HD Patients' Symptoms Vary

By Laura Bruni

Transcribed from the Dimensions section of the Park Forest Star, March 14, 1996, with permission from the author.

Dr. Kathleen Shannon, a neurologist with a genetic testing center for Huntington's disease, lists the range of symptoms the disease commonly causes. Victims, who span all races and ethnicities, may show any combination of symptoms, complicating diagnoses and symptomatic treatments. Common symptoms fall into three categories.

• Motor problems include clumsiness, decrease in coordination, slurred speech, difficulty in swallowing, chorea (involuntary movements), poor balance, problems walking, intoxicated appearance, and twitchy and fidgety spasms.

• Personality changes -- irritability, temper tantrums, sometimes violent outbursts, depression, paranoia and obsessive compulsive behavior.

• Cognitive difficulties, which tend to show up later on in the disease, can involve memory, mental flexibility, fluency of thought, organization, an inability to make a mental strategy, and poor communication. The latter can be especially frustrating to the patients exacerbating other areas. "They can feed off each other a lot," Shannon notes.

There are now 25,000 to 30,000 people afflicted with the disease in the United States. An additional 150,000 are at risk. Research on the disease, Shannon explains, involves several areas of study. One is better treatment of symptoms. "This doesn't affect the long-term degenerative nature of the disease," she notes, "but it vastly improves the quality of life for the patients."

Other research is now focusing on blocking the chemicals that may be damaging the brain cells, on strengthening the cells to resist damage, and on cell regeneration by either helping cells repair themselves or replacing dead or damaged cells.

Shannon will speak at the Huntington's Disease Society of America Illinois Chapter's annual brunch April 21 from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. at The Empress Banquets in Addison. More information is at (708) 443-9876.

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Last updated: Dec. 6, 2010