Symptoms Of Huntingtons Disease
Huntington's disease is genetic disease named after a 19th century physician. It is an inherited disease; which affects the central nervous system, its manifestation being the loss of cognitive and motor functions of the body. It is brought about by the inheritance of a faulty gene; which takes approximately three or four decades to show. It is mainly found in adults, although young people are developing it nowadays. It is difficult to arrest this gene in an early stage since there are no symptoms of the disease in the early stages of one's life. The symptoms may develop much earlier but they are most of the time treated as symptoms of other illness, rather than Huntington's disease. It can be only be managed as there is no known cure of the disease.
It has physical and psychological symptoms. A person exhibiting the symptoms of Huntington's disease suddenly becomes slow and clumsy in physical movements. He may later develop schizophrenia and memory loss. The slow and clumsy movements may not seem as symptoms of anything to the average person and the chances of overlooking it are high. It may be thought to be a manifestation of low self esteem or shyness. There is less and less control of motor movements as the disease progresses. With time, a person with Huntington's disease will find it hard to keep a straight posture. The speech becomes affected and he can no longer control the pitch of his voice
Huntington's disease impairs the mind of the sufferer and the longer he has been suffering the more the mental impairment. He does not have memory and cannot comprehend simple things. This is where the person with Huntington's disease becomes totally reliant on other persons. He needs assistance in everything. Depression and irritability sets in as the person can no longer do things that he used to do for himself. These are irreversible, and get worse as the disease progresses.
It is easier to diagnose the disease now than ever before by looking at the genetic history of a person. Since it is inherited, a person will be predisposed to Huntington's disease if a family member had the disease. It has no prevention or cure and management of the Huntington's disease has it own unique challenges. Tranquilizers are used to control the uncontrollable jerking movements. Speech and occupational therapies help preserve some functions of the body as the disease progresses.
Showing posts with label Huntington’s disease. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Huntington’s disease. Show all posts
Tuesday, June 24, 2014
Huntington's Disease Symptoms
Huntington's Disease Symptoms
Huntington's Disease is an anomaly of a genetic type within the central nervous system. It is also called Huntington's chorea, where it was named after an American Physician who had the chance to describe the condition in the year 1872. The disease is believed to be a result of inheriting a rather faulty gene. It is also a very rare neurological disorder that causes brain cells to face an abnormal death. Also known as HD, Huntington's disease affects about one in 10,000 of the people descending from Western Europe and in one on a million Asian and African descents. It is a progressive disorder, meaning the symptoms will always worsen with time.
Huntington's disease symptoms manifest in persons in both psychological and physical ways. The psychiatric manifestations do vary and might precede cognitive and motor changes. There is a rather common occurrence of depression and personality changes, as well as symptoms that look like those of schizophrenia, occurring in about 6-25% of all the HD cases. The first signs of the Huntington's disease are presented with a very clumsy kind of behavior.
Since there might be erratic and rather random movements of the hands and arms, a person might not be able to control their arms as before. At first, the symptoms might be very subtle where it is not difficult for a person to attribute them to some other causes. The unfortunate thing is that treatment might be delayed since the victim might disguise the behaviors to avert denial and embarrassment. As the disease keeps on progressing, you might notice such symptoms as postural instability, the inability to keep up with some voluntary postural kind of movement, a very poor diaphragm and tongue control, slurred speech that is poorly articulated and a very strained voice or one that is sometimes loud inappropriately.
There might be other symptoms detected from the behavioral and emotional changes that develop over a period of time, having a direct effect on an individual's personality, displaying signs such as irritability, complaining, need to be critical, impulsiveness, paranoia and suspiciousness as well as lack of sheer self-control. You have to remember the symptoms are always irreversible and quite difficult for the victims to cope with, such that the individuals with Huntington's disease will often become depressed clinically ending up displaying some signs of manic and hostile behavior. As an increase in the impairment of cognitive abilities, the individuals might require assistance in communication since some recognizable conversations and words might become very difficult.
Huntington's Disease is an anomaly of a genetic type within the central nervous system. It is also called Huntington's chorea, where it was named after an American Physician who had the chance to describe the condition in the year 1872. The disease is believed to be a result of inheriting a rather faulty gene. It is also a very rare neurological disorder that causes brain cells to face an abnormal death. Also known as HD, Huntington's disease affects about one in 10,000 of the people descending from Western Europe and in one on a million Asian and African descents. It is a progressive disorder, meaning the symptoms will always worsen with time.
Huntington's disease symptoms manifest in persons in both psychological and physical ways. The psychiatric manifestations do vary and might precede cognitive and motor changes. There is a rather common occurrence of depression and personality changes, as well as symptoms that look like those of schizophrenia, occurring in about 6-25% of all the HD cases. The first signs of the Huntington's disease are presented with a very clumsy kind of behavior.
Since there might be erratic and rather random movements of the hands and arms, a person might not be able to control their arms as before. At first, the symptoms might be very subtle where it is not difficult for a person to attribute them to some other causes. The unfortunate thing is that treatment might be delayed since the victim might disguise the behaviors to avert denial and embarrassment. As the disease keeps on progressing, you might notice such symptoms as postural instability, the inability to keep up with some voluntary postural kind of movement, a very poor diaphragm and tongue control, slurred speech that is poorly articulated and a very strained voice or one that is sometimes loud inappropriately.
There might be other symptoms detected from the behavioral and emotional changes that develop over a period of time, having a direct effect on an individual's personality, displaying signs such as irritability, complaining, need to be critical, impulsiveness, paranoia and suspiciousness as well as lack of sheer self-control. You have to remember the symptoms are always irreversible and quite difficult for the victims to cope with, such that the individuals with Huntington's disease will often become depressed clinically ending up displaying some signs of manic and hostile behavior. As an increase in the impairment of cognitive abilities, the individuals might require assistance in communication since some recognizable conversations and words might become very difficult.
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