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plumeria

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HI
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Honolulu
Help please! My brother in law has this disease since he was 11 years old. Does it sound like ALS? He started to develop the symptoms in 1990. At the beginning, the disease developed very slowly. Recent years it severs so quickly.

He is 31-year-old (born in April 1980, term delivered and APGAR score was 10). He was admitted in hospital five days after born because of neonatal pneumonia, neonatal omphalitis, and infectious jaundice. Escherichia coli, white staphylococcus, and staphylococcus aureus were found after umbilical secretion cultivation. Coagulase was positive. Escherichia coli and gas-gangrene clostridia were found after oropharyngeal secretion cultivation. The body temperature was fluctuated from 38 to 40.3 degrees for 20 days. He did not have any muscular spasms.

He was often awaken with a startle during his infantile age and could not walk until 20-month old. He had duck-like gait with arms swung significantly. Running was difficult to him. He could not speak fluently even at 9-year old and was poor in expression. He went elementary school at 7 years old and the grades were poor. In October 1990, he began to feel intertia on the legs, and easy to fall. Slight inversion malformation of two feet began to appear with the lateral landing on the ground while walking.

Physical exam: cranial nerve (-), the two feet was inversion like talipes equines, both knee jerk reflexes were excessive and both babinski sign were also excessive, both knees and both ankles clonus were positive. Vertebral column was normal in the shape. No sensation abnormalities. But the muscular tension of lower extremities was a bit strong. He had scissors gait while walking.

He was well developed without contagious diseases or trauma history. Inoculation was preceeded on time. He would catch a cold once or twice every year before 12 year-old. The temperature was 37.5 degrees - 39 degrees and would come down after taking some NSAIDS or some antibiotics. No similar history in family. The father worked in institution and the mother was an anesthetist. They were not close relative. His mother had caught a cold when she was 6 months pregnant. The parents and his brother were healthy.

His parents had consulted many doctors and central nerves infectious paralysis was diagnosed.

Symptoms a few years ago: muscular atrophy of the low limbs was getting more severe. The thenar eminence muscles began to atrophy. There was intermittent upper abdominal spasm pain lasting 2-3 seconds. It could relieve automatically. He was not able to control his stool and urine.

Symptoms now are a lot worse now. He couldn't walk and sit. Couldn't feed himself, Could not even hold the tooth brush.
 
Obviously, with all the problems your brother-in-law has had through the years, he's bound to have been under the care of some doctors. What do they say is wrong with him?
 
Sounds like more a genetic problem to me since this has been a 'lifelong' issue. Has he been tested extensively for genetic mutations, or hereditary genetic diseases he may have since birth? It would be very, very, very rare for him to have all of those other problems and then also have ALS on top of it. Like trfogey said, I am sure he sees a dr. regularly. Has he had an EMG test for the atrophy? Also I would highly remcommend seeing a genetic specialist if you have not already.
 
Yes, he's under the doctor's care since age 11. He had the genetic tests done several times and none is abnormal. Mother-in-law blamed this on the umbilical cord infection when he's born and she got some compensation from the hospital ( She's been an anesthetist and worked for the same hospital for over 40 years. )

The doctors couldn't find the root cause of the disease thus his condition deteriorate very fast recently. I heard that his brian is aging very fast and it is like 80-year old people now, concluded from the MRI result.
 
There are conditions that can attack the motor control areas of the brain and behave very much like the UMN forms of MND. From what you have described, it sounds like your brother-in-law may very well have one of them. So sorry to hear that.
 
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