A very strange question

[Alison Mruphy]

Hello Everyone,
I'm new to this forum and I have a very strange question for patients with ALS. Thinking back to before your diagnosis, did you have any type of survey or medical procedure that required any type of anesthesia? If so, approximately how long before your ALS diagnosis did your have the anesthesia?

Thanks!
Alison

 

[scaredwifetx]

My husband had Anesthesia for dental work and not to long afterward starting having symptoms. In fact, in the beginning we thought that he was having issues because of the dental work. We both had a gut feeling about it. We never even thought about ALS until his GP sent him to a Nuero. We were completely in shock.

I have often thought about opening a thread asking PALS this same question but I have come to believe there are several triggers.

 

[Alison Mruphy]

Thank you Deb for your quick reply. I am so sorry that your husband has ALS. My dear friend died today and something he said while telling the story of his journey hit me really hard - a surgery prior to diagnosis. I am hoping to learn more about this.
Take care,
Alison

 

[scaredwifetx]

I am sorry Alison for the loss of your friend. I hope one day we find the answer or answers as to what causes this horrible disease.

 

[soonerwife]

So sorry to hear about your friend Alison.

My PALS had rotator cuff surgery in August '11 and his slurred speech started in July '14.

 

[Alison Mruphy]

Thanks Soonerwife for your reply. I am so sorry about your PAL. Thank you for the update on the surgery.
Best wishes,
Alison

 

[KimT]

I had a colonoscopy a couple of months before symptoms started.

 

[affected]

I'm sorry about your friend.

There is no known cause for sporadic ALS. I know you are maybe in some shock or grief, but remember a very small number of people answering here will not give any ground-breaking data.

My husband Chris had never been sick enough in his life to have been in a hospital. He had never even had blood drawn to test for anything, not even once. He had no idea what his blood type was. He certainly had never had any anaesthetic of any kind not even with a dentist.

He had very agressive rapid onset bulbar onset ALS combined with FTD and was gone 11 months after diagnosis.

Remember that multiple millions of people every single year undergo anaesthetic.

The one consistent thing we know about ALS is that it is never consistent in anything.

I wonder if you would like to tell us what has you so concerned about anaesthetics causing ALS?

 

[KateEmerson]

Hi Alison, I am sorry to hear that you have lost your friend. My husband had surgery to repair his bicep tendon but it was a good 5 plus years before his symptoms began. The MGH clinic has told us that they now call ALS a " syndrome " and believe there are probably a number of " catalysts " or "triggers "that cause ALS, so thank you for beginning the discussion. I have always thought it would be interesting for everyone to present any observations they may have had.

 

[Statius@]

I had rotator cuff surgery about 8 months prior to diagnosis, though I was also dealing with lumbar stenosis at the same time. But I'd had rotator cuff surgery in 2008 without lasting effect. I can't credit the surgery or anesthesia as a cause in any way, but if some kind of trauma serves as a trigger perhaps this did. Sorry for your loss.

Ed

 

[GregK]

My only pre-Dx surgery was ~10 years prior.

You may well drive yourself crazy trying to find a 'trigger' for ALS.