Hold on Tight...

The link that I find most telling is that Gulf War vets are 2 x as likely to get ALS, and war veterens in general also have a higher incidence (I'm too lazy to look up the exact %'s right now). What that tells me is that chemical exposures is most likely a large trigger/factor in many cases. I believe that a person's DNA makeup still makes one more or less likely to be succeptible, so what Nikki says makes total sense. Hence, we can all think of people (like Keith Richards) who have bombarded their bodies with tons of crap and insult after insult and may never get ALS. I have a sister who has been morbidly obese for 20 years, has been a heavy smoker for almost 55 years, worked in a factory, has not exercises in 50 years ........ and while not "healthy" (she's has COPD - surprise) does not and probably never will get ALS.

Another link I think is interesting is that while there appears to have been ALS "clusters" reported (Italian soccer players years back) and speculation that head injury in American style football may be a factor in ALS, to my knowlege there does not seem to be any association between exercise/exertion in indoor sports.

In my husband's case, he was always physically active and had excellent strength and endurance. Dave grew up on a farm (pesticides), & used herbicides & pesticides for years in our gardens and even indoors without wearing a respirator mask. The months just proceeding Dave's decline and ultimate diagnosis, we went to Vieques, PR (which was a USA missile deployment site many years ago and to this day has exaggerated incidences of cancers, birth defects, etc.). He was bitten many times by mosquitos in Vieques. He then came down with fever/chills/muscle weakness/flu-like symptoms. A month later he was bitten by a tick here on our property, & developed a Lyme's Disease rash & reaction for which he was treated. I will continue to believe that genetic predisposition (as Nikki mentions) plus a "cascade" effect of exposure to several unknown triggers, combined with Lyme's exposure may have set the ALS monster loose.

I realize that all this is pure conjecture and I have no empirical evidence to offer.

I too would love to read the study Nikki.

Here is the study http://n.neurology.org/content/neurology/early/2018/07/18/WNL.0000000000005996.full.pdf

Tillie they don’t know what the six steps are. If they did we might be able to prevent ALS! As you can see it is fancy statistical analysis that brought them to that conclusion and their conclusions about the number of steps needed for different mutations.

Wow, this is all really interesting and I will be checking out that link too.

Brian had numerous head injuries and chemical exposure to pesticides and herbicides on his grandmothers farm. With a kayaker/camper like him you can pretty much assume Lyme exposure in the Northernmost part of the U.S.

Three alarm fires: They aren’t just for the vented team anymore.

Here we are getting tests at 9:30 at night because they think Brian may have a bowel obstruction.

Goes to show me that I need to stop thinking things are so bad. They can always get worse.

Hope it is something much less complex, Lenore! Keep us posted.

oh no, holding your hand while you get this sorted xxx

Grateful to say he is not obstructed, “just” impacted. He is waiting now to have the ‘ol manual removal done. Thing is, we- and I mean both the nurse and I tried that at home with limited success. I hope that can get it right here.

Brian is dreading it because it’s painful. Hopefully they are better at that part too.

I can't even imagine ....

I hope it wasn't too horrible and you are home again xx

3:00 am and I’m home. Brian is being kept for 24 hours to make sure they got all the poop. I was there when they dealt with the impaction. Considering we were throwing 8 Senna and a Miralax daily dose at it it’s hard to believe that all stayed in there.

Going forward we add another Miralax and another med to prevent it from happening again. I sure could tell the difference in an MD doing the manual removal. It’s a nasty procedure but she truly got the job done.

Glad he is "unstuck" and hope you can get some rest.

Not sure what all you have tried to keep things moving, but coffee, other warm liquids, spices, etc. sometimes help.

Lenore, I’m so sorry you had to go through this. It is not fun. Happy to hear you are home and they are double checking him. Definitely not easy on either party.

Hugs

Lenore, I am sorry to hear you both had to go thru this! If you are trying to help Brian by manually unblocking him, IDK how this is accomplshed well in a recliner or in bed. The last 3 months or so of Dave's life I had to do this at least once per week. He tolerated it only because I told him he would get impacted if not. I always performed this in the shower/toileting chair with the bucket removed. Dave had enough trunk stability left that he could stay in the chair if I reclined it just slightly and belted him in. Anyway, I would get on my hands and knees and perform the delicate procedure. When seated in the toileting chair, gravity is assisting the bowels. Also, if you can make sure that his knees are at least slightly higher than his hips, this also assists the colon in moving things along.

If you don't have a shower/toilet chair, I am hoping that this hospital incident will be enough for you to convince Brian that moving him about serves a function more than just to prolong life!

Hoping things will improve for both of you! BIG hug!

They are actually continuing to dose him with colonoscopy prep solution and getting much more out. Dubious if he will even be home tomorrow.

Going forward, we have to create a chronic loose stool to prevent this from happening again. I’ll be upping homecare hours to change depends more frequently.

Tonight I am hanging out with wine and television.

Wishing you a good night’s sleep Lenore, and peace and success for Brian.

The prep solution can disrupt electrolyte balances, so I'd make sure he's getting enough potassium, magnesium and the like. And hydration, of course.