Motor Neurone Disease/Neurological Disease

What is it?

A condition where the nerves get disrupted or damaged and hence affecting the link between the brain and the muscles and senses.

Nerves are like the wires that carry ‘messages’ between the brain and spinal cord and the rest of the body.

There are two types of nerves:

Motor nerves- carry messages from brain and spinal cord to the muscles.
Sensory nerves- carry messages from brain and spinal cord regarding touch, temperature, smell and taste.

Please note this is not a full exhaustive list but of more common conditions where one has acquired the condition rather than those discovered at birth or a young age, a specialist will conduct further tests for rare conditions.

Main types:

Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis

Causes muscle weakness, wasting, stiffness, and difficulty speaking, swallowing, and breathing.
Affects both upper and lower motor neurons.

Progressive Muscular Atrophy

Leads to muscle weakness, wasting, and reduced reflexes.
Slower than Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis
Primarily affects lower motor neurons.

Primary Lateral Sclerosis

Causes muscle stiffness (spasticity), weakness, and difficulty with balance and movement.
Slower than Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis
Affects upper motor neurons only.

Progressive Bulbar Palsy

Causes problems with speech, swallowing, chewing, and tongue movement.
Mainly affects motor neurons in the brainstem (bulbar region) and may or may not progress to involve other motor neuron regions.

Examples include:

All over body (General):
- Acromegaly
- Adult-Onset Leukoencephalopathy with Axonal Spheroids and Pigmented Glia
- Adult polyglucosan body disease (APBD)
- Angelman syndrome
- Antiphospholipid/Hughes syndrome (brain, respiratory, kidney, skin)
- Apraxia
- Ataxia
- Ataxia with vitamin E deficiency (AVED)
- Behcet syndrome
- Brown-Sequard syndrome
- Bulbar palsy
- Cerebral palsy
- Charcott-marie tooth disease
- Cystic fibrosis
- Dermatomyositis
- Dementia
- East syndrome (kidney, ear, movement)
- Epilepsy
- Froin’s syndrome
- Friedreich’s ataxia
- Giant axonal neuropathy
- GPT2 deficiency (glutamate pyruvate transaminase 2 deficiency) – lack of brain activity and development
- Guillian-barre syndrome
- Hereditary sensory and autonomic neuropathy type 1E
- High calcium level conditions
- Huntingdon syndrome
- KAT6A syndrome
- KAT6B-related disorders
- Kennedy disease
- Kernicterus (to much bilirubin)
- Korsakoff Syndrome
- Lambert-Eaton Syndrome
- Locked-in syndrome
- Lyme disease
- Lysosomal Lipid Storage and/or Lysosomal Lipid Metabolism Disorders and/or Mucopolysaccharides Metabolism Disorders (Mucopolysaccharidoses)
- Lou-Gehrig’s disease
- Lupus
- Mitochondrial Myopathy/Encephalomyopathy
- MOG antibody disease
- Multiple sclerosis (MS)
- Myasthenia gravis (MG)
- Nerve compression syndrome
- Neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorder (Devic disease)
- Polymyositis
- Parkinson’s disease
- Primary lateral sclerosis
- Primary central nervous system lymphoma
- Rosenberg-Chutorian syndrome
- Serotonin Syndrome
- Sarcoidosis (affects eyes, ears, respiratory, heart, stomach , abdominal, kidney liver, muscles, nerves)
- Tardive dyskinesia
- Tourette’s syndrome
- Tumours pressing against nerves
- Wallenberg syndrome
- Wolfram syndrome
- Wernicke encephalopathy
Head and/or eyes:
Neck:
Mouth:
- Acromegaly
- Antiphospholipid/Hughes syndrome (brain, respiratory, kidney, skin)
- Ataxia
- Ataxia with vitamin E deficiency (AVED)
- Bruxism (mouth)
- Dermatomyositis
- Friedreich’s ataxia
- Korsakoff Syndrome
- Polymyositis
- Puppet syndrome
- Trismus (mouth)
- Trigeminal Neuralgia
- Wallenberg syndrome
Chest:
- Antiphospholipid/Hughes syndrome (brain, respiratory, kidney, skin)
- Congenital rubella syndrome
- Dermatomyositis
- Newborn Respiratory distress syndrome
- Polymyositis
- Respiratory-onset motor neurone disease
- Respiratory distress syndrome
- Wallenberg syndrome
- Wolfram syndrome
Back:
- Arteriovenous malformation (AVM)
- Brown-Sequard syndrome
- Sciatica
- Spinal bifida
- Tethered cord syndrome
- Autonomic Dysrefelxia (Severe High blood pressure)
- Pott’s disease (infectious of the spine causing back pain caused normally from tuberculosis)
Shoulder, Arm, Elbow and Hands:
- Acromegaly
- Adult-Onset Leukoencephalopathy with Axonal Spheroids and Pigmented Glia
- Adult polyglucosan body disease (APBD)
- Alien Hand syndrome- where one hand moves uncontrollably and involuntarily which may cause physical injury
- Antiphospholipid/Hughes syndrome (brain, respiratory, kidney, skin)
- Ataxia
- Brachial plexus neuritis/ neuropathy
- Brachioradial Pruritus
- Cerebral palsy
- Charcott-marie tooth disease
- Diabetic neuropathies
- Erythromelalgia
- Friedreich’s ataxia
- Guillian-barre syndrome
- Hereditary sensory and autonomic neuropathy type II
- Lou-Gehrig’s disease
- Lupus
- Parkinson’s disease
- Carpal tunnel syndrome
- Parsonage-Turner syndrome (Brachial plexus neuritis-is an uncommon neurological disorder characterised by rapid onset of severe pain in the shoulder and arm)
- Puppet syndrome
- Rosenberg-Chutorian syndrome
- Thoracic outlet syndrome
- Ulnar nerve compression syndrome/Cubital tunnel syndrome
- Wallenberg syndrome
- Wolfram syndrome
- Wernicke encephalopathy
Oesophagus and Stomach and Upper bowel:
Bladder and/or Bowel:
Legs and/or foot and/or toes:
Spinal disease/injury causing neurological conditions {excluding neck- see-neurological (nerve) condition section for those conditions}
- Tardive dyskinesia
- Ankylosing Spondylitis
- Autonomic Dysrefelxia (Severe High blood pressure)
- Osteomyelitis
- Arthritis
- Osteoarthritis of spine
- Coccydynia
- Degenerative Disc Disease
- Fibromyalgia
- Goldenhar disease (which affects eye, ear, and spine development)
- Herniated Disc
- Hirayama disease (damage or compression to the spinal cord causing muscle loss and weakness initially forearms and hands mainly in young males).
- Osteoporosis
- Oculo-auriculo-vertebral spectrum [abnormalities tend to involve the cheekbones, jaw, mouth, ears, eyes, and/or bones of the spinal column (vertebrae)]
- Piriformis Syndrome
- Sacroiliac Joint Dysfunction
- Sciatica
- Scoliosis
- Spinal Stenosis
- Spinal Tumour
- Spondylolisthesis
- Tethered cord syndrome
- Transverse myelitis
- Vertebral Fracture

