Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS)

For a lay person:

ALS (motor neurone disease) is a progressive disease of the nerves that control the muscles. Muscles gradually weaken and waste, affecting movement, speech, swallowing and eventually breathing.

For a trained medical person:

A neurodegenerative disorder of upper and lower motor neurons presenting with asymmetric limb or bulbar weakness, fasciculations and spasticity. Diagnosis rests on clinical and electrophysiological criteria. Care is multidisciplinary: riluzole and other disease-modifying options, nutrition, respiratory support and palliative care.

In Chinese medicine:

Flaws and Sionneau's textbook differentiates this condition into these patterns: Liver blood-kidney yin deficiency; Spleen and Kidney Yang Deficiency; Qi and yin deficiency; Yin and Yang Deficiency; Damp heat damaging the sinews; Blood Stasis; Phlegm turbidity congesting and blocking. Treatment follows the pattern a patient presents with, not the Western diagnosis alone.

When to get help: Get urgent care for difficulty breathing or swallowing. Chinese medicine can only be supportive here, alongside specialist neurological care.