So I have a friend with ALS, and she's currently taking pharmaceutical medications including a few opiates for the pain, I've been looking into more natural ays to help her out and figured the nexus might have some good suggestions, the majority of the pain is in her lower back around the sacrum and in her left foot and ankle, I've been massaging it with some luck. I've suggested a vitamin b complex supplement to her since it's supposed to help with nerve function, her diet isn't the best, she doesn't eat very much. I'm just looking for the most effective pain relief options I can find with minimal hassle. Thanks very much for reading, any feed back will be greatly appreciated.

Cannabis.

http://norml.org/library/item/amyotrophic-lateral-sclerosis-als
ALS Studies With Medical Marijuana

If anything, it will help with eating. It very likely could help with the pain and overall disease progression.

Thanks. She's been using hash oil, it helps a good bit. forgot to mention that.

Has your friend considered ashwagandha(Indian ginseng)?

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26306935

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25828061

cognitive heart: thanks for the suggestion, I've never heard of it before, I'll have to check into it.

I know this post is old... But in case you're still reading there have been possible links between various infections such as mycoplasma and potentially borrelia (Lyme) and ALS. Stephen buhner writes some really great books detailing tick-borne infections and herbal strategies against them. Many of these organisms are known to cause CNS disease and can be acquired through routes other than tick bites. There isn't a whole lot in specific on ALS but i would think it's still pretty applicable