(Information found at Huntington’s disease Youth Organisation aka HDYO)
Everyone has the gene that causes Huntington’s disease it is an expanded gene, but people that develop the disease have a longer version of the gene, the expanstation of the gene is what causes it not to work properly and eventually causes people to develop the disease.
Huntington’s disease is known as a neurodegenerative disorder, this means Huntington’s is a disease which affects the nervous system and gradually gets worse over time. Huntington’s disease affects the cells of our brains and continues to cause damage as time progresses, which stops the brain and body from working as well as they used to.
Huntington’s can be spotter through the symptoms but not always, the three main types of symptoms are involuntary movements, cognitive and behavioural.
Breaking down these three main symptoms:
Chorea which is a medical term used to describe the irregular movements people wither hunting tons suffer from, can cause patients to fall or drop things, look restless and appear fidgety.
Cognitive describes anything that requires intellectual activity, as Huntington’s progresses patients may have difficulty keeping track of things, making decisions or answering questions. Their ability to concentrate becomes more difficult.
Behaviour symptoms can cause patients with Huntington’s to feel depressed, anxious, lack of energy, angry or lose their temper over simple things. Behavioural symptoms are difficult as a person can say and do things they don’t mean.
Not everyone who gets a positive diagnosis of Huntington’s disease will develop all these symptoms. Everyone is different and the disease will affect each person different. I know personally for me my father and my grandmother were affected in different ways, similar but not exactly the same.
Symptoms of Huntington’s disease can begin at any age; but most people with Huntington’s disease usually develop symptoms between 30 and 50 years of age. Huntington’s disease is caused by damage to the brain, particularly an area of the brain called the ‘basal ganglia’. The brain cells deteriorate over a long period of time, usually 15-20 years, and during this time the affected person slowly loses their abilities, such as walking, talking and eating. This happens gradually and the person with Huntington’s disease can remain reasonably well for some time – even after being diagnosed with symptoms.
What i want to do about this problem we face. My goal!
My goal with this blog and hopefully it will progress into a campaign is to make people aware. Not only about Huntingtons disease but also aware about other conditions and disabilities which affect people in a manor of making them look or seem drunk. Ot even just give people and
(I want to thank Holly Tibbitts In helping me write this and also HDYO for their amazing information that can be found on their website linked above!)