ALS diagnosis and lead paint

[MarkH]

I am new to this space but I have found that the discussions are very helpful and informative. My wife was diagnosed with als earlier this year. It was devastating and totally out of the blue. 3 years ago my wife and I did minor painting and repairs to an older house. We checked for lead paint, had masks, proper ventilation etc. I believe we both inhaled paint dust. Has this come up in prior discussions? I have read that there had been a link between exposure and als but I don’t see much information on levels or duration.

 

[Nikki J]

I am very sorry about your wife. It is extremely common to search for reasons and unless one is FALS there usually aren’t answers

yes lead is believed to be an issue but it sounds like any exposure was brief, comparatively minimal and recent. This study looked at lead among other factors it seems like the exposures here were much much greater than anything you could possibly have received. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/mus.27085
you could ask the neurologist to check lead levels

 

[MarkH]

Thank you for the quick response and the additional reference material. On my own I had some blood work run on both of us to determine if there was an elevated lead level. I was 1 ug/dL and my wife was 2. That appeared to be normal. I have read that lead will migrate to bone and remain there until getting reintroduced to the blood stream. I’m not sure how long that process would take. I will ask our doctor if she has any concerns and also if there is a reliable way to determine lead levels in bone. Thank you for trying to calm me down. It is greatly appreciated. You are right. I am searching for for a simple explanation for something that may not have one. I will follow back up after I speak with the dr.