Damage in Huntington's also can affect the nerves and muscles controlling the bladder, bowel, and sexual function.
In addition to the cognitive, motor and neuropsychiatric symptoms, which likely relate to brain changes, people with Huntington's disease also experience a range of gastrointestinal disturbances, including diarrhoea, nutrient deficiencies, gastritis and unintended weight-loss, which are considered clinical features of ...
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.
Huntington's Disease (HD) is not fatal in itself. People with HD have a shorter life expectancy and die of other life-threatening complications related to this disease. Pneumonia and heart disease are the two leading causes of death for people with HD.
As the disease progresses, a variety of motor, emotional/behavioral, and cognitive symptoms are experienced, including unsteadiness, trouble holding onto things, trouble walking, changes in sleeping patterns, delusions and hallucinations, intellectual decline, and memory loss.
Huntington's disease is a condition that damages nerve cells in the brain causing them to stop working properly. It's passed on (inherited) from a person's parents. The damage to the brain gets worse over time. It can affect movement, cognition (perception, awareness, thinking, judgement) and mental health.
After Huntington's disease starts, a person's functional abilities gradually worsen over time. The rate of disease progression and duration varies. The time from the first symptoms to death is often about 10 to 30 years. Juvenile Huntington's disease usually results in death within 10 years after symptoms develop.
Weight loss can make symptoms worse and weaken the patient's immune system, making them more vulnerable to infections and other complications. Huntington's disease itself is not usually fatal, but it can lead to choking, pneumonia, or other infections that can lead to death.
Choose soft, easy-to-chew and easy-to-swallow foods (aim for the consistency of porridge). Use plenty of sauces and gravies to help make main meals easier to swallow. Add plenty of custards, ice-cream and cream to desserts. Avoid hard foods such as nuts and lollies.
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.
Once the symptoms start to affect your daily life, you will be diagnosed with active disease. The disease is staged based on your motor function and ability to complete everyday tasks. Typically, HD progresses for 10 to 30 years.
Depression and behavioral disorders
The most painful conditions in Huntington's, said Achterberg, are limb pain, headache, abdominal pain and fractures.
Huntington disease is a brain disorder in which brain cells, or neurons, in certain areas of your brain start to break down. As the neurons degenerate, the disease can lead to emotional disturbances, loss of intellectual abilities, and uncontrolled movements.
Huntington's disease patients have a tendency to choke on food due to a lack of fine motor control (control of small muscles). They often experience enormous increases in appetite and sometimes trying to eat quickly to satisfy urgent hunger can lead to choking.
Common end-of-life signals include significant weight loss, difficulty swallowing or breathing, recurrent aspiration pneumonia, and uncontrolled pain.
(For more information on Complications of HD, click here.) It is important to know that stress can lead to complications and the worsening of symptoms in people with HD.
There's currently no cure for Huntington's disease or any way to stop it getting worse.
The time when symptoms actually show up varies between people, however. There is evidence that about 40% of this variation is due to other genetic factors, and about 60% is due to unknown influences in a person's life or surroundings - which scientists refer to as environmental factors.
The most common sleep problems reported by HD patients include insomnia, difficulties in falling asleep, frequent nocturnal awakenings, and excessive daytime sleepiness.
The last symptoms in advanced stage Huntington's disease (HD) include immobility, inability to speak, and inability to eat without a feeding tube. People in this stage of the disease often require full-time skilled nursing care. The disease is usually fatal 15 to 20 years after symptoms begin.
In Australia it is estimated that over 1,800 people have Huntington's Disease and approximately 9,000 are at risk (Huntington's NSW ACT website, 2019) with a reported prevalence rate in Australia which ranges from 4.5 per 100,000 to 6.5 per 100,000 (Pringsheim et al., 2012).
There is no cure for the disease, and there is a high rate of neuropsychiatric symptoms including depression, and aggressive behavior.