Essay On Huntington's Disease
Devesh Mehra
3/16/17
Biology
Huntington's Disease Research Paper
Huntington’s Disease, previously known as Huntington’s chorea, is a long term brain disorder that eventually leads to uncontrolled movement, problems with emotions, loss of cognitive abilities such as memorization, increased involuntary movements, behavioral symptoms, and degeneration of nerve cells in the brain(1). This disease has been recognized as a disorder for hundreds of years, but however, only recently a cause was instituted to explain the effects. During the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, gene heredity was poorly understood as people who had the gene coding for the disease, died before many symptoms could appear. Huntington's Disease was first identified as an …show more content…
Some patients may experience unintentional jerking or wriggling movements (chorea), muscle problems, such as inflexibility or muscle contractions (dystonia), Slow or irregular eye movements, disabled stride, posture and balance, difficulty with speech or swallowing, feelings of irritability, sadness or apathy, social withdrawal, insomnia, tiredness and loss of energy, or frequent thoughts of suicide, and death related ideas. Due to these symptoms the social consequences of Huntington’s disease can be disastrous. Humans with this condition will slur their words to the point of total mispronunciation and have a chance of completely losing their speech. The decision making process is altered and people in the later stages of the disease have hard time concentrating on memorization. Also the the affected patients might do out of the ordinary behavior, and say things without thinking. Other symptoms can be aggression, apathy, depression, and denial(7). Patients with the disease can have children, but take the risk for passing on the genes to their offspring(10). The disease itself is not fatal, but the complications related to it can shorten the lifespan of the people affected. Heart failure and pneumonia are two common complications of the disease. Many people develop symptoms in their 30’s to 50’s and usually live from 10 - 20 years after
3/16/17
Biology
Huntington's Disease Research Paper
Huntington’s Disease, previously known as Huntington’s chorea, is a long term brain disorder that eventually leads to uncontrolled movement, problems with emotions, loss of cognitive abilities such as memorization, increased involuntary movements, behavioral symptoms, and degeneration of nerve cells in the brain(1). This disease has been recognized as a disorder for hundreds of years, but however, only recently a cause was instituted to explain the effects. During the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, gene heredity was poorly understood as people who had the gene coding for the disease, died before many symptoms could appear. Huntington's Disease was first identified as an …show more content…
Some patients may experience unintentional jerking or wriggling movements (chorea), muscle problems, such as inflexibility or muscle contractions (dystonia), Slow or irregular eye movements, disabled stride, posture and balance, difficulty with speech or swallowing, feelings of irritability, sadness or apathy, social withdrawal, insomnia, tiredness and loss of energy, or frequent thoughts of suicide, and death related ideas. Due to these symptoms the social consequences of Huntington’s disease can be disastrous. Humans with this condition will slur their words to the point of total mispronunciation and have a chance of completely losing their speech. The decision making process is altered and people in the later stages of the disease have hard time concentrating on memorization. Also the the affected patients might do out of the ordinary behavior, and say things without thinking. Other symptoms can be aggression, apathy, depression, and denial(7). Patients with the disease can have children, but take the risk for passing on the genes to their offspring(10). The disease itself is not fatal, but the complications related to it can shorten the lifespan of the people affected. Heart failure and pneumonia are two common complications of the disease. Many people develop symptoms in their 30’s to 50’s and usually live from 10 - 20 years after