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Huntington's Disease Learning Center
Symptoms could include:
- Seizures
- Chorea
- Tremor
- Involuntary Movemen...
- Mood Swings
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Personality Change
- Muscle Twitch
- Muscle Rigidity
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Writhing Movements
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Facial Grimacing
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Grimaces
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Impaired Judgement
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Sensory Agnosia
- Mental Retardation
- Speech Impairment
- Irritable Mood
- Memory Loss
- Confusion
- Teeth Grinding
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Memory Impairment
- Muscle Stiffness
- Muscle Spasticity
- Dystonia
- Motor Tic
- Flickering Muscles
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Head turning to shift eye position; Facial movements, including grimaces; Slow, uncontrolled movements; Quick, sudden, sometimes wild jerking movements of the arms, legs, face, and other body parts;
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The symptoms of HD fall into three categories: motor or movement symptoms, personality and behavioral changes, and cognitive decline. The severity and rate of progression of each type of symptom can vary from person to person. Early motor symptoms...
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Some neurological changes have been seen in HD. However, the connection of many of these changes to the disease's symptoms is still not understood. Atrophy of the basal ganglia and corpus striatum are common neurological findings in HD, which may ...
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Huntington disease is caused by a defect in the gene (an inherited unit which contains a code for a protein) of unknown function called huntingtin. The nucleotide codes (building blocks of genes arranged in a specific code which chemically forms i...
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The symptoms of HD fall into three categories: motor or movement symptoms, personality and behavioral changes, and cognitive decline. The severity and rate of progression of each type of symptom can vary from person to person. Early motor symptoms...
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A seizure is the physical findings or changes in behavior that occur after an episode of abnormal electrical activity in the brain. See also: Generalized tonic clonic seizure; Partial (focal) seizure; Petit mal (absence) seizure; Epilepsy; Fever (...
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A seizure is a sudden change in behavior characterized by changes in sensory perception (sense of feeling) or motor activity (movement) due to an abnormal firing of nerve cells in the brain. Epilepsy is a condition characterized by recurrent seizu...
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A seizure is a sudden change in behavior characterized by changes in sensory perception (sense of feeling) or motor activity (movement) due to an abnormal firing of nerve cells in the brain . Epilepsy is a condition characterized by recurrent seiz...
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A temporary series of uncontrollable muscle spasms brought on by unusual electrical activity in the brain. Also known as convulsion, clonic seizure, or tonic-clonic seizure. A seizure is characterized by a sudden episode of un- controllable brain ...
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Chorea refers to brief, repetitive, jerky, or dancelike uncontrolled movements caused by muscle contractions that occur as symptoms of several different disorders. The English word "chorea" itself comes from the Greek word choreia , which means "d...
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Tremor is an unintentional (involuntary) rhythmical alternating movement that may affect the muscles of any part of the body. Tremor is caused by the rapid alternating contraction and relaxation of muscles and is a common symptom of diseases of th...
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Tremor is an unintentional (involuntary), rhythmical alternating movement that may affect the muscles of any part of the body. Tremor is caused by the rapid alternating contraction and relaxation of muscles and is a common symptom of diseases of t...
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Tremor is an unintentional (involuntary), rhythmical alternating movement that may affect the muscles of any part of the body. Tremor is caused by the rapid alternating contraction and relaxation of muscles and is a common symptom of diseases of t...
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Uncontrollable movements are slow, twisting, continuous, and involuntary movements of the arms, legs, face, neck, or other parts of the body. See also: Tardive dyskinesia
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Movement disorders are a group of diseases and syndromes affecting the ability to produce and control bodily movements.
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Mood disorders are mental disorders characterized by periods of depression, sometimes alternating with periods of elevated mood.
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Research on the connection between a person's mood and the food he or she eats has reveled what many people have long believed, that eating a certain food can influence a person's mood—at least temporarily. Research by Judith Wurtman, a professor ...
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Personality changes are alterations in the behavior, thinking and interactions of a person from their established character. These changes may be indicative of chemical dependencies, psychiatric illness, dementia, trauma, illness, altered body chemistry or temperature, or poisoning.
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Muscle twitches are fine movements of a small area of muscle.
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Muscle rigidity is an alteration of muscle tone in which the muscles are in an involuntary state of continual tension. Muscle rigidity can be a manifestation of neurological damage (basal ganglia diseases) or a side effect of certain medications.
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Mental retardation is a condition diagnosed before age 18 that includes below-average general intellectual function, and a lack of the skills necessary for daily living.
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(Also called sociocultural or cultural-familial retardation) Mild mental retardation attributed to environmental causes and generally involving some degree of psychosocial disadvantage. The majority of persons suffering from mental retardation fal...
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Below-average intellectual abilities that are present before the age of 18 and interfere with developmental processes and with the ability to function normally in daily life (adaptive behavior). The term mental retardation is commonly used to refe...
