


This medicine is given daily for two weeks each month. Side effects can include bruising, headache and trouble walking. It's given through a vein in your arm or by mouth as a liquid. This medicine can reduce the speed of decline in daily functioning. Your health care provider typically monitors your liver function with periodic blood draws while you're taking the medicine. It can cause side effects such as dizziness, gastrointestinal conditions and liver problems. Taken by mouth, this medicine can increase life expectancy by about 25%. Riluzole (Rilutek, Exservan, Tiglutik).The Food and Drug Administration has approved three medicines for treating ALS: You have the right to choose or refuse any of the treatments suggested. Your team works to select the right treatments for you. The team works together to prolong your survival and improve your quality of life. You might need a team of health care providers and doctors trained in many areas to provide your care.

They also can help prevent complications and make you more comfortable and independent. Treatments can't reverse the damage of ALS, but they can slow the progression of symptoms. While you're under local anesthesia, a small piece of nerve is removed and sent to a lab for analysis. If your health care provider believes you may have a nerve disease rather than ALS, you might undergo a nerve biopsy. While you're under local anesthesia, a small piece of muscle is removed and sent to a lab for analysis. If your health care provider believes you may have a muscle disease rather than ALS, you might undergo a muscle biopsy. The spinal fluid appears typical in people with ALS but may uncover another cause of symptoms. Spinal fluid is removed using a small needle inserted between two bones in the lower back. This involves removing a sample of spinal fluid for laboratory testing. Spinal tap, known as a lumbar puncture.The test can help make a diagnosis early in the disease. Serum neurofilament light levels, which are measured from blood samples, are generally high in people with ALS. Analyzing samples of your blood and urine in the laboratory might help eliminate other possible causes of your symptoms. The highest resolution cameras may sometimes see ALS changes themselves. An MRI can reveal spinal cord tumors, herniated disks in the neck or other conditions that might be causing your symptoms. Using radio waves and a powerful magnetic field, an MRI produces detailed images of the brain and spinal cord. EMG and nerve conduction studies are almost always done together. This test can determine if you have nerve damage. This study measures your nerves' ability to send impulses to muscles in different areas of the body. This can determine if there is a problem with the muscles or nerves. The test records the electrical activity of the muscles when they contract and when they're at rest. A needle is inserted through the skin into various muscles.
