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Huntington's Disease
Huntington's Disease is an inherited
degenerative neuropsychiatric disorder which affects both body and mind.
Symptoms most commonly begin between the ages of 35 and 50, although onset may
occur any time from childhood to old age.
The clinical features of Huntington's disease can be thought of as a triad of
emotional, cognitive and motor disturbances.
Symptoms include chorea (dance-like involuntary movements), clumsiness, slurred
speech, depression, irritability and apathy.
Cognitive losses include intellectual speed, attention and short-term memory.
Huntington's disease affects people in different ways. One member of a family
may have more trouble with clumsiness while another may have emotional
outbursts. Moreover, symptoms of Huntington's disease in the same individual
change over time.
There is currently a lot of research interest in this
inherited disease and we learn more about it all the time.
But, as yet, there have been relatively few spin-offs into the daily lives of
sufferers and their families,
most of whom only know the disease as it affects their own relatives/friends.
A therapist, who has spent ten years in care homes catering for people with
Huntington's Disease,
has seen forty people with this disease, gaining wide experience of the problems
they and their families experience as it progresses.
Access to support and advice at the right time can minimise these difficulties
and reduce the anxiety and stress which often result.
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