Comment from: Anita, 35-44 Female (Caregiver)Published: July 12
I met a man four years ago who was diagnosed with HD when he was in his 20's. After dating for 6 months, he revealed that he had being diagnosed with HD and that his father had passed away from the same disease. I decided to stay in the relationship as I considered him to be a good man. One year into the relationship I began to notice some slight impairment with his physical movements. Then as the years went by he began to exhibit some outbursts of anger/rage. His thinking became very rigid and he became very self-absorbed and spending a big part of his life chatting on-line with many females. I was hard to stay as he blamed all of the relationship problems on me. He became very verbally abusive and in the end, in spite all my love for him, I had to leave him as I found it extremely hard to continue to be objective and understanding. I needed to leave because I was not able to cope with the abuse. It was a difficult decision to leave because I loved him.
Comment from: SMDownes214, 35-44 Male (Caregiver)Published: November 16
My son is 40 years old with a strong family history, on his father's side, of HD. He has recently begun showing sx of HD: muscle twitching, slurred speech when tired, difficulty focusing, frequent falls and agitation. He also has hypertension and is on medication for it. I was wondering if anyone has ever done a study on the relationship between hypertension and HD. He has just gone for 4 weeks with excellent bp and then a couple of nights ago his bp went to 140/112. He became flushed, agitated, got a headache and became extremely tired. He went to the emergency room where they did several blood tests and a head CT that all came out normal. While in the hospital, his bp slowly came down within normal range without any meds or IVs. Today the same thing started to happen, didn't go quite that high, went to about 160/88. Same thing happened with the bp going down on its own slowly throughout the night. No one seems interested in correlating this to HD so I was wondering if anyone else has had the same or similar experience.
Comment from: kimmiecupcake, 25-34 Female (Caregiver)Published: January 27
I am the mother of a beautiful daughter who is now 26 years old. She was diagnosed with Huntington disease at the tender age of 13. She's now getting worse in this terrible disease. I now have to think about a nursing home, and it's not easy for me at all. I don't even know where to start. It's so hard. I love my daughter so much. She's been a joy in my life. I can't imagine what I would do without caring for her.
Comment from: Shelly, 45-54 Female (Caregiver)Published: January 26
I am the youngest (female) of four children. (One sibling died at the age of 2.) I am 45 years old, and my mother had Huntington's throughout my childhood. I was 13 when she became completely bedridden and took care of her until she died when I was 31.
My sister (age 52) and my brother (age 61) both now have Huntington's. My brother and I chose not to have children and have never been tested. My sister has three children who also have children. Watching her suffer with this disease is so very difficult. The worst is that she will not allow any of us to help her; she becomes very violent. Her hygiene is horrible, but we are unable to convince her to let us help her. She is a smoker, and it is purely a miracle that she has not burned down the home. She lives with my two nephews and his small daughter. There are about 100 burn holes in her mattress. She will not go to any doctor; therefore, her health aside from Huntington's is a mess. I worry constantly about her well-being and her children. I am about to go before a judge to see if they will grant a court order to have her picked up and forced into our local hospital.
Comment from: confused dad, 35-44 Male (Patient)Published: January 26
I am a 40 year old with HD and went through the disease with my father and other uncle and aunt. I know what he went through my wife of 16 years and 3 kids waited for me to get the disease before divorcing because of symptoms of the disease. I never once laid hand on her or the kids but she divorced over arguments. Just told me she knew I had HD and she bailed leaving me alone fully symptomatic, she told me to move on I am not her problem anymore. To punish me even she said it with grin on her face as if she enjoyed watching me suffer. She made sure I was completely alone and symptomatic before divorcing me to make sure I would not be able to find someone to help me through this. I have 3 kids 13, 9, 5 that she wants me to help them. She refused to help me in any way with trials or anything.
Comment from: doglover, 45-54 Male (Caregiver)Published: August 05
My husband was diagnosed with Huntington disease in 2007, although I have been seeing signs of the disease for at least seven years prior to that. He was 45 years old when diagnosed. We also didn't know it was in the family due to his father refusing to see a doctor for his unusual behaviors, moods, and movements until 2006. Most concerning is my husband's change of behavior -- anger -- directed at me and my side of the family. He gets belligerent and physical, and I don't know what to do. He's on medication -- Seroquel and Zoloft -- to help and is followed closely by our doctor. We feel (me and our children and family) that we walk on eggshells most of the time, not knowing when we might say something that sets him off. It's very hard. We really don't know what to do to "keep the peace." Apathy is another challenging area -- he only does the things he wants to do -- which isn't much. He sits around the house a lot or helps another relative but does very little around our house. The obsessive compulsivity displayed is troublesome as well. He will get on an idea/action and it will be very hard to get him to get off the idea or action.
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Suggested Reading on Huntington's Disease by Our Doctors
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Dehydration is the excessive loss of body water. There are a number of causes of dehydration including heat exposure, prolonged vigorous exercise, and some diseases of the gastrointestinal tract. The best way to treat dehydration is to prevent it from occurring.
Dementia is a significant loss of intellectual abilities such as memory capacity, severe enough to interfere with social or occupational functioning. There are different criteria classification schemes for dementias such as cortical, subcortical, progressive, primary, and secondary dementias. Other conditions and medication reactions can also cause dementia. Dementia is diagnosed based on a certain set of criteria. Treatment for dementia is generally focused on the symptoms of the disease.
