Circulatory System
Although Lou Gehrig's disease has little affect on the heart and the circulatory system, autonomic system problems lead to collapse of the circulatory system in some patients. Some patients experience swelling in their legs due to lack of blood circulation in their legs. Since ALS patients loose the ability to walk and are often paralyzed, the blood movement in the legs that happens as a result of walking no longer happens. This lack of circulation causes swelling in patients legs.
Respitory System
ALS can hinder a patients breathing and their overall respiratory system. ALS eventually paralyzes the respiratory muscles that are essential to a patients breathing. As the respiratory muscles weaken, oxygen cannot be exchanged and an excess of carbon dioxide builds up in the blood stream. This leads to something called respiratory acidosis, where the body cannot expel any carbon dioxide. Symptoms of respiratory acidosis include fatigue, shortness of breath, confusion, trouble swallowing and drowsiness. As it becomes difficult to swallow, oral secretions are given to patients. These secretions can get into the alveoli, and end up blocking the alveoli from exchanging oxygen. As a result, many ALS patients receive oxygen therapy, as well as prescribed medicine that opens up their respiratory airways. In the later stages of ALS, patients usually end up on mechanical ventilators as their respiratory system is affected so badly. This decline in breathing often causes patients to loose their ability to sing, to cough and even to speak for long periods of time. This is also depicted in the physical appearance of ALS patients, as they lose a lot of weight due to an excess of carbon dioxide. This respiratory failure in ALS patients often leads to death.
Skeletal System
The results of ALS affect the bones and joints in your body. When the brain sends messages to the rest of your body, it tells them what to do in a matter of milliseconds. Because ALS affects the communication from the brain to the rest of the body, it is hard to move your points and you are not as strong as normal when diagnosed with ALS.
Nervous System
When someone gets diagnosed with ALS, the disease affects motor neurons, which connect to the brain which sends messages to make the muscles move. The reason the disease cells do this is unknown. The motor neurons of people with ALS eventually degenerate, or die, causing voluntary movement of all muscles are eventually lost. Because the disease is mainly in the motor neurons, the 5 senses are mostly unaffected. For example, most people with the disease are able to feel, smell, taste, hear, and see.
Digestive System
During ALS, the digestive system is mostly unaffected because the disease affects the motor neurons. Because of that, the body's involuntary functions are not affected. The digestive system is one of the body's involuntary functions. As a result, the person's swallowing, digesting, and waste release can work normally.
Lymphatic System
The lymphatic system is mostly left alone by ALS. The lymphatic system gets rid of waste, old blood cells, and cancer. It is also slowed down by the cells because they replace the normal cells while multiplying. The factor that is unaffected is when the lymphatic system absorbs fats and vitamins. Also, the blood that is carried by the lymphatic system becomes cancer-filled, which affects the diagnosed person's strength, bloodflow, or possibly breathing.
Musculatory System
When a patient is first diagnosed with ALS, their muscle immobility is often minimal. Because of the destruction of the motor neurons, the message that the brain sends to the muscles do not work. Eventually, that results in paralysis and the loss of speech. Some people may have trouble swallowing and speaking.