Health Topics A-Z

How Do I Know If I Have It?

A neurologist will administer an electromyogram (EMG) to test for nerve damage. Additional tests can rule out muscular dystrophy, multiple sclerosis, spinal cord tumors, or other diseases.

What Are the Treatments?

Although no treatment slows or halts the progression of the disease, various drugs and devices are available to help control symptoms and make living with ALS easier.

Conventional Medicine

Rilutex (riluzole) is an approved medication for the treatment of ALS. How it works is not exactly known, but it seems to prevent the damage that can result from the nerve cell being overexcited by glutamate. Studies have shown it may improve your functioning and survival.

Physical therapy can improve circulation and help prolong muscle use in the early stages of ALS. In addition, various medications may be prescribed as the disease progresses to help with symptoms. Baclofen relieves stiffness in the limbs and throat. Muscle decline and weight loss can be slowed with nutritional supplements called branched-chain amino acids (BCAAs). Phenytoin may ease cramps. Tricyclic antidepressants can help control excess saliva production, one of the symptoms of ALS. Antidepressants may also be prescribed to help with depression which often accompanies such severe illness.

A highly controversial experimental therapy involves synthetic forms of an insulin-like nerve growth factor called cell-derived neurotrophic factor; it may protect motor neurons and stimulate the regeneration of damaged cells.