For those of you with ALS

[bleonard4]

Hi,
I was wondering how much stress adds to the progression of your ALS symptoms. My family has been going through quite a bit with my mom who has alzheimers because she fell and broke both of her shoulder bones and is having surgery today. She is 80. My sister who is 47 has ALS and I am noticing she seems to be "slurring" her words more in the last few days and also dragging her foot a little bit more. Any help is appreciated.
Thanks

 

[zaff4444]

I believe when im stessed my voice slur's more also lose my apetite.

 

[indigosd]

Stress of any type makes Web's symptoms worse. Doesn't seem to matter if it is positive or negative stress.

 

[K-Town]

Stress and ALS do not mix. I have seen progressions in my husband after extreme stress...even lower stressful situations, has made speech and swallowing, walking more difficult. its not possible to avoid ALL stress, but important to reduce it as best as you can.

 

[Blubear]

Stress is bad bad bad! Even minor stress... My fathers automatic sprinklers came on on their own the other night and he was frantic to find a way to turn them off. (we live in the pacific NW and we don't really need sprinklers except 2 months out of the year maybe) Anyway, a neighbor came and found a way to shut them off. I had lunch with him the next day and he was still a mess. Out of breath, weak....and all of that because of the dang sprinklers! The good news is, as soon as things settle down, so will the symptoms. My dad seems to stress over too many things, and gets stressed to easily. Gotta take a lot of deep breaths, and ask yourself "how is stressing over this going to help or hurt me?" I know easier said than done. I have so many stresses in my life, I only take on the biggies, the rest hooo hummmm!
Hugs,
Blubear

 

[brooksea]

Stress is really bad for pALS! My husband can't get his breath and can barely get any words out when he is under stress (the bad kind).

We have a "wonderful" neighbor behind us that had a rotten tree fall on our NEW fence and scatter debris over a large area of the yard. We asked the wife if they would please clean up the mess (as is the law) - didn't ask her to replace the fencing, we just wanted things cleaned up. She strung us along for weeks and my husband reached the boiling point. Her husband would not even talk to us about it. Finally we had neighborhood kids help me clean up the mess and we put it just over the property line in her yard. My husband was supervising. She came running out of the house yelling at my husband. He got so stressed out that he could not catch his breath or speak, which in turn stressed him out even more! We had to take him inside and make him sit down. I wrote those scumbags a real nice certified letter explaining their responsibilities regarding rotten trees that fall on another's property and explained the fact that my husband cannot pick up a chain saw, let alone start it! (of which she was fully aware). The very next week they had a tree company come in a take out their rotten trees. Well, that settled my husband down. But the whole thing was entirely unnecessary and that lady is on my list!

We won the lottery on nice neighbors that live right next to us! LOL

Get some calming aroma therapy stuff for your sister along with a meditation cd. Maybe that will help. Try to get her to concentrate on things that make her happy that she can manage.

 

[Zaphoon]

I have PLS and stress is very bad for me! It puts my leg cramps and fasciculations into high gear and messes with my temperament! Let there be peace on earth (or at least in my neighborhood!).

Zaphoon

 

[hopingforcure]

Stress does a real number on me.. I have a 14 year old son, who can stiffen me up daily.. I love him more than anything on earth, but because of that, he knows he can stress me more than anyone on earth. Stress is a great stiffener, weakener, and just plain tormentor...