple regions. Sad thing, though, is that in several years time, people inflicted with motor neurone diseases would need medical help in performing even the simplest daily activities such as walking and eating. This is proof on how deadly the MND gets through the course of time. As such, most motor neurone disease prognosis or predictions is that it gets fatal within 2-5 years and if such condition occurs, the inflicted person would only have a lifespan of about 1-5 years; although most people die within 5-10 years after diagnosis.

One research suggests that as a rough estimate, only 1 out of 5 people inflicted with the motor neurone disease survive for 5 years, while the same research state that only 1 out of 10 people survive for 10 years. More grievous is that 50% of afflicted people die in only 14 months, while the other half dies after 14 months. However, the rate of the disease progression varies from one person to another. For one person, weeks or months go by without any progress from the diseases while there are those that experience changes almost every week.

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Motor neuron diseases occur in about 5 out of 100,000 people, making the chances of getting the disease very slim, but once you get afflicted with MND, the chances of survival are very slim as well. This disease damages our motor neurons, which make us incapable of performing the simplest of bodily movements such as walking, talking, eating, and breathing. There are motor neuron disease symptoms that would eventually become evident around the ages between 50-70 years old. No one knows what the root cause of this sickness is, but once the symptoms start to show, you are in one hell of a trouble.

Motor neuron diseases develop and progress at various rates for different persons. There is no uniform level or rate of progression as it varies from one person to another, hence making the appearance of symptoms also variable. The disease usually starts out by making a person feel very weak and tired. After this, numbness in the hands or fingers would be felt and this is where the other symptoms would begin with. Other primary and general motor neuron disease symptoms would include:

• Muscle cramps and muscle stiffness, which is a very common symptom for having a motor neuron disease.
• Constipation, which is primarily due to restricted movement.
• Excess drool or saliva and difficulty in swallowing saliva and food, this is due to the fact that the MND targets the body’s motor neurons and as such, a person cannot voluntarily control the muscles in his throat and mouth.
• Breathing problems, also due to the damaged and destroyed motor neurons.
• Pain and discomfort, which is due to quite obvious reasons.

Having these symptoms may not necessarily mean that they are already motor neuron disease symptoms. Sometimes, these symptoms are caused by other diseases or sicknesses, so it’s best not to jump on conclusions and consult with a doctor or healthcare professional first. Thinking is not usually directly affected by the disease, but most patients are observed to have some sort of change in personality.

As the disease progresses over a period of time, the motor neuron disease symptoms, as well as the overall gravity of the sickness, tend to worsen. During the first appearance of symptoms, the disease usually affects only a single part of the body, but as the years go by, it spreads all over the body and affects various regions all at once. Here are some of the stage two symptoms of a motor neuron disease:

• The throat muscles become damaged, hence swallowing and talking becomes nearly impossible to do.
• The various muscles in the hands, feet, legs, and fingers also become damaged, therefore making the performance of everyday tasks, such as opening the door and walking up the stairs, very difficult to perform.
• The muscles in the chest also become affected, making it very difficult to breathe.
• A person would tend to cry or laugh more easily because of the physical changes that are being caused by the MND.

A person must not wait before he experiences the second wave of symptoms that this disease has. Motor Neurone Disease Treatment should be gotten as soon as possible; although there is yet to be cure for this condition, the chances of lessening the occurrence of the grave motor neurone disease symptoms might just be possible.

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Technically speaking, an MND is an acronym (or shorter way of referring) to what we call motor neuron diseases, but what is a motor neuron disease? These are a group of conditions or diseases that affect the motor neurons that we have in our body, which in turn are responsible for every movement that we make. In short, MND refers to a collective of diseases that affect the motor neurons. Motor neurone diseases selectively target the motor neurons which control the movement cells needed for basic actions such as speaking, walking, swallowing, and most importantly, breathing. So just imagine if you are deprived of such actions that would be very difficult, right?

In the United States, they use a different name to refer to the motor neurone diseases. In such country, the MND is more commonly known as Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS, for short) and sometimes, it is affectionately referred to as Lou Gehrig’s disease, in honor of the baseball player who suffered from the same sickness. While in France, the disease is sometimes coined as maladie de Charcot or Charcot’s disease which was named after French neurologist, Jean-Martin Charcot. For the sake of avoiding confusion, researchers and scientists alike dedicated a conference in the pursuit of studying this disease which is known as the ASL/MND International Symposium.

Sadly, though, there is no known cure for MND as this point in time, but there is a drug that is used by medical practitioners that block the effects of the illness and is also widely known to extend the lifespan of the person for a few months. So far, that is the best weapon we have against the MND or ALS. As a whole, the human body is a very sacred and complicated thing to study and as such, researchers and scientists have dedicated almost their entire lives in finding cures or solutions to various diseases. Rest assured, though, that the time will come that they would be able to come up with something that will counter these motor neurone diseases.

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