Lou Gehrig's Disease

By Sylvia Engdahl

Lou Gehrig's Disease, or Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, attacks nerve cells and pathways in the brain and spinal cord. Patients in the later stages of the disease become totally paralyzed, yet in most cases, their minds are still alert and sharp. Readers are provided with essential information on ALS. This book also serves as a historical survey, by providing information on the controversies surrounding its causes. Compelling first-person narratives by people coping with ALS give readers a first-hand experience. Patients, family members, or caregivers explain the condition from their own experience, including famed scientist Stephen Hawking. The symptoms, causes, treatments, and potential cures are explained in detail. Essential to anyone trying to learn about diseases and conditions, the alternative treatments are explored. Each essay is carefully edited and presented with an introduction, so that they are accessible for student researchers and readers.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Rosen Publishing
• Release date: Apr 19, 2012
• ISBN: 9780737765588

Sylvia Engdahl

Sylvia Engdahl is the author of eleven science fiction novels. She is best known for her six traditionally-published Young Adult novels that are also enjoyed by adults, all but one of which are now available in indie editions. That one, Enchantress from the Stars, was a Newbery Honor book, winner of the 2000 Phoenix Award of the Children's Literature Association, and a finalist for the 2002 Book Sense Book of the Year in the Rediscovery category. Her Children of the Star trilogy, originally written for teens, was reissued by a different publisher as adult SF.Recently she has written five independently-published novels for adults, the Founders pf Maclairn dulogy and the Captain of Estel trilogy. Although all her novels take place in the distant future, in most csses on hypothetical worlds, and thus are categorized as science fiction, they are are directed more to mainstream readers than to avid science fiction fans.Engdahl has also issued an updated edition of her 1974 nonfiction book The Planet-Girded Suns: Our Forebears' Firm Belief in Inhabited Exoplanets, which is focused on original research in primary sources of the 17th through early 20th centuries that presents the views prevalent among educted people of that time. In addition she has published three permafree ebook collections of essays.Between 1957 and 1967 Engdahl was a computer programmer and Computer Systems Specialist for the SAGE Air Defense System. Most recently she has worked as a freelance editor of nonfiction anthologies for high schools. Now retired, she lives in Eugene, Oregon and welcomes visitors to her website at www.sylviaengdahl.com. It includes a large section on space colonization, of which she is a strong advocate, as well as essays on other topics and detailed information about her books. She enjoys receiving email from her readers.

Book preview

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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING-IN-PUBLICATION DATA

Lou Gehrig's disease / Sylvia Engdahl, book editor.

p. cm. -- (Perspectives on diseases and disorders)

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 978-0-7377-5776-7 (hardback)

1. Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis--Popular works. I. Engdahl, Sylvia.

RC406.A24L68 2012 616.8'39--dc23

2011053377

Printed in the United States of America 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 16 15 14 13 12

CONTENTS

Foreword

Introduction

Medicine, to produce health, has to examine disease.

—Plutarch

Independent research on a health issue is often the first step to complement discussions with a physician. But locating accurate, well-organized, understandable medical information can be a challenge. A simple Internet search on terms such as cancer or diabetes, for example, returns an intimidating