What are the symptoms of neuron disease?

Motor neuron disease refers to amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, which is mostly caused by genetic reasons. It can be treated with acupuncture or Chinese medicine. In daily life, to improve your immunity, you should eat more warm foods and try to eat less cold foods.

1. Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS): the most common. The age of onset is 40-50 years old, and males are more likely to be affected than females. The onset is insidious and the disease progresses slowly. Clinical symptoms often begin in the distal upper limbs, manifested as atrophy and weakness of the hand muscles, gradually developing to the forearm, upper arm and shoulder girdle; the atrophied muscles have obvious fasciculations; at this time, the lower limbs show upper motor neuron paralysis, manifested as increased muscle tone, hyperreflexia of the tendon, and positive pathological signs. Symptoms usually progress from one side to the other. Basic symmetry damage. As the disease progresses, symptoms of damage to the motor nuclei of the medulla oblongata and pontine nerves, atrophy and fibrillation of the tongue muscles, dysphagia and slurred speech may gradually appear; in the late stage, it affects the strength of the head lifting muscles and respiratory muscles. The main clinical feature of ALS is the simultaneous damage of upper and lower motor neurons.

2. Progressive bulbar palsy: The lesion is limited to the anterior horn cells of the spinal cord and does not affect the upper motor neurons. This type can be divided into the following types based on the age of onset and the location of the lesion:

(1) Adult type (distal type): It mostly occurs in middle-aged men, starting from the distal end of the upper limbs and developing from the hands to the proximal end. There are obvious muscle atrophy and weakness, decreased tendon reflexes, and muscle fasciculations. It can develop to the lower limbs or neck muscles and cause respiratory paralysis. Very few can develop from distal to proximal.

(2) Juvenile type (proximal type): Most cases develop during adolescence or childhood, have a family history, and are inherited in an autosomal recessive or dominant manner. Clinically, the symptoms are weakness and atrophy of the pelvic girdle and proximal muscles of the lower limbs, unsteady gait when walking, abdominal lordosis when standing, and weakness and atrophy of the shoulder girdle and proximal muscles of the upper limbs, anterior horn irritation (fasciculations), and difficulty getting up from a supine position.

(3) Infantile type: It is an autosomal recessive genetic disease that occurs in the mother's womb or within one year after birth. Clinical manifestations include muscle weakness and atrophy of the limbs and trunk. Therefore, the fetus that becomes ill in the mother's womb will experience a significant decrease or disappearance of fetal movements, and the child who becomes ill after birth will have a weak cry, obvious cyanosis, and systemic flaccid muscle weakness and muscle atrophy. Atrophy begins in the pelvic girdle and proximal lower limbs and develops to the shoulder girdle, neck, and distal limbs. The muscles innervated by the cranial nerves are also extremely vulnerable to damage. However, fasciculations are rarely seen clinically. Intellectual, sensory and autonomic nervous functions are relatively intact.

3. Progressive muscular atrophy: It often occurs after the age of 40. Symptoms of medullary damage appear in the early stage of the disease. Patients may have tongue muscle atrophy and fibrillation, difficulty swallowing, coughing when drinking water, and slurred speech. In the later stage, due to damage to the pons and cortical brainstem tracts, manifestations of pseudobulbar palsy may be combined, such as hyperreflexia of the limb tendon reflexes and positive pathological reflexes on the side of the invaded corticospinal tract.

4. Primary lateral sclerosis: It is more common in middle-aged men, and clinically presents with slowly progressive upper motor neuron paralysis of the limbs, muscle weakness, increased muscle tension, hyperreflexia of the tendons and positive pathological signs. Generally there is little muscle atrophy, and it does not affect the sensation and autonomic nervous function. The corticobulbar tract of the brainstem may be invaded, presenting as pseudobulbar palsy.

Clinical manifestations are slowly progressive myotonic muscle weakness, which is the weakness of the distal limbs in primary lateral sclerosis and the weakness of the muscles innervated by the posterior cranial nerves in progressive pseudobulbar palsy. Muscle fasciculations and muscle atrophy may occur many years later. These diseases usually cause the patient to lose all mobility after several years of progression.