lou gehrig's disease?

Question

my sister's partner has been diagonosed with this disease and he has gone down hill really fast and my sister is not coping what can she do
our father died last year and she didn't cope with that
now her partner has kept her in the house as he cant cope with going anywhere, he is very ill

Answer 1

Get some grief counseling. Lou Gehrig's can be very fast as you said. She needs to try and accept it as hard as it may be. The grief counseling would probably be good for her.

Answer 2

My mom has alzheimers and I think that Lou Gehrigs disease may be the only one I think is more insidious.One of my aquaintances father has Lou Gehrigs and he had to put him in a nursing home.My mom will be heading to one soon too.It is heartbreaking to watch as someone you love breaks down from either of these diseases.But at some point the primary caregiver is overwhelmed and must consider a home.It breaks my fathers heart as well as mine and my sisters but we have to accept reality and put my mom in a home.My father has no life.All he does is take care of my mom.He cannot even go anywhere and leave her alone.He has become a drunk in the process and he is depressed all the time.That is no way to live and to be honest my mom will probably have a better life in a home than the one he is giving her now.Your sister needs to have her own life and as long as she is responsible for taking care of her partner she will not have much of one.It all sounds so selfish but it is reality.I am truly sorry for your situation and wish you and your family well but take my advice as much as it hurts.God Bless!!!

Answer 3

I picked up a patient once that had it. She was relatively young too. It is a devastating illness and it has a fairly rapid onset (she went from fully mobile to full paralysis in less than 2 years). This is a harsh diagnosis and your sister needs to be prepared for what her partner is about to go through. It is a degenerative disease of the motor neurons. In a short time, her friend will lose all motor function. His mind will stay sharp while his body fails him. There is no known treatment. I'm sorry to say that death is expected within 2 to 5 years of onset. In the meantime, (and it is a mean time), her friend's muscles will begin to atrophy from lack of use. I wish there was better news, but this news is grave indeed. I'm terribly sorry. Your sister can only try to emotionaly prepare herself for what is to come. If you wish to look it up, the medical term is amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. God bless.

Answer 4

She needs assistance in caring for him medically and some respite time when someone else can take over while she gets out of the house for a while. Call the Muscular Distrophy Association as this disease is one of those that they deal with. They have support groups and special equipment without cost to the patient or their family.

Answer 5

Is he on hospice? They have people who will come to the house for a few hours to give her a break, they also provide counselling for the caregivers.