Huntington's Disease
Jacob Mesnar
What is Huntington's disease
Huntington's disease is a disease that is a fatal genetic disorder that progressively breaks down the nerve cells in the brain. It also deteriorates mental and physical activities. This is unfortunately a fatal disease that most people in the age s of 19-60+ get, it is a rare disease that 200,000 people in America each year are affected by. These people that are affected with this disease have walks for HD and marathons that raise money to help find a cure. This genetic disorder was founded in 1967 by Majorie Guthrie which is the picture to the left. This disease shortens the life expectancy of a person because it is fatal disease they will live around 15 years at most after they get the disease.
Huntington's disease stages
At first when the early stages are happening you will notice the person start to have random movement to the body and this it what you will most likely to happen first. You will notice that they will have a depressed mood and they are irradiated easily. In the second stage you will find more of the random movements but it starts to get worse then it was in the first stage. Swallowing and some speaking they might need help with their are therapists to help this. The last stage is very hard for family members the patient is now dependent on other people to do things for he/she choking is a very big concern and the can't speak or walk any longer but they can still understand their language. Through all of these stages their is major weight loss and also when they die it will mainly deal with the choking problem in the last stage of Huntington's disease.
The side effects, treatments, etc...
Some of the symptoms of this disease are amnesia, lack of concentration, memory loss, mental confusion, Slowness in activity and thought, and or difficulty of thinking or understanding. The side effects of this disease are Involuntary jerking or writing movements(chorea), muscle problems(dystania), Slow or abnormal eye movements, impaired gait, posture and balance, difficulty of swallowing or speaking. A harm the disease cause is movement it doesn't allow the patient to move very much.
How Huntington's disease is inherited
This rare disease is in your genes it comes from your parents it is passed on from generations and generations but if it comes from only one of your parents you have a 50/50 chance of not getting it. The picture down below shows that the dad has the defect and the mom is fine so their kids each will have 50/50 chance of not getting the disease. This is a dominant disease which means their is 50% chance of them getting the mutated gene. The paragraph above will describe what the child does if they do have this disease and what will happen during the stages of the disease.
The HDSA program
This is a program that helps kids and adults with Huntington's disease they do research on trying to find a cure they also have a place where you can donate money to help these families out. the have found out all of these amazing ways to help and raise money they are a great program hdsa.org you should check out their website it is great
Citation
Huntingtons Desease Society of America Home Comments. N.p., n.d. Web. 05 Feb. 2016.
"Huntington's Disease." - Mayo Clinic. N.p., n.d. Web. 05 Feb. 2016.