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Mental retardation is a developmental disability that first appears in children under the age of 18. It is defined as an intellectual functioning level (as measured by standard tests for intelligence quotient) that is well below average and signif...
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Mental retardation is a developmental disability that first appears in children under the age of 18. It is defined as an intellectual functioning level (as measured by standard tests for intelligence quotient) that is well below average and signif...
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Mental retardation (MR) is a developmental disability that first appears in children under the age of 18. It is defined as a level of intellectual functioning (as measured by standard intelligence tests ) that is well below average and results in ...
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Mental retardation (MR) is a developmental disability that first appears in children under the age of 18. It is defined as a level of intellectual functioning (as measured by standard intelligence tests) that is well below average and results in s...
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Speech and language impairment may be any of several problems that make it difficult to communicate. See also: Stuttering; Expressive language disorder - developmental.
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Treatment for the improvement or cure of communication disorders, including both speech problems and language disorders. Formerly referred to as speech therapy, the techniques, strategies, and interventions designed to improve or correct communica...
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Speech disorders are characterized by a difficulty in producing normal speech patterns.
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According to the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA), a language disorder is an impairment in comprehension use of the spoken, written, or other symbol system.
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Speech-language pathology is the treatment for the improvement or cure of communication disorders, including speech, language, and swallowing disorders. The term used to describe professionals in this discipline is speech and language pathologist ...
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A speech disorder is a communication disorder characterized by an impaired ability to produce speech sounds or normal voice, or to speak fluently.
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The field of speech pathology, formerly known as speech therapy, is concerned with disorders of speech and language. A speech-language pathologist is a professional trained to diagnose and treat language and speech disorders .
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Irritability is an excessive response to stimuli.
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Memory loss (amnesia) is unusual forgetfulness.
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Memory loss can be partial or total. Most memory loss occurs as part of the normal aging process. However, memory loss may also occur as a result of severe emotional trauma or due to brain damage following disease or physical trauma. Memory loss c...
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Amnesia refers to the loss of memory. Memory loss may result from two-sided (bilateral) damage to parts of Memory loss may result from bilateral damage to the limbic system of the brain responsible for memory storage, processing, and recall. (Illu...
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Confusion is the inability to think with your usual speed or clarity, including feeling disoriented and having difficulty paying attention, remembering, and making decisions.
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Bruxism is when you clench (tightly hold your top and bottom teeth together) or grind (slide your teeth back and forth over each other) your teeth.
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Bruxism is the habit of clenching and grinding the teeth. It most often occurs at night during sleep, but it may also occur during the day. It is an unconscious behavior, perhaps performed to release anxiety , aggression, or anger.
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Bruxism is a habitual grinding or clenching of the teeth. The behavior is usually unconscious, occurs most often during sleep, and is a reaction to periods of stress in the patient's life.
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Bruxism is the habit of clenching and grinding the teeth. It most often occurs at night during sleep, but may also occur during the day. It is an unconscious behavior or habit perhaps performed to release anxiety , aggression, or anger.
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Many people with cancer experience memory changes—such as mild forgetfulness, an inability to concentrate on more than one task, or more severe memory loss—after undergoing chemotherapy or radiation treatments. In other cases, as in a person with ...
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Muscle stiffness is feeling of tension and contraction in the muscles, that may limit normal range of motion. Sometimes muscles feel stiff after periods of vigorous use, for example athletic activities, physical labor or weight lifting.
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Spasticity is stiff or rigid muscles with exaggerated, deep tendon reflexes (for example, a knee-jerk reflex. The condition can interfere with walking, movement, or speech. See also: Muscle cramps
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Spasticity is a form of muscle overactivity. A spastic muscle is one in which a muscle resists being stretched out, and the resistance to stretch is greater the faster the muscle is moved. Spasticity is often used as an umbrella term for other for...
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Spasticity is an abnormal increase in muscle tone. It may be associated with involuntary muscle spasms , sustained muscle contractions (dystonia), and exaggerated deep tendon reflexes that make movement difficult or uncontrollable. Although it mos...
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Uncontrolled or slow movement is defined as a problem with muscle tone, usually in large muscle groups, that leads to slow involuntary contractions of the head, limbs, trunk, or neck. See also: Movement - unpredictable or jerky; Stereotypic moveme...
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Dystonia is a group of complex neurological movement disorders. While the disorders vary in their symptoms, causes, progression, and treatment, dystonia is characterized by involuntary muscle contractions and spasms that result in abnormal posture...
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Dystonia is a group of complex neurological movement disorders. While the disorders vary in their symptoms, causes, progression, and treatment, dystonia is characterized by involuntary muscle contractions and spasms that result in abnormal posture...
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Dystonia is a disabling movement disorder characterized by sustained contraction of muscles leading to twisting distorted postures. Dystonia may affect various parts of the body and has multiple causes, making classification and diagnosis challeng...
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Chronic motor tic disorder involves quick, uncontrollable movements or vocal outbursts (but not both.
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