Table: The four main types of motor neurone disease
	Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS)	Progressive bulbar palsy (PBP)	Progressive muscular atrophy (PMA)	Primary lateral sclerosis (PLS)
Motor neurones affected	Upper motor neurones and lower motor neurones	Upper motor neurones and lower motor neurones	Lower motor neurones	Upper motor neurones
Common signs and symptoms	Limb and torso muscle atrophy Bulbar muscle weakness (e.g. loss of speech, ability to swallow, ability to chew) Respiratory muscle decline	Mainly affects bulbar muscles with less prominent limb weakness Emotional lability	Muscle weakness and wasting, first of hands then rest of lower body Fasciculation (twitching) Muscle cramps	Stiff and slow movements, first of legs, then torso, arms, hands and eventually bulbar muscles
Percentage of patients with motor neurone disease (%)	85	5	5–10	1
Life expectancy from time of onset	2–5 years	6 months–3 years	5 years or longer, but often progresses into ALS	5–15 years
Talbot K. Motor neurone disease. Postgrad Med J 2002;78:513–519. doi: 10.1136/pmj.78.923.513 Motor Neurone Disease Association. What is MND? 2018. Available at: https://www.mndassociation.org/about-mnd/where-do-i-start/what-is-mnd/ (accessed March 2019)National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke. Motor neurone diseases fact sheet. 2018. Available at: https://www.ninds.nih.gov/Disorders/Patient-Caregiver-Education/Fact-Sheets/Motor-Neuron-Diseases-Fact-Sheet (accessed March 2019)

Further tests need to be performed by specialists to determine the exact type of condition

