What are the symptoms of ALD? How does it progress?
ALD symptoms can vary depending on age, gender, and the body tissues affected. The tissues that are most severely affected in ALD are myelin, blood, and the adrenal glands. Not all tissues are affected at the same time.
In the world of genetic disorders, doctors group collections of symptoms into “phenotypes” based on the cells and tissues that are most severely affected by a gene abnormality. Individuals with the ALD gene may have different phenotypes. A person may experience several phenotypes throughout their life. In fact, it is common for individuals to have more than one phenotype at any given time.
The primary phenotypes that can occur in males with the ALD gene: