memory lapses. depression – including low mood, a lack of interest in things, and feelings of hopelessness. stumbling and clumsiness. mood swings, such as irritability or aggressive behaviour.
Impaired social functioning is a key feature of Huntington's disease (HD). In addition to motor limitations that prevent social participation (e.g., fall risk, driving cessation), personality changes caused by cognitive and psychiatric decline alter social functioning capacity in people with HD.
Keep life simple - Rest, Exercise, Nutrition, A daily laugh Carry earplugs with you when you are out (Some people with HD are sensitive to noise) Carry calendars with you to write down everything you must do for the day and any information you get from other people.
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.
Patients may be irritable or depressed. They may lack inhibition, and do or say things that one would normally find embarrassing. People with Huntington's may also be less able to control their emotions, possibly leading to outbursts of screaming, swearing, slamming doors, hitting walls, or the like.
Overview of HD's Behavioral and Psychiatric Symptoms
People with HD may suffer from depression and other conditions found in the general population, such as mania, obsessive compulsive disorder, or various forms of psychosis.
A common and particularly detrimental neuropsychiatric alteration in HD gene carriers is irritability, which frequently manifests as abrupt and unpredictable outbursts of anger.
However, Huntington's disease can affect your cognitive abilities (including memory), too, and make focusing on tasks more difficult. You might also develop a mood disorder, such as anxiety and depression, or start acting more impulsively. Impulsive behaviors may cause more than health issues.
Mood and behavioral changes
Agitation, irritability, and aggression are other possible personality changes. Some patients may experience hallucinations and delusions that can severely affect their day-to-day interactions. Living with Huntington's can induce feelings of anxiety, depression, apathy, and frustration.
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.
The most painful conditions in Huntington's, said Achterberg, are limb pain, headache, abdominal pain and fractures. “I think we should do more work in validation of pain tools, including observational pain instruments,” he said. “And for clinicians, I suggest you be especially aware of abdominal pain.”
You could experience psychological distress. Although Huntington's disease itself isn't fatal, the average lifespan for someone who's diagnosed with Huntington's disease is another 10 to 30 years after the condition begins because of complications, like the inability to swallow, move and eventual confinement.
HD patients present a broad range of psychological disturbances such as cognitive rigidity, mood disturbances, lack of empathy and breakdowns of social relationships that might also manifest even before the onset of motor dysfunction (Marvel and Paradiso, 2004).
Stage 4: Early advanced stage
Typically lasting between nine and 21 years from disease onset, the early advanced stage is characterized by a need for full assistance in daily living. A person in this stage of Huntington's cannot live independently.
Stage 5: Advanced Stage
The fifth and final stage is when the disease will be more severe, and it's likely that the individual will require care 24/7. They will likely be immobile, unable to communicate and find it extremely difficult to perform basic motor functions such as swallowing.
These middle-disease symptoms include motor difficulties that interfere with functional activities, such as unsteadiness, trouble holding onto things, and trouble walking. In addition to the motor symptoms, affected individuals experience changes in sleeping patterns and delusions or hallucinations.
(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.
Available evidence indicates that between 13% and 71% of individuals may present with symptoms of anxiety. Anxiety can occur at any stage of the disorder, including the prodromal stage, but it does not appear to be a measure of disease progression.
Huntington's disease is a rare, inherited disease that causes the progressive breakdown (degeneration) of nerve cells in the brain. Huntington's disease has a wide impact on a person's functional abilities and usually results in movement, thinking (cognitive) and psychiatric disorders.
People can start to show the symptoms of Huntington's disease at almost any age. Most will develop problems between the ages of 30 and 50. The condition gradually gets worse for around 10-25 years, until the person dies.
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.
The most common sleep problems reported by HD patients include insomnia, difficulties in falling asleep, frequent nocturnal awakenings, and excessive daytime sleepiness.