Depression is an illness that involves the body, mood, and thoughts and affects the way a person eats and sleeps, the way one feels about oneself, and the way one thinks about things. The principal types of depression are major depression, dysthymia, and bipolar disease (also called manic-depressive disease).
Epilepsy is a brain disorder in which the person has seizures. There are two kinds of seizures, focal and generalized. There are many causes of epilepsy. Treatment of epilepsy (seizures) depends upon the cause and type of seizures experienced.
Tremor is the involuntary movements of one or more parts of the body. Causes of tremor include neurological disorders, neurodegenerative diseases, drugs, mercury poisoning, overactive thyroid and liver failure. There are several types of tremor. Treatment depends upon the type of tremor and availability of medications for the condition.
Dysphagia or difficulty in swallowing, swallowing problems. Dysphagia is due to problems in nerve or muscle control. It is common, for example, after a stroke. Dysphagia compromises nutrition and hydration and may lead to aspiration pneumonia and dehydration.
Obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) is an anxiety disorder that causes a person to suffer repeated obsessions and compulsions. Symptoms include irresistible impulses despite a person's realization that the thoughts are irrational, excessive hand washing, skin picking, lock checking, or repeatedly rearranging items. People with OCD are more likely to develop trichotillomania, muscle or vocal tics, or an eating disorder. Treatment for OCD includes psychotherapy, behavioral therapy, and medication.
Genetic disease is a disorder or condition caused by abnormalities in a person's genome. Types of genetic inheritance include single inheritance (for example, cystic fibrosis, sickle cell anemia, Marfan syndrome, and hemochromatosis), multifactoral inheritance, chromosome abnormalities (for example, Turner syndrome, and Klinefelter syndrome), and mitochondrial inheritance (for example, epilepsy and dementia).
There are many types of urinary incontinence (UI), which is the accidental leakage of urine. These types include stress incontinence, urge incontinence, and overflow incontinence. Urinary incontinence in men may be caused by prostate or nerve problems. Treatment depends upon the type and severity of the UI and the patient's lifestyle.
Dystonia disorders cause involuntary movements and prolonged muscle contraction, resulting in twisting body motions, tremor, and abnormal posture. There are many forms of dystonia. Some types of dystonia respond to dopamine, or can be controlled with dedative-type medications, or surgery.
Seizures are divided into two categories: generalized and partial. Generalized seizures are produced by electrical impulses from throughout the brain, while partial seizures are produced by electrical impulses in a small part of the brain. Seizure symptoms include unconsciousness, convulsions, and muscle rigidity.
Millions of women suffer from urinary incontinence (UI). UI occurs twice as often in women as in men. There are many types of urinary incontinence: stress incontinence, urge incontinence, overactive bladder, functional incontinence, overflow incontinence, transient incontinence, and mixed incontinence.
Urinary incontinence in children (enuresis) is twice as common in boys as in girls and may occur during the daytime or nighttime. Nighttime urinary incontinence is also called bedwetting and sleepwetting. The cause of nighttime incontinence in children is unknown. Daytime incontinence in children may be caused by an overactive bladder. Though many children overcome urinary incontinence naturally, it may be necessary to treat incontinence with medications, bladder training and moisture alarms, which wake the child when he or she begins to urinate.
Most often, caregivers take care of other adults who are ill or disabled. Less often, caregivers are grandparents raising their grandchildren. The majority of caregivers are middle-aged women. Caregiving can be very stressful, so it's important to recognize when it's putting to much strain on you and to take steps to prevent/relieve stress.
Depression in the elderly is very common. That doesn't mean, though, it's normal. Treatment may involve antidepressants, psychotherapy, or electroconvulsive therapy.
Your health care provider may refer you to a genetic professional. Universities and medical centers also often have affiliated genetic professionals, or can provide referrals to a genetic professional or genetics clinic. Genetic counseling provides patients and family members the tools to make the right choice in regard to test for a disease or condition.
Nighttime wetting (nocturnal enuresis) is more common than daytime wetting (diurnal enuresis).
Most urinary incontinence is nonorganic and resolves without intervention.
Persistent primary enuresis and secondary enuresis may require further medical
evaluation.
Treatment for most cases of enuresis involves behavioral modification.
Bedwetting alarms are very effective.
Medications should be reserved for select children.
Less than 1% of all affected children have persistent incontinence into adulthood.
What is urinary incontinence?
Very simply stated, urinary incontinence is
defined as the loss of complete control of the act of urination or the
involuntary emptying of the bladder. It is also referred to as enuresis. It can
be caused by any number of factors,...
If you think you have a medical emergency, call your doctor or 911 immediately.
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I met a man four years ago who was diagnosed with HD when he was in his 20's. After dating for 6 months, he revealed that he had being diagnosed with HD and that his father had passed away from the same disease. I decided to stay in the relationship as I considered him to be a good man. One year into the relationship I began to notice some slight impairment with his physical movements. Then as the years went by he began to exhibit some outbursts of anger/rage. His thinking became very rigid and he became very self-absorbed and spending a big part of his life chatting on-line with many females. I was hard to stay as he blamed all of the relationship problems on me. He became very verbally abusive and in the end, in spite all my love for him, I had to leave him as I found it extremely hard to continue to be objective and understanding. I needed to leave because I was not able to cope with the abuse. It was a difficult decision to leave because I loved him.