Certified Treatment Center of Excellence
Orlando Health Neuroscience Institute's Comprehensive ALS Center has earned designation as a Certified Treatment Center of Excellence by the ALS Association. The ALS Association collaborates with the best ALS programs across the country to ensure people living with the disease have access to specialized multidisciplinary care based on national standards. This designation confirms that Orlando Health meets the highest quality of compassionate, evidence-based care and services for patients and their families in the management of ALS.
Symptoms
ALS involves the loss of motor neurons in the brain and spinal cord, causing progressive but painless weakness of certain muscles, which might start in one of the limbs, tongue, swallowing, speech or breathing muscles.
Because the symptoms of ALS can resemble other conditions, the disease is often misdiagnosed. As the disease progresses, patients will experience significant weight loss and muscle deterioration, and they may require ambulatory and respiratory support as the condition affects the breathing muscles.
In the U.S., fewer than 10,000 people are diagnosed with ALS every year, with about 100 new cases identified in metropolitan Orlando. At any given time, more than 30,000 Americans live with ALS. While up to 20 percent of ALS cases are known to be inherited, most ALS patients have no family history of the disease.
There is usually no major impact on thinking or cognitive functions unless the patient develops a form of dementia, FTD, which could be seen in 15 percent to 20 percent of patients with ALS.
Early symptoms include:
Muscle twitches and painless weakness
Difficulty in chewing and swallowing
Slurred or low-volume speech
