Yes, people with Huntington's disease (HD) can exhibit violent or aggressive behaviors, including verbal outbursts, throwing objects, and physical aggression, often stemming from irritability, frustration, and impaired impulse control due to brain changes, placing a significant burden on caregivers, notes Healthdirect, Penn Medicine, and HD Reach. While not everyone with HD becomes violent, rates of aggression are high in some populations (23-90%), and it's a recognized symptom managed with medication and behavioral strategies, according to Springer Link and APA PsycNet.
The most recent and largest retrospective study from 2021 included a chart review of 289 patients with HD and found that 11% had unlawful behavior, of which physical violence was the most common offense.
At this stage, a person with Huntington's is no longer able to do their own personal care and domestic responsibilities, and will have difficulty with mobility, needing to be in a chair or bed most of the time. Swallowing may be difficult and there may be significant weight loss.
Huntington's disease is a rare, inherited condition that slowly affects your movement and thinking abilities. A gene change causes damage in areas of your brain that control coordination, memory and emotions. Symptoms build over time. A healthcare provider can help you understand these changes and plan for care.
How can we help the person affected?
Huntington's disease impairs the functioning of the brain, which can result in apathy, trouble organizing, impulsivity, irritability and anger, unawareness, disinhibition, preservation, and other psychiatric symptoms. These emotional and behavioral symptoms can further complicate the caregiver's role.
Another meta-analysis reported that the average pain prevalence in HD was about 41%, ranging from 36 to 46% (Sprenger et al., 2019). Recently, a worldwide pain-HD investigation showed that in HD mutation carriers, 34% had pain intervention, 17% underwent painful conditions, and 13% were treated with analgesics.
Huntington disease is an inherited, neurodegenerative disorder. If a parent has the condition, each child will have a 50% chance of developing the disease.
Symptoms of Huntington's disease
While an HD mutation will eventually cause fatal brain disease in adulthood, the study finds that early in life, children with the HD mutation have bigger brains and higher IQ than children without the mutation.
Stage V: (11 - 26 years from illness onset)
Requires major assistance in financial affairs, domestic responsibilities, and all activities of daily living. Full-time skilled nursing care is required.
HD affects the whole brain, but certain areas are more vulnerable than others. Pictured above in blue is the striatum – an area deep in the brain that plays a key role in movement, mood, and behavior control. The striatum is the part of the brain that is most affected by HD.
Intermittent explosive disorder involves repeated, sudden bouts of impulsive, aggressive, violent behavior or angry verbal outbursts. The reactions are too extreme for the situation. Road rage, domestic abuse, throwing or breaking objects, or other temper tantrums may be symptoms of intermittent explosive disorder.
The most common signs of Huntington's disease include:
Cognitive changes, including difficulty with focus, memory and decision-making. Slower processing of information. Trouble organizing or completing tasks. Mood swings or irritability.
The most common are: hypoactive sexual disorder (53–83% of patients), hyperactive sexual disorder (6–30%), erectile (48–74%) and ejaculatory dysfunctions (30–65%), lubrication problems (53–83%), and orgasmic dysfunction (35–78%). Huntington's Disease (HD) is an autosomal dominant inherited disorder.
Psychiatric disturbances that occur in individuals with HD include apathy, depression, irritability, aggression, obsessive-compulsive behaviors and psychosis [7, 8].
In middle stage HD, individuals lose the ability to work or drive and may no longer be able to manage their own finances or perform their own household chores, but will be able to eat, dress, and attend to personal hygiene with assistance.
Huntington's disease is an inherited genetic condition that causes dementia. It causes a slow, progressive decline in a person's movement, memory, thinking and emotional state.
Medical professionals call high blood pressure, also known as hypertension, the silent killer because it can go undetected for a long period of time and leads to death. Most people who have high blood pressure do not have any symptoms; testing is the only way to determine if someone has it.
Huntington's disease (HD) is an inherited disorder that causes nerve cells (neurons) in parts of the brain to gradually break down and die. The disease attacks areas of the brain that help to control voluntary (intentional) movement, as well as other areas.
Necrotizing Fasciitis
This is a very dangerous bacterial skin infection that can kill the victim within a short period of time. It is popularly known as flesh eating bug because of its ability to speedily spread through the body and kill the body's soft tissue.
The neuropsychiatric symptoms of Huntington's disease often mimics those of bipolar disorder, leading to frequent misdiagnosis. A comprehensive clinical evaluation that includes genetic testing, neuroimaging, and consideration of both neuropsychiatric and motor symptoms is crucial for accurate diagnosis.
While drug and alcohol abuse cannot cause Huntington's disease (HD), drugs and alcohol can worsen HD symptoms.
Most people usually notice clumsiness or uncontrolled body movements as their first symptom. Mood or behavior changes or thinking problems are some of the first possible symptoms of Huntington's disease. Early symptoms of Huntington's disease include: Clumsiness.