Symptoms Of Huntington's Disease (HD)

Huntington’s chorea, or more commonly known as Huntington’s disease (HD), is a neurodegenerative disorder that affects both men and women. Although previously thought to be a relatively rare disease, new research discoveries show that it’s actually more common than not; while the onset of symptoms typically occurs in a person’s 40s and 50s, research has also shown that individuals in their 70s, 80s and even 90s have enough repeats in the HTT gene to develop mild HD symptoms. (Samson, 2016) Through the selective degeneration of neurons and with the loss of neurons from the striatum and cerebral cortex, Huntington’s disease affects the nervous system by impacting movement, cognitive abilities, as well as neuropsychiatric symptoms. (Liou, 2010)
(Vassos, Panas, Kladi, & Vassilopoulos, 2007) These psychiatric and psychological symptoms include the following: personality changes, irritability, verbal abuse, anxiety, depression, and aggression. (Kent, 2004) Symptoms like these can often be the most damaging to an individual, and as the disease progresses it only gets worse. Losing independence with every day activities can be disheartening and often lead those with Huntington’s disease to suicide, deliberate self-harm, extreme depression, and even mania. (Kent, 2004)Therefore progress must be made towards this aspect of the disease in order to prevent extreme symptoms and cases like
(Huntington's Disease Society of America) Due to its autosomal-dominance, those with the infected gene have a 50-50 chance of developing the disease, (Kent, 2004) thus making family history a huge risk factor, as well as making the disease more common than not. (Samson, 2016) While there are different stages of the disease, there is no way of knowing when the disease will spike or how long the degeneration will last. (Werbel, 1990) Although the key characteristic of Huntington’s disease is chorea, it has been discovered that neuropsychological symptoms actually present themselves many years prior to the onset of motor impairments. (Dale, Maltby, Shimozaki, Cramp, & Rickards, 2016) (Liou, 2010) (Vassos, Panas, Kladi, & Vassilopoulos, 2007) With no cure available, researchers have been observing various other methods of treatment to slow or perhaps prevent the degeneration neurons due to the mutant HTT gene. (Jin, et al., 2016) (Li & Reichmann, 2016) (Qu, Mossine, Cui, Sun, & Gu, 2016) Until then, various coping mechanisms are used for those with Huntington’s as well as their families to get them through the overwhelming deterioration of the central nervous system that results from the disease. (Kent,