HUNTINGTON’S DISEASE

By Nayana

WHAT IS HUNTINGTON’S DISEASE?

•Huntington’s disease slowly destroys your ability to think, talk, make decisions, etc.

SOME PROPERTIES

1) It’s a progressive disease (long term, around 20 years)

2) It’s genetic/hereditary

3)There are no effective treatments/cures

4) It’s a dominant allele (50% Chance of inheritance)

THE GENES INVOLVED

• Everyone has the gene, but only those who inherit the expansion (a larger copy) are affected by it and the possibility of passing it on.

SYMPTOMSThe symptoms of HD can be described as all these disorders happening at the same time: 1) ALS2) Alzheimer’s3) Parkinson’s

Some examples are mood swings, slurred speech, involuntary movements and forgetfulness

STAGES: EARLY

• some chorea (involuntary movements)

• depressed/irritated mood• difficulty in solving

rational/reasoning questions.

STAGES: MIDDLE• Chorea becomes more

significant, and might need therapy.

• Difficulty with speech and thinking

• Ordinary tasks become very difficult (finding things, talking to people, remembering to eat/sleep/work)

STAGES: LATE

• Totally dependent on others

• Choking is a major concern

• Can no longer walk or talk

• Aware of people around, understands/comprehends speech

THANKS

Bibliography• "Huntington Disease: What Is It?" Huntington Disease: What Is It? N.p., n.d. Web. 04 June 2015.

<http://ygyh.org/hd/whatisit.htm>.

• "Huntington's Disease Lighthouse Families." Research. N.p., n.d. Web. 07 June 2015. <http://www.hdlf.org/basicresearch>.

• "The International Huntington Association." - Huntington's Disease Worldwide Information and Support. N.p., n.d. Web. 07 June 2015. <http://huntington-assoc.com/>.

• "What Is Huntington's Disease?" Huntingtons Desease Society of America What Is HD Comments. N.p., n.d. Web. 07 June 2015. <http://hdsa.org/what-is-hd/>.