Huntington’s Disease is a progressive and degenerative (Gray, 2008) hereditary disease that destroys neurons in the areas of the brain involved in emotions, intellect and movement. Its symptoms generally begin to appear in patient’s between 30 to 50 years of age (Gray, 2008), but its development can begin at an early age (Healthcomminuties. com, 2008), and “death usually occurs within 10 to 20 years of its onset” (Gray, 2008). There is no cure for this disease. Medicines can help manage the symptoms but cannot slow down or stop the disease (US National Library of Medicine, 2008).
Huntington’s Disease is caused by a single abnormal gene. If one parent has the disease, there is a 50% chance that the offspring may inherit it. There is a rare case, however, where one can develop the disease without having it inherited and may have been caused by genetic mutation duing the father’s sperm development (US National Library of Medicine, 2008). The earliest sign of the disease often include personality changes and decrease cognitive abilities. It may begin with uncontrolled movements in the fingers, feet, trunk and face.
Patients may also begin to show mild clumsiness or problems with balance. They begin to have trouble driving, learning new things, remembering facts, answering questions, or making decisions. The disease may reach a point where speech is slurred and vital functions, such as swallowing, eating, speaking and walking, continue to decline. Patients may also exhibit delusions, hallucinations and paranioa. Personality changes may reach hostile outbursts and deep bouts of depression. Cognitive deterioration may eventually reach to dementia.
Patients may not recognize family members but many of them remain aware of the environment and may express emotions (US National Library of Medicine, 2008; Healthcommunities. com, 2008).
References
Gray, S. & Zide, M. (2008). A competency-Based assessment model for social workers. (2nd edition). New York: Brooks/Cole Co. Healthcommunities. com, Inc. (2008). Huntington’s disease. Retrieved March 27, 2008 from http://www. neurologychannel. com/huntingtons/index. shtml US National Library of Medicine (2008). Huntington’s disease. Retrieved March 27, 2008 from http://www. nlm. nih. gov/medlineplus/huntingtonsdisease. html