Lou Gehrig’s disease, medically called amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), is a progressive neurological disease that damages motor neurons—the nerve cells controlling voluntary muscles. Early symptoms can be subtle and vary considerably from person to person.
Early symptoms of ALS
- Muscle weakness, often beginning in one hand, arm, leg, or the muscles used for speaking.
- Dropping objects or difficulty with fine movements, such as buttoning clothes or turning keys.
- Tripping, stumbling, or difficulty climbing stairs.
- Muscle twitching (fasciculations), commonly in the arms, legs, shoulders, or tongue.
- Muscle cramps or stiffness.
- Slurred speech or a softer/changed voice when the speech muscles are affected.
- Difficulty chewing or swallowing in some people.
- Muscle wasting (atrophy) as weakness progresses.
- Difficulty controlling certain movements, such as hand or foot movements.
Important: these symptoms don’t mean you have ALS
Most of these symptoms have much more common causes. For example, muscle twitching can occur with stress, fatigue, caffeine, electrolyte abnormalities, or benign fasciculation syndrome. Numbness or tingling by itself is also not typical of ALS and often points toward other neurological problems.
ALS is diagnosed by a neurologist using the medical history, neurological examination, and sometimes tests such as EMG/nerve conduction studies and imaging. There isn’t a single blood test that confirms it.
If someone develops progressively worsening, unexplained muscle weakness, particularly weakness that is spreading from one body region to another, they should arrange a neurological evaluation rather than trying to diagnose themselves from symptoms online.
