Any link between MND and schizoaffective/ schizophrenia?

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Jesse35

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Lost a loved one
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Trois-Rivière
I'm curious to know if there is a link between ALS and schizoaffective disorder. I myself lost my mother in may 2019 from Bulbar Als she was 68, and my brother has Bipolar schizoaffective disorder since he was 19 (Now he is 41 years old). My mother used to have this nervous tick; she would make a fist with each of her hands and use force as if she was grinding something in her fists, while doing that she would bite her tongue a little and contract some muscles in her face. I was wondering after all the years of doing this she might have damaged her nerves and or muscles in the upper part of her body. Does anyone know of this kind of behavior? I'm just trying to find out how she got this disease. thanks
 
Moderator note: post moved because topic is worthy of its own thread

I am unaware of any link. For one thing, a different area of the brain is involved in schizophrenic disorders and in MND, though I suppose it’s possible some of the mechanisms of cellular damage are similar. I know there have been some studies testing schizophrenia drugs on people with ALS.
 
PALS in general have a higher than expected rate of relatives with schizophrenia. It is also associated with C9orf72 families.

this does not mean your mother’s ALS was really FALS but there may be genetic glitches that leave most of your family healthy but given a set of triggers manifested as als in your mother and a different set manifested as schizophrenia in your brother

 
Interesting Nikki. My PALS is a sporadic case but there was an aunt and a cousin with schizophrenia, both institualized.
 
When I worked in drug development, we had reason to connect schizophrenia with several other neurological diseases, and the literature goes back to the 70's, at least. It is an emerging area and there is much to come.
 
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