Cause

Family history (not polymyositis)
Gene disorder
Excess glutamate nerve messenger
Toxic waste build up in body cells
Abnormal mitochondria function (the mitochondria is the energy source in our body cells)
Glia cells which provide ‘food’ to nerve cells not function properly
Lack of anti-oxidant in cells
Lack of nutrients provided to nerve cells
Abnormal collection of proteins in nerve cells
Injury
Trauma
Stroke
Amyloidosis
Gaucher disease – a genetic disease caused by a defect in the GBA gene which helps to produce an enzyme called glucocerebrosidase, these enzymes helps our body cells to clean up and dispose of a fatty substance in the body called glucocerebroside that the body is otherwise unable to break down. If our body cells has too much of fatty substance the cells are called ‘Gaucher cells’ and begin to build up take over normal body cells functions causing symptoms.
Madelung Disease (excess fat growth due to long term alcoholism)
Vitamin B12 deficiency
Infection i.e.
- Hepatitis E
- Meningitis
- Tuberculosis
- Herpes complex-mumps
- Herpes-zoster virus conditions i.e.

Syndromes

Hunts syndrome

Vitamins, herbals and minerals

Source: Revive Chiropractic Studio 'Picture showing which parts of spine affect which body Area'

Symptoms

Weak muscles or unable to perform doing function and gets worse as day goes on e.g. walking, lifting, holding head up?
Difficulty using arms, body and legs, lack of stamina and/or walking difficulties?
General discomfort (muscle weakness), uneasiness or ill feeling (malaise) and/or fatigue (tiredness)?
Difficulty chewing, swallowing, talking, slurred speech?
Muscles on the face affected, is one showing a change in facial expression e.g. a snarling smile?
Aching, painful muscles, muscle cramps/spasms/stiffness?
Short of breath and breathing difficulties?
Constant hiccups?
Heart palpitations?
Hearing loss?
Weight loss?
Balance and dizziness problems?
Eye(s)/eyelid muscles drooping causing blurred or double vision any visual problems, colour blindness, double vision, vision loss, difficulty focusing, and/or pain behind eye (One or both eyes can be affected)?
Rash?
Any extreme sensitive skin or burning sensation?
Difficulty in concentrating?
Emotional (laugh or cry for no reason)?
Irritated, depressed, anxiety and/or panic attacks?
Increase thirst, heavy sweating and need to urinate frequently?
Improve with rest/sleep?
Overactive (urgency to go to toilet) or under-active bladder?

Male only:

Erectile dysfunction?
Prolonged erection (priapism)?

Complications /Information to beware of/General tips:

Medical Emergency Condition

Do not wait, phone for an ambulance

‘Please see your medical doctor even if display some symptoms as as symptoms can vary from individual to individual’

This condition can lead to:

Proctitis – (infection/ulceration of the rectum, bloody diarrhoea, mistaken for haemorrhoids)

Driving Authority

One should notify their driving authority if one has this condition/disease.

Exercise tips

Please click for ‘Ask ‘Doctor Jo’ exercise tips (this should only be considered after specialist medical advice)

This condition may show similar symptoms to:

Dyspraxia
Opsoclonus-myoclonus-ataxia syndrome (condition where the immune system attacks the nerve cells reacting to a cancerous tumour)

Detailed Information

Please copy and paste any key words from the title: Motor Neurone Disease/Neurological Disease in the following respective 'Medtick References and/or Sources' to find out more about the disease (this also may include diagnosis tests and generic medical treatments).

Medical News Today
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Medscape (Professional level)
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Healthline
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EveryDay Health
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Pharmaceutical Journal (Professional level)
The Pharmaceutical Journal covers analysis, features, opinion, learning and careers articles, providing insight and knowledge about drugs, pharmacy practice, medicines use and healthcare policy in the context of the pharmacy profession and pharmaceutical science.
NHS
Find information and advice on health conditions, symptoms, healthy living, medicines and how to get help (British National Health Service).
WebMD
Better Information. Better Health.
Cleveland Clinic
Pushing the Standards of care.
Mayo Clinic
No.1 Hospital in the Nation (America)
Drugs.com
Know more. Be sure.
National Organisation of Rare Diseases
NORD is dedicated to supporting education, elevating care, advancing research, and driving policy for rare diseases.
Verywell Health
Know more. Fell better.
Nathnac
Travel health guidance for health professionals advising travellers and for travellers going overseas from the UK.
DR Axe
Health and fitness news. Recipes, Natural Remedies
Better health - NHS
Healthy changes start with little changes. Whether you want to lose weight, drink less alcohol, get active or quit smoking, you have access to lots of free tools and support through Better Health. You can also find simple ways to lift your mood with Every Mind Matters.

There has never been a better time to kickstart your health. Let’s do this!

Diet, Exercise and Body Manipulations

Please click for ‘Ask ‘Doctor Jo’ exercise tips (this should only be considered after specialist medical advice).