Causes of ALS?

[SMP51]

my husband has never had a flu shot

 

[ardalon]

Neither I have had a flu shot nor have been in the army

 

[danrising]

I got Shingles in March 2013 and diagnosed October 2013....

 

[georgiarux]

My husband David was pressured into a flu vaccine on October 12, 2013 by his employer, and he noticed symptoms November 2013. He was diagnosed with ALS on May 15, 2013 and he is progressing fast. If you think that a vaccination triggered this awful disease PLEASE file a VARS report with the CDC. Website Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System

 

[MaxEidswick]

I am willing so any valid, but I do have to wonder why the VA is so supportive.

 

[Bad Balance]

I am sure that yellow fever was included.
I still believe that it is like cancer .....many different triggers.
But it's like something those that keep tropical fish will recognize. Stress causes disease.
Temperature, lack of rest, poor nutrition and other physical factors combine with environmental events to stress a Pals. These combined with mental stress break out finally in disease.
Running in the DDT mist as a child, living on hot dogs and coffee during college and not sleeping. These combined with career stresses can do it. I used to jokingly say as I was working long deadline driven hours, "This stuff is killing me"....little did I know

 

[summerguy2007]

I also believe it is a combination of things that cause it, plus your genes. Many non-military people get many vaccinations before they visit other countries. What effect has it had on them? The President or Sec. of State or Congressmen for example. Stephen Hawking had ALS at 21 yrs. I think vaccinations could be a contributing factor. Age another. I had a very similar acute symptom in my 40's to the more recent one I had in my 60's. It resolved itself when in my 40's, but has not now that I'm older. So, the "trigger" may be almost anything once your CNS has been influenced towards ALS.

 

[zoohouse]

It is interesting that there is a link between military service and ALS, but an even higher risk if you were in the airforce. When Tim was at the VA in Seattle for his first assessment he met a Vet with very severe MS. After talking to him we discovered that he was in his late 50's and that 80% of the guys in his squadron were either dead or had MS. He said that he was in the airforce and was responsible for de-icing planes, and that they had identified the chemical that caused all the problems. I'm sorry I can't remember what it was, but Tim was the fuel chief and was around all the jet fuels, and of course de-icers. Aside from the vaccinations that he got initially when he enlisted he has refused any others. He worked in landscaping for a period in his life, but used organic pesticides that he made himself with soap, and tobacco or something like that.

As a nurse I have had a lot of vaccines, and a flu shot every year as required by my work. I have done missionary work, so had all the shots for tropical places. The reason that I mention this, is that nurses receive vaccines regularly, and if ALS had a link to them, I think we would hear of a lot of nurses getting it.

Genetics could play a part of course, but Tim's comes from a very large family that has a long history of military enlistment, and he is absolutely the only person from his family, or relatives for many generations with any neurological condition at all. It is all so frustrating

 

[emi82]

There were a few people who had filled out this survey I made but if you want to see the results it is on this page:

docs.google.com/spreadsheet/pub?key=0AnOCHM_r-e2odEticHF0eFN5MTJEMXlienNwaTM4bFE&output=html

 

[summerguy2007]

"It is interesting that there is a link between military service and ALS, but an even higher risk if you were in the air force."

I've learned that among older populations, the chance of getting ALS is 5 to 6 times higher than the general population of same age (if you were in the military). I was in the USAF in the states and in Taiwan during the Viet War, and I had an office job and was rarely on the flight line nor around jet fuel etc. Our base strangely enough was as clean as a whistle as respects vegetation, yet as you leave the base there were trees, bushes, rice paddies and I'm sure a variety of weeds. The base had just a few little shrubs planted here and there. So, chemicals, like the Rainbow agents (orange and the other colorfully named chemicals) were most likely used. I also recall aerial spraying from aircraft at night for mosquitoes. They told you to stay inside. As respects genetics I was not referring to familial ALS, but gene mutations possibly caused by exposures to toxins, which could lead to mitochondrial damage among other things, such as the misfolding of proteins. Scientists seem to be in the learning stage concerning this overlooked disease based on what I read.. They think of it as a multi-dimensional disease involving many things and sequences of electro-chemical molecular events, including the blood-brain barrier and blood-spinal cord barrier. It's even more frustrating knowing that big pharma was not interested in it because the number of ALS patients is small in comparison to some other things such as depression, MS and others that they could clean up on $$ wise. I'm hoping that in the next 2 to 3 years they will market a drug to take in addition to Riluzole.

 

[wendya432]

I have heard there is also a link with ALS and people that do a lot of weight lifting type exercising. I wonder if being in the military, going through the physical demands of it all might be the same type of thing?

 

[MaxEidswick]

> I wonder if being in the military, going through the physical demands of it all might be the same type of thing?

well I was in the Navy, but I think 'physically demanding' wasn't it. 'Incredibility boring' might be more accurate

 

[kswife]

My husband had many vaccines on 2008 when we got the residence and flu shots